Shree Mulay

I interviewed Shree Mulay in Montreal. She came to Canada from India in 1964 to do a PhD in Biochemistry and, later, to pursue a career as a scientist and academic. When we spoke, she was a Professor in the Department of Medicine and director of the Centre for Research and Teaching on Women at McGill University. She first became politically active as a graduate student in the movement against the war in Vietnam. In the 1970s, she became involved with an activist network of Indian expats called the Indian People’s Association of North America, initially in opposition to repressive activities by Indira Gandhi’s government in India but later in response to more local issues in the cities in which the members were living. In Montreal, Mulay and other IPANA members founded what eventually came to be known as the South Asian Women’s Community Centre (SAWCC). Mulay served on its board for decades. As the mainstream women’s movements in Quebec and Canada responded to challenges from women of colour in the 1990s and became more responsive to their issues, both Mulay and SAWCC found ways to become increasingly connected and involved. Mulay has been active in the women’s movement in both local and national capacities for many years.

Material from Mulay on the site:

• A ten-minute audio clip of her talking about the founding of the South Asian Women’s Community Centre in the early 1980s:
  [audio:mulay_sawcc.mp3]


• A seven-minute audio clip of her talking about organizing by South Asian people in North America in the 1970s, particularly through the Indian Peoples Association of North America (IPANA).
  [audio:mulay_ipana.mp3]