Mary Two-Axe Earley celebrated with a Google Canada Doodle

June 28 marks the anniversary of the passing of Bill C-31 into Canadian law in 1985.

Google Canada is recognizing the historic day with a Google Canada Doodle collaboration by Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) artists Star Horn and Courtney Montour honouring Mary Two-Axe Earley—the subject of Montour’s National Film Board of Canada short documentary Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again.

Doodles are the fun, surprising and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists, trailblazers and scientists, reads a statement.

Today’s Google Canada Doodle is visual artist Star Horn’s vibrant and richly symbolic portrait of Two-Axe Earley, a key figure in Canada’s women’s rights movement who fought against sex discrimination in the Indian Act, which had stripped First Nations women of their Indian status if they married non-Indian men.

The Doodle links to a Google Canada Blog post about Two-Axe Earley written by filmmaker Montour, which also premieres a making-of video about her new film, currently screening on the festival circuit.

Two-Axe Earley, Horn and Montour are all from the Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory in Quebec, situated on the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from Montreal.

Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again is produced by Kat Baulu and Ariel Nasr and executive produced by Annette Clarke for the NFB’s Quebec and Atlantic Studio 

More about Mary Two-Axe Earley

“Mary Two-Axe Earley [October 4, 1911—August 21, 1996] 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.”