{"id":3246,"date":"2018-06-02T19:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-02T19:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2018\/06\/02\/aptns-queen-of-the-oil-patch-celebrates-two-spirit-life-in-the-macho-north\/"},"modified":"2018-06-02T19:00:01","modified_gmt":"2018-06-02T19:00:01","slug":"aptns-queen-of-the-oil-patch-celebrates-two-spirit-life-in-the-macho-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2018\/06\/02\/aptns-queen-of-the-oil-patch-celebrates-two-spirit-life-in-the-macho-north\/","title":{"rendered":"APTN’s Queen of the Oil Patch celebrates two-spirit life in the macho north"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fish Griwkowsky\/ Edmonton Journal\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A compelling new documentary series tells the story of one man with two spirits \u2014 Massey Whiteknife and Iceis Rain.<\/p>\n

Whiteknife \u2014\u00a0a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation and a Fort McKay resident \u2014\u00a0is a successful CEO and philanthropist with an occupational health and safety firm in northern Alberta. Outside the serious job, he\u2019s separately known as Iceis Rain: drag queen, pop singer and anti-bullying advocate.<\/p>\n

Now, in the new, eight-part series Queen of the Oil Patch (premiering at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on APTN), the two-spirit entrepreneur explores his personal history and cultural identity while reinventing his career, post economic slowdown. This\u00a0includes Whiteknife\u2019s desire to make the effervescent Rain the public face of his company within a conservative business environment \u2026 and perhaps take the dominant role in his life overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the storylines \u2014\u00a0am I going to transition? Stay tuned, right?\u201d Whiteknife says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Neil Grahn is one of the show\u2019s producers and directors on this Great Pacific Media project. The M\u00e9tis, a former Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie member, explains: \u201cIt\u2019s about an amazing person in a harsh land, not only surviving but thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always will say I am two spirited,\u201d says Whiteknife, using the term in Indigenous culture referring to a person with both a masculine and feminine spirit, and can include sexual, gender and\/or spiritual identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we went on this journey as well, to find out what other people meant by two spirited. For me, I believe you embrace your femininity and your masculinity that everybody has inside us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sexually abused as a child and bullied as a teen, Whiteknife suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, finding solace in his alter ego.\u00a0In the series, both speak of each other in the second person, agreeing Rain has more confidence, sexiness and sense of self-worth.<\/p>\n

But Whiteknife\u2019s biggest struggle is wanting to surgically transition into a woman \u2014 namely Rain \u2014\u00a0which his family tries to support, but doesn\u2019t necessarily understand. The footage with Massey and his mother is open, honest and wonderful.<\/p>\n

In one episode, Rain \u2014\u00a0who always \u201cfelt like a butterfly\u201d \u2014\u00a0gets to do fancy dancing at a two-spirit powpow in Winnipeg. Whiteknife felt of the opportunity: \u201cThis must be divine intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grahn says: \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful scene. You ask, what\u2019s our story about? It\u2019s about seeking community and we find it there. It\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Through Whiteknife\u2019s eyes, the series also examines queer life in the oil patch \u2014 like any, a complicated place with simultaneous contradictory truths.<\/p>\n

The director-producer was pleased to see a rainbow crosswalk in Fort McMurray, but some local Pride organizers hesitated to let the film crew follow Whiteknife with cameras during the event for fear of outing people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get it,\u201d says Grahn. \u201cIt\u2019s still not a total rainbow world.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Whiteknife notes: \u201cThere\u2019s a big gay community here. Unfortunately, the majority I would say are in the closet. I meet people through Grindr, Plenty of Fish (apps), but they\u2019re in the closet because they\u2019re scared of their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a male-dominated community. If you\u2019re in the trades or heavy equipment, it\u2019s locker-room talk \u2014 they make fun. We tease each other, you know \u2014 \u2018little faggot.\u2019 You have to have thick skin.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d he notes, \u201cit\u2019s actually very accepting. But some people are very sensitive to that so they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, God, I\u2019m never going to come out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Whiteknife points out the camps supply condoms, and that social change is inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just try to show everybody, calm down \u2014 it\u2019s 2018. If I can dress as a woman and go to the grocery store and nobody bats an eye, I\u2019m sure you as a good-looking male being with another guy, nobody\u2019s going to say anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his old town of Fort Chipewyan, former bullies came out and took his safety program. \u201cIt was emotional for me. These are the people who used to call me \u2018fag\u2019 up and down the road. And here they are, accepting me, asking for Iceis Rain.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as his motivation for wanting to fully transition goes, \u201cFor me it\u2019s about sex \u2014 I want to have lots and lots of sex,\u201d Whiteknife laughs. \u201cI\u2019m just kidding. My decisions are just based on my feelings about who I know I am, who I think I always knew I was, even as a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up it was so hard \u2014 being bullied because of my wiggle, not even coming out of the closet. Being beaten up or my head put in the toilet at school, just because of my femininity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was being sexually abused from the age of four years old. I didn\u2019t get to lose my virginity like the ordinary person. It was taken from me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to find out who I am, but I\u2019m also questioning, was I born straight? Did this person turn me gay? Am I going to hell because of what the Bible says?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many things I question. The reason I did the show is I feel like a lot of us ask ourselves these questions. I want to put it out to show everybody that you\u2019re not alone, especially with First Nations, where one in three have been abused.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many of my people under addiction or suicide, because they have nobody to talk to because of the shame.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to let people know, it gets better \u2014 you just have to keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whiteknife says no matter what happens, he\u2019ll always be two spirit, first and foremost. \u201cHormones, getting breast implants, augmentation \u2014 I don\u2019t then say, \u2018I\u2019m a woman.\u2019 I\u2019m two spirited. That\u2019s what I want people to realize. You don\u2019t need to label yourself, and if you do, you pick what you want to be and be comfortable with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whiteknife laughs at first at the idea the show will force him into behaving more responsibly. But he admits, \u201cI did grow up a lot from the show. I love going to powwows. I have more family time now with my mom. I want to be a good role model not just for the gay community but for the Aboriginal community.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Grahn, his motivation to help tell this story is simple. \u201cI just want to have one gay or gender-questioning kid in some First Nation somewhere in Canada that sees this, sees how Massey and Iceis are finding their way in life, and instead of killing themselves they say, \u2018You know what? There\u2019s a life ahead of me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fish Griwkowsky\/ Edmonton Journal\u00a0 A compelling new documentary series tells the story of one man with two spirits \u2014 Massey Whiteknife and Iceis Rain. Whiteknife \u2014\u00a0a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation and a Fort McKay resident \u2014\u00a0is a successful CEO and philanthropist with an occupational health and safety firm in northern Alberta. Outside … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAPTN's Queen of the Oil Patch celebrates two-spirit life in the macho north - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2018\/06\/02\/aptns-queen-of-the-oil-patch-celebrates-two-spirit-life-in-the-macho-north\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"APTN's Queen of the Oil Patch celebrates two-spirit life in the macho north - Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fish Griwkowsky\/ Edmonton Journal\u00a0 A compelling new documentary series tells the story of one man with two spirits \u2014 Massey Whiteknife and Iceis Rain. 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