James Makokis

Last updated
James Makokis
Born1981or1982(age 41–42)
Nationality Saddle Lake Cree Nation
Citizenship Canadian
Alma mater University of Toronto
University of Ottawa
University of British Columbia
Occupation Physician
Known for The Amazing Race Canada 7
SpouseAnthony Johnson

James Makokis (born 1981 or 1982) [1] is a Saddle Lake Cree Nation, two-spirited Family physician. [2] [3] [4] In 2019, he and his husband competed together as a team on, and won, The Amazing Race Canada 7 . [5] [6]

Contents

Career

Makokis operates a clinic in the Enoch Cree Nation 135 serving the Kehewin and Enoch Cree Nations, [7] [8] and a satellite clinic in Edmonton, Alberta. [3] Makokis is an Indigenous two-spirit person and is particularly noted for treating transgender people from the Cree communities and around the world, with many patients traveling from long distances to see him. [3] His practices combines traditional Cree and Western medical practices. [7] [8]

Makokis wanted to be a doctor since he was four, and as an adult his colleague Adrian Edgar (a former president of the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health) suggested Makokis focus on trans healthcare, because few physicians were providing medical care for transitioning patients in that region; additionally many trans as well as Indigenous people can be wary of the mainstream health system and doctors from their own communities are sought after. [3] He earned his Master's in health science from the University of Toronto in 2006, and graduated from the University of Ottawa's medical school in 2010 and the University of British Columbia's Aboriginal Family Medicine Residency Training Program in 2012. [7] He is trained in family medicine. [7] [8]

Makokis has also worked as an instructor at Yellowhead Tribal College, teaching courses on Indigenous health and traditional medicine, [4] and at the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto . [7]

Personal life and activism

Makokis grew up in the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. [9] His mother is Patricia Makokis, a former president of Blue Quills University. [4]

Makokis is gay, [9] and married Anthony Johnson, a Navajo (Diné) artist and two-spirit, in 2017 during the Vancouver Marathon. [1] [10] [11]

In 2019, Makokis and Johnson competed together as a team on The Amazing Race Canada 7 and won. They spoke to the media about their hopes that, by being open about who they are on the show, that they might help LGBTQIA+ youth feel safe in being who they are, and that their visibility has hopefully opened the way for more conversations about issues facing the Two-Spirit, Indigenous, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women communities. [5] [6]

Awards

Makokis was a 2007 youth recipient of the Indspire Award, [7] [2] which celebrates and encourages excellence in the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cree</span> First Nations peoples in Canada and northern United States

The Cree or nehinaw are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. More than 350,000 Canadians are Cree or have Cree ancestry. The major proportion of Cree in Canada live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories. About 27,000 live in Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty 6</span> Treaty between the First Nations and Canadian Crown

Treaty 6 is the sixth of the numbered treaties that were signed by the Canadian Crown and various First Nations between 1871 and 1877. It is one of a total of 11 numbered treaties signed between the Canadian Crown and First Nations. Specifically, Treaty 6 is an agreement between the Crown and the Plains and Woods Cree, Assiniboine, and other band governments at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt. Key figures, representing the Crown, involved in the negotiations were Alexander Morris, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba and The North-West Territories; James McKay, The Minister of Agriculture for Manitoba; and William J. Christie, a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Chief Mistawasis and Chief Ahtahkakoop represented the Carlton Cree.

Harold Cardinal was a Cree writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator, and lawyer. Throughout his career he advocated, on behalf of all First Nation peoples, for the right to be "the red tile in the Canadian mosaic."

Ralph Garvin Steinhauer, was a Canadian politician, the tenth lieutenant governor of Alberta, and the first Aboriginal person to hold that post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enoch Cree Nation 135</span> Indian reserve in Enoch Cree

Enoch Cree Nation 135, previously known as Stony Plain No. 135, is an Indian reserve of the Enoch Cree Nation #440 in Alberta. It is adjacent to the City of Edmonton to the east and Parkland County to the north, west, and south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enoch Cree Nation</span> Canadian First Nation

The Enoch Cree Nation #440 is a First Nations band government in Alberta, Canada. Members of the Nation are of Cree ancestry and speak the Plains Cree dialect of the Cree language group. The band is a signatory of Treaty 6 and is a member of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations. The chief of the Enoch Cree Nation is Cody Thomas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harlan Pruden</span>

Harlan Pruden is a First Nations Cree scholar and community organizer known for his work in the two-spirit community.

