Born and raised in the remote Northern Ontario indigenous community of Ombabika,[2][3] Chacaby escaped the Indian residential school system only because she was away hunting and trapping with her stepfather when government agents arrived in the community during the Sixties Scoop.
[2] She remained a local activist on 2SLGBTQ+ and indigenous issues, and later began to create and exhibit work as a painter,[4] before writing and publishing A Two-Spirit Journey.
[5] A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder was co-authored by Mary Louisa Plummer and published by the University of Manitoba Press in 2016.
[11] In 2019, A Two-Spirit Journey was published in French as Un Parcours Bispirituel by Les éditions du remue-ménage.
[4] In 2025, A Two-Spirit Journey was named as a finalist for Canada Reads, where it will be advocated by actress and podcaster Shayla Stonechild.