Dr Mato
Thursday 29th January 2009 5:28pm
1,569 posts
Woman of vision: Mary Two-Axe Earley
By R John Hayes
Windspeaker Correspondent
KAHNAWAKE, Que.
The well-known founder of Equal Rights for Indian Women, Mary Two-Axe Earley, died on Aug. 21 at the age of 84. She had been one of the leaders of the battle to repeal sections of the Indian Act that stripped Aboriginal women of their status when they married non-Natives. The changes were included in Bill C-31, passed in 1985.
Two-Axe Earley was awarded a National Aboriginal Achievement Award earlier this year "for her drive to establish Bill C-31 and her commitment to the rights of women."
Born in 1911 and raised in Kahnawake, Two-Axe Earley moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., at 18, where she met and married Edward Earley, an Irish-American electrical engineer. Under the Indian Act, she was therefore stripped of her Indian status, and could not live on the reserve where she'd been born or be buried there, even in the case of divorce or the death of her non-Native husband. She was able to move back to Kahnawake after her husband's death only because her daughter (whom she lived with) had regained her status by marrying a Mohawk man.
In 1966, at the age of 55, Two-Axe Earley entered politics as a reaction to a friend, who had lost her status through marriage, being ordered off the reserve. Within a year, her friend had died, and the band council refused permission for her burial on the reserve. Two-Axe Earley then founded Equal Rights for Indian Women.
In 1975, she was in Mexico attending an international women's conference when she heard that the band council had sent her an eviction notice. She immediately told the conference, and eventually the council gave way and rescinded the order. Ten years later, with the passage of Bill C-31, Two-Axe Earley was the first woman to have her status officially restored by then-Indian Affairs minister David Crombie.
In 1979, Two-Axe Earley received the Persons Award for contributing to the improvement of the quality of life of women in Canada; in 1981, she was presented with an honorary doctorate of laws from York University; in 1985, she was a recipient of the Order of Quebec. She received the governor general's award and was nominated for the lifetime achievement National Aboriginal Achievement Award.
In addition to a commitment of more than 20 years, Two-Axe Earley was widely recognized for her courage in the face of threats and intimidation. Her tireless efforts on behalf of Native women had been curtailed in recent years by failing health - she had been hospitalized since February. The official cause of her death was a gall bladder infection.
