Patricia Monture-Angus (Mohawk name Aywahande)

Patricia Monture-Angus, Mohawk, lawyer, activist, educator, and author was born on this day in 1958. Shortly after graduating law school she filed action against the Attorney General of Ontario to avoid taking the oath of allegiance to the Queen, arguing she was a member of a sovereign nation. She became a lawyer and by 1992 the oath became optional. Over the next 20 years she served on nearly every inquiry, commission and blue-ribbon panel convened on Aboriginal issues, including the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. An abolitionist, she played a key role in getting Canadian prisons agreed to accept aboriginal ceremonies and healing circles.