Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again shares the powerful story of Mary Two-Axe Earley, who fought for more than two decades to challenge sex discrimination against First Nations women embedded in Canada’s Indian Act and became a key figure in Canada’s women’s rights movement.

Using never-before-seen archival footage and audio recordings, Mohawk filmmaker Courtney Montour engages in a deeply personal conversation with the late Mohawk woman who challenged sexist and genocidal government policies that stripped First Nations women and children of their Indian status when they married non-Indian men.

Montour speaks with Cree activist Nellie Carlson, Mary’s lifelong friend and co-founder of Indian Rights for Indian Women, and meets with three generations in Mary’s kitchen in Kahnawà:ke to honour the legacy of a woman who galvanized a national network of allies to help restore Indian status to thousands of First Nations women and children.

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Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again shares the powerful story of Mary Two-Axe Earley, who fought for more than two decades to challenge sex discrimination against First Nations women embedded in Canada’s Indian Act and became a key figure in Canada’s women’s rights movement.

Mary Two-Axe Earley and the Indian Act
Written by Pam Palmater

Dr. Pamela Palmater is a Mi’kmaq Lawyer and Professor. Her area of expertise includes Indigenous law, sovereignty and nation-building. Learn more about Pam here: https://pampalmater.com/.

For more than 145 years, the federal government has used the Indian Act to try to reduce the population of Indians, to rid Canada of the so-called “Indian problem.” The Indian Act, 1876 defines who is an “Indian” and who can belong to an “Indian band” (now referred to as First Nations). The objective was to assimilate Indians into the general population, so that Canada could acquire the remaining Indian lands and resources, as well as reduce the financial obligations it committed to in the treaties signed with First Nations. The federal government specifically targeted Indian women and their children for removal from their communities, by stripping them of their Indian status (registration as an Indian) if they married a non-Indian man. However, Indian men who married non-Indian women did not lose their Indian status.

Mary Two-Axe Earley helped lead First Nations women from all over Canada in a movement to demand sex equality for First Nations women and their children, and to have their Indian status restored. After successful legal challenges to Canada’s discriminatory legislation by First Nations women inspired by Mary, amendments have since been made to Indian registration, including Bills C-31 (1985), C-3 (2010) and S-3 (2017). However, full sex equality has not yet been achieved and many cases are still before the courts. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls found sex discrimination in Indian registration to be a root cause of violence against First Nations women. This is why Mary’s life story and the equality movement she inspired are still relevant today.

For more resources on the Indian Act’s discriminatory Indian registration provisions:

Indian Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. I-5: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/I-5.pdf

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019): https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/

Pamela Palmater, Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity (Saskatoon: Purich Publishing, 2010).

Pamela Palmater’s website, which contains videos, podcasts, blogs and publications on the subject: https://www.pampalmater.com.