In the 1960s and ‘70s, Mary Two-Axe Earley fought against sex discrimination in Canada’s Indian Act, successfully regaining Indian status for Indigenous women who chose to marry men who weren’t Indigenous. Her story is being told to a new generation of Canadians in a new documentary film from the National Film Board of Canada.

Directed by Courtney Montour and called 'Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again', the film traces Earley’s fight against sex discrimination and, in so doing, becoming a key leader in Canada’s women’s Rights Movement. Relying on mostly audio recordings, Montour says it was “a challenge to find the archives for the film, and that’s probably also why a film wasn’t made before. Her fight was so well-documented from the late sixties to 1985...the media was covering it all at the time. But it just wasn’t kept.” 

In looking back over the process of making the film, Montour says, “it’s such an honor to have had her be a part of this film and to share her stories, and it’s so important to keep that knowledge alive, because...the institutions aren’t doing that...and like I said, bringing it into the present and having all of us gather in Mary’s home and listen to the recordings in the same space where this grassroots effort started and so much change happened,[was] what Mary was fighting for, First nations women to be in their community and be a part of their communities.”

Listen to reporter James Mainguy's interview with Courtney Montour.