Dr. James Makokis

Dr. James Makokis

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Edmonton, Alberta

Two Spirit Doctor - LGBTQ2S+, Indigenous, Diversity & Inclusion Expert

Dr. James A. Makokis is a Nehiyô (Plains Cree) Family Physician from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in northeastern Alberta and the recent winner of Season 7 of “The Amazing Race Canada” with his husband Anthony Johnson as “Team Ahkameyimok” (“Never give up” in the Plains Cree language). They used their time on the show to bring attention to important issues like never before. He is known for his Two Spirit resilience and decolonizing medicine to bring Indigenous cultural safety to the healthcare system.

DR. JAMES MAKOKIS BIOGRAPHY

Dr. James Makokis is a leading figure in North American healthcare, renowned for pioneering one of the most progressive family medical clinics committed to serving both the LGBTQ2S+ and First Nation peoples across Canada. One of few Indigenous physicians in Canada, he has received International recognition that stems not only from his role as a physician but also from his authorship in the fields of Indigenous health, transgender health and culturally sensitive care. A proud Cree, Two-Spirit physician from the Saddle Lake First Nation in Northern Alberta, Dr. Makokis is a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and Two-Spirit visibility. He actively challenges stereotypes and stigmas faced by Two-Spirit individuals within and outside Indigenous communities, dedicating his efforts to education, inclusivity, and acceptance.

Alongside his partner, Anthony Johnson, Dr. Makokis gained international fame when they triumphed in Season 7 of The Amazing Race Canada. They used this platform to heighten awareness about discrimination and the mistreatment of those labelled as “different.” They currently reside on Treaty 6 Territory, outside of Edmonton. Dr. Makokis’s unique approach to medicine involves a blend of traditional Cree healing practices and Western medicine. His recognition of the importance of cultural identity and spirituality in the healing process has led to an innovative approach to addressing health disparities in Indigenous communities. He actively promotes empowering Indigenous communities with the knowledge and tools to manage their own health.

Facing considerable adversity at the onset of his career, Dr. Makokis learned to harness his resilience, transforming his struggles into a source of strength and empathy. Mentorship from various Canadian and Indigenous leaders, such as travelling alongside former Governor General Michaëlle Jean on a diplomatic mission to Brazil and having the rare opportunity to work next to Dr. Patch Adams in the Amazon Jungle. He also continues to connect with Elders and Knowledge Keepers in the community, contributing to his understandings, teachings and practices to help shape his views within Western and Indigenous society. Internationally recognized for his holistic approach blending Western and Indigenous Medicine, he has become of Canada’s most well-known voices for the advocacy of human rights, access and equality by breaking down barriers and stereotypes and challenging discriminatory views towards First Nation and LGBTQ2S+ Peoples.

Dr. Makokis’s academic achievements include a Master’s in Health Science from the University of Toronto in 2006, graduation from the University of Toronto’s medical school in 2010, and the completion of the Aboriginal Family Medicine Residency Training Program at the University of British Columbia in 2012. He has taught at the Yellowhead Tribal College, the University of Toronto, and the University of Alberta, focusing on Indigenous health, Indigenous cultural practices, and traditional medicine. He also received certification from the Aboriginal Family Medicine Training Program and served as the Spokesperson for the National Aboriginal Health Organization’s Role Model Program for many years. He is a recipient of numerous awards, a member of various boards and councils, and is continuously involved in community service.

As a keynote speaker and thought leader. Dr. James Makokis is a powerful voice for LGBTQ2S+ and Indigenous equality. He is one of Canada’s leading experts on twospirit resilience and decolonizing medicine with a large focus on equity and acess within diversity and inclusion strategy. Dr. Makokis shares his personal experiences, Indigenous knowledge, and compassionate understanding. His aim is to celebrate each person’s uniqueness and inspire others to self-improvement for the collective betterment of the human experience. Dr. James Makokis continues to create a lasting impact on Indigenous health and well-being through his tireless efforts. He serves as an inspiration to many, demonstrating that cultural pride, resilience, and education can foster positive change. With his compassion, knowledge, and unwavering dedication, he is helping to shape a future where Indigenous communities have access to equitable, culturally appropriate, and holistic healthcare.

Videos

Podcasts

Play

Sickboy

SBC

Interview with Dr. James Makokis
Play

While Indigenous

SBC

Bringing Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Relatives Back to the Circle with Dr. James Makokis
Play

Heart of Family Medicine

Terri Potter

Dr. James Makokis: Changing Lives through acceptance and life saving therapy

Dr. James Makokis Topic Presentations

two spirit resilience - the amazing story

  • Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day Training
  • Step into the extraordinary journey of Dr. James Makokis, an esteemed Cree Two-Spirit doctor/family physician and champion of The Amazing Race Canada Season 7. In this captivating presentation, Dr. Makokis shares his incredible story of triumph over adversity, resilience, and the power of embracing Indigenous values and culture.