<i>Two-spirit</i> Umbrella term for gender-variant Indigenous North Americans

Two-spirit is a contemporary pan-Indian umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a traditional third-gender social role in their communities.

The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to Indigenous peoples in Canada, comprising the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian hospital</span> Historically racially segregated hospitals in Canada

The Indian hospitals were racially segregated hospitals, originally serving as tuberculosis sanatoria but later operating as general hospitals for indigenous peoples in Canada which operated during the 20th century. The hospitals were originally used to isolate Indigenous tuberculosis patients from the general population because of a fear among health officials that "Indian TB" posed a danger to the non-indigenous population. Many of these hospitals were located on Indian reserves, and might also be called reserve hospitals, while others were in nearby towns.

Saddle Lake Cree Nation is a Plains Cree, First Nations community, located in the Amiskwacīwiyiniwak region of central Alberta, Canada. The Nation is a signatory to Treaty 6, and their traditional language is Plains Cree.

Jane Ash Poitras is a Cree painter and printmaker from Canada. Her work uses the idioms of mainstream art to express the experience of Aboriginal people in Canada.

Ashley Callingbull-Rabbit is a Canadian beauty pageant titleholder. She was the first Canadian and First Nations woman to win Mrs. Universe, winning the title on August 29, 2015. She also was crowned Miss Universe Canada 2024 and now will represent her country at Miss Universe 2024.

Michael Linklater is a retired Canadian basketball player. He last played for the Saskatchewan Rattlers in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). He is a Nehiyaw (Cree). Linklater received the 2018 Tom Longboat Award, which recognizes Aboriginal athletes "for their outstanding contributions to sport in Canada". He won the 2018 Inspire Award in the sports category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Peace-Notley</span> Provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada

Central Peace-Notley is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district was one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. It was contested for the first time in the 2019 Alberta election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lana Whiskeyjack</span> Multidisciplinary artist

Lana Whiskeyjack is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and researcher known for her work exploring experiences of Cree identity in Western culture. She is featured in the documentary film Lana Gets Her Talk by Beth Wishart MacKenzie.

Lillian Shirt was a Cree women's rights activist from Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 Territory, Alberta, Canada who was known for her political initiative against the discrimination towards Indigenous women and their inadequate access to housing, employment, and human rights.

Joe Buffalo is a Cree skateboarder and actor from Canada. He is most noted as a two-time Vancouver Film Critics Circle nominee for Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film, receiving nominations at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2016 for Hello Destroyer and at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2017 for Luk'Luk'I. He is a 2023 recipient of the Inspire Award in the sports category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Morin</span> Canadian Cree First Nations leader

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Esther Tailfeathers is a Canadian physician.

References

  1. 1 2 Courtney Shea, We got married in the middle of the Vancouver Marathon , December 22, 2017, The Globe and Mail
  2. 1 2 "James Makokis". Spirit of the Land Foundation - Building a Community Land Ethic. Archived from the original on 6 Oct 2021. Retrieved 7 Sep 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Raffy Boudjikanian, A Cree doctor's caring approach for transgender patients , CBC News
  4. 1 2 3 Julia Lipscombe, Ariel Fournier, Community mourns beloved Cree educator, leader and 'truth teller' , March 1, 2019, CBC News
  5. 1 2 Portalewska, Agnes (December 2019). "Representation Matters: James Makokis and Anthony Johnson Become Two-Spirit Role Models for the World". Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  6. 1 2 DeShong, Travis (19 September 2019). ""Our Existences are Political": What it means that a gay, indigenous couple won Canda's 'Amazing Race'". The Washington Post . Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Interdisciplinary Dialogue: Celebration of Learning Archived 2019-06-08 at the Wayback Machine , April 21, 2018, MacEwan University
  8. 1 2 3 Jonathan Charlton, Alberta doctor wants to bridge Cree and Western medicine , April 13, 2017, The StarPhoenix
  9. 1 2 Elise Stolte, Forum focuses on 'two-spirit' life, November 3, 2012, Edmonton Journal
  10. ↑ Megan Stewart, Love on the run: Couple to wed during Vancouver marathon , May 5, 2017, Vancouver Courier
  11. ↑ Jenni Miller, These Runners Got Married Mid-Marathon , May 14, 2017, The Cut
  12. ↑ "Indspire announces 2023 Indspire Awards recipients and 30th Anniversary celebration". Indspire. Ohsweken, ON. 10 May 2023. Retrieved 7 Sep 2023.
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