Mary Two-Axe Earley

Mary Two-Axe Earley
Photo of Mary Two-Axe Earley speaking and gesturing with her hands
Two-Axe Earley, c. 1970s
Born
Mary Two-Axe

(1911-10-04)October 4, 1911
DiedAugust 21, 1996(1996-08-21) (aged 84)
Resting placeKahnawake
NationalityMohawk, Oneida
OccupationWomen's rights activist
Years active1967–1996
Known forSuccessfully leading the fight against legal gender discrimination in the Indian Act
Spouse
Edward Earley
(m. 1938; died 1969)
Children2
Honours

Mary Two-Axe Earley[note 1] OQ (born Mary Two-Axe; October 4, 1911 – August 21, 1996) was a Mohawk and Oneida women's rights activist from the reserve of Kahnawake in Quebec, Canada. After losing her legal Indian status due to marrying a non-status man, Two-Axe Earley advocated for changes to the Indian Act, which had promoted gender discrimination and stripped First Nations women of the right to participate in the political and cultural life of their home reserves.

In 1967, Two-Axe Earley helped establish the Equal Rights for Indian Women organization and led the submission of a brief to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. In 1974, she co-founded the Québec Native Women's Association, and the following year she received national and international attention at the International Women's Year conference in Mexico when she publicly fought back against her band council's attempts to formally evict her from Kahnawake.

On June 28, 1985, the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-31 to amend the Indian Act, eliminating the Act's original gender discrimination and creating a new process of reinstatement for affected First Nations women to have their Indian status restored. Two-Axe Earley became the first woman to have her status restored, and thousands of other First Nations women and their descendants were granted the same opportunity to regain their lost legal and cultural identity under Canadian law. The NFB released the film on her fight for equality, Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again, in 2021.
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