MOHAWK AYWAHANDE (PATRICIA MONTURE-ANGUS) BORN– LAWYER, ACTIVIST, AUTHOR
Born in London, Ontario, Patricia was orphaned at an early age. An avid reader, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Univ. of Western Ontario (1983), law degree from Queen’s Univ., and master’s degree in law from Osgoode Hall Law School (1998). In August 1988, in seeking admission to the Law Society of Upper Ontario, she challenged the requirement to take an oath of allegiance to the Queen as then-required by law. Monture-Angus argued that she was a member of a sovereign people, the Mohawk Nation. The case settled and the oath is now optional. She taught law at Dalhousie University and Univ. of Ottawa before teaching Native Studies at Univ. of Saskatchewan in 1994. Her contribution to the advancement of women in the university earned her the 2007 Sarah Shorten Award from the Canadian Association of University Teachers. In 2004, she received her Mohawk name Aywahande (“The One Who Starts Things With Words”). Patricia died November 17, 2010 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Source: Ron Csilliag, “Aboriginal, indigenous native? She preferred Haudenosaunee, or ‘People of the Longhouse’,” Globe and Mail, 12/2/2010. Retrieved 7/14/2019, http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20101202.OBMONTUREATL/BDAStory/BDA/deaths/?pageRequested=3 Photo: Courtesy of University of Saskatchewan. Source: https://artsandscience.usask.ca/news/n/677/Patricia_Monture_honoured_with_Sarah_Shorten_Award
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