    From an early age, Dr. Makokis faced countless challenges, including bullying, systemic colonialism, racism, and the burden of stereotypes surrounding his gender and sexuality. However, with unwavering support from his family, elders, and community, he discovered the inner strength to rise above these obstacles and rewrite his narrative.

    As a beacon of hope and inspiration, Dr. Makokis has emerged as a leader and role model for all Canadians. His relentless pursuit of equality, acceptance, and growth has paved the way for important conversations on human rights violations, historical tragedies, and the profound inequalities faced by Indigenous peoples in Canada. Through his advocacy efforts spanning over three decades, he has become a powerful catalyst for change, gaining national and international recognition.

    During his engaging presentation, Dr. Makokis delves into the transformative tools and teachings that guided his remarkable journey. Drawing from his Indigenous teachings, he shares the wisdom of traditional values, cultural practices, and spirituality that became the pillars of his resilience. Dr. Makokis reveals the essential components of his success, including mental performance strategies, leadership principles, the transformative power of empathy and compassion, and the vital importance of community support systems.

    Dr. Makokis’ story transcends cultural boundaries, offering universal inspiration and empowerment. Against all odds, he defied expectations and achieved remarkable personal and professional growth. Join him as he shares the secrets of his inner source of strength and resilience, unveiling the remarkable combination of traditional wisdom, unwavering determination, and the challenging work required to succeed against adversity.

    Prepare to be inspired as Dr. James Makokis demonstrates the extraordinary power of resilience and the transformative potential that lies within each of us. His compelling journey serves as a powerful reminder that with determination, support, and a commitment to embracing our cultural heritage, we can overcome any obstacle and thrive in our pursuit of success.

embracing two-spirits: fostering equity, diversity and inclusion

compassion-first leadership: creating connections through empathy

nurturing mental health and resilience

celebrating gender and sexual diversity

truth and reconciliation: building a united front

treaty talk – uniting allies for our future

unveiling the truth of residential schools: a journey towards reconciliation

building bridges – forging alliances for healing, self-governance, and community empowerment

building on indigenous wisdom to generate success

keeping doors open – teachers, students & education

dismantling systemic discrimination – equitable & accessible healthcare

decolonizing healthcare: promoting culturally sensitive approaches to indigenous health

doctoring the spirit – compassion, accessibility & holistic care

dr. james makokis - custom presentation topics

Dr. James Makokis travels from Edmonton, Alberta & delivers customized and tailored keynote speeches, presentations, workshops and training sessions. on the topics enlisted below. These services are designed for a variety of audiences, industries, and event types and event formats.

Testimonials

An amazing Two Spirit leader. The future looks brighter because of leaders like him. Dr. James Makokis is extremely well spoken, charismatic and down to earth. I found his presentation engaging, motivating and inspiring.

Canadian Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (CSGNA)

Dr. Makokis presentation at Prism Energy ERG, Indigenous ERG, CARES (Caretakers) ERG and Women @ Enbridge ERG, was one of the best we have heard and the message what we all needed to hear. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from folks – we all enjoyed hearing your stories.

Enbridge

We value difference in people because of gifts they bring to the community. Your inspiring story shows us the true value of acceptance and diversity. Thank you for the wonderful presentation

Tuma Young

2-Spirited L'nu!

On behalf of the Canadian College of Health Leaders and HealthCareCAN, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for your contribution to the 2021 Virtual National Health Leadership Conference program held on May 31 – Jun 1, 2021. We appreciate the time you took out of your busy schedule to join us and thank you for sharing your insights and expertise with our attendees and contributing to the quality of this conference. From the feedback we received, the conference was a great success. Your session evaluation results are attached. It was a pleasure to work with you and we wish to thank you once again for your contribution to the success of the conference.

Francine St-Martin Director ,

Canadian College of Health Leaders Co-Chair
National Health Leadership Conference

On behalf of the Mount Royal Staff Association – Professional Development Committee, we extend our sincerest thanks. Your presentation, Building on Indigenous Values, was a fantastic addition to our PD Days offering this year. Our committee distributed a survey to all attendees that included questions specific to your session; the results are below. 100% of survey respondents who attended your session enjoyed you and the content you provided, over 95% of them learned something new, and over 92% would like to see you return as a speaker for future PD offerings. From the many positive comments, we know that MRU staff really appreciated the knowledge and stories you were able to share....

Courtney Montgomery

Professional Development Day Committee
Mount Royal University

Dr. James Makokis is brilliant at explaining indigenous knowledge & approaches in relation to Western medicine & history

Chad Park

Chief Innovation Officer, Director, Sustainability Strategist
The Natural Step Canada, Energy Futures Lab, Partnership

Articles & Media

It’s all too common for Indigenous patients to face racism and neglect

The Globe and Mail

To improve Indigenous health, adequate financial resources and investments must be made to develop health care infrastructure, including rebuilding the Indigenous health systems decimated by federal legislation since Confederation. Leaving health care provision to the provinces and territories without proper quality control measures will only lead to more of the same. When will enough be enough? Our collective treaty agreements allowed for us to live together in peace and friendship and to take care of one another as members of the human family. We started out in this way, and First Nations are still waiting for our treaty partners to remember this.
View
Cree doctor hopes for positive changes post-pandemic

APTN

‘If Indigenous physicians themselves and are seeing those types of overt racism then what happens to our patients who come from the communities…’
View
A Cree doctor's caring approach to treating transgender patients;

CBC

The Saddle Lake Cree man has known he wanted to be a doctor for a long time: since he was four years old, according to his online biography. He laughs about the detail when asked. "It was just something that I was always interested in," he said. It took him a little longer to focus on transgender health as an area of expertise. Makokis attributes that idea partly to his colleague Adrian Edgar. "If you really want to make a difference in medicine," he recalls Edgar advising him, "why don’t you start doing transgender health because there’s so few physicians who provide medical transitioning for patients. And there’s so many barriers to doing that."
View
UAlbertaAlumni

Bill Flanagan

Education and Representation: James Makokis in Conversation with U of A President Bill Flanagan
View
APTN News

APTN

Face to Face
View
NCCIH

SBC

Beyond the Social: Chapter 19 with James and Patricia Makokis
View

Books

Coming Soon!

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How to book Dr. James Makokis for an event?

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Are you looking to hire Dr. James Makokis for your event? Dr. James Makokis Edmonton, Alberta is a dynamic and engaging speaker that offers audiences researched content paired with expertise and a dynamic speaking ability. Dr. James Makokis is also a Canadian corporate consultant and coach and facilitates workshops and training sessions for a corporate audience. Dr. James Makokis is an expert keynote presenter and speaks on wide variety of topics. Hiring a great speaker for your event is important and working with a thought leader like Dr. James Makokis from Speakers Canada's roster will engage audiences into the content of the presentation to bring awareness and a fresh perspective for their approach to their work and their lives. Book Dr. James Makokis to educate, motivate and activate the audience through an interactive and entertaining presentation at corporate meetings and gatherings.

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Dr. James Makokis is an expert professional key note speaker with a lot of experience speaking and delivering engaging talks to organizations and audiences in Canada. Each of Speaker Bureau Canada's talent have different ways to assess their fees, and Dr. James Makokis speaker fee ranges depending on the size of the audience, event format (in person or virtual), event location, and if the organization booking them is a non profit, association, government department/government agency or business/corporation. The speakers we work with are flexible with their fees, and it is important for us to learn more about your event before we approach them, as it is our role to work for you, and to help you find a speaker within budget. 

Please contact Speakers Bureau of Canada and provide us with your event details so that we can contact Dr. James Makokis to check availability or confirm the pricing and associated costs to hire a great speaker like Dr. James Makokis for your event. As Dr. James Makokis's agent and as a Canadian top speaker bureau and talent agency for speakers, we are able to propose each event opportunity from each host organization's behalf to try to help you get in touch with Dr. James Makokis and confirm them for your in person or online meeting/event. We can also provide and advise on the booking process and potentially negotiate their fee. Speakers Canada is a client focused speaker agency, and we work for you in finding good speakers for your team meetings and booking processes.

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When SBC receives a request to book Dr. James Makokis we provide you with their speaker fees, travel costs and check their schedules. We work closely with the host organization's event planning team and the speaker to handle the logistics and to relay or negotiate associated costs. Our talented team members then will work with our talent directly or their agent/manager/assistant to confirm the Canadian speaker fee and travel expenses, so that event planning teams can receive an official quote for the speaker appearing at the event. Speaker fees and travel costs vary per speaker and our role is to contact Dr. James Makokis about your event, after we have connected with the event organizers to learn all the event details and/or conference program. Each booking request is unique since session durations and audience sizes can vary which may affect the speaker's fees. If you are looking to hire Dr. James Makokis, we recommend filling out the booking request form so a booking agent from Speakers Bureau Canada can get in touch with our talent to help you coordinate with your team to engage the speaker for a successful event.