Shameful treatment of Indigenous veterans revisited

Canada treated Indigenous veterans as second-class citizens

Canadians should not forget that an estimated 7,000 Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) took part in the First World War (many volunteering), Second World War and the Korean War – all distinguishing themselves in service to Canada.

Sadly, hundreds of those brave souls suffered and died on the battlefield.

In the First World War, many fought gallantly in the unforgiving trenches at Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele. Highly regarded as scouts and snipers (and many serving in the infantry), Indigenous soldiers displayed incredible courage, outstanding battle skills and notable stamina.

While there were no “all-Indigenous” units per se during the two world wars, there were regiments that were filled out with large numbers of Indigenous soldiers. In the First World War, the so-called 107th “Timberwolf” Battalion from Winnipeg had more than 500 Indigenous members. It would later acquit itself well in France fighting fiercely in the critical battle for Hill 70 in August 1917.

By 1919, the enlistment numbers in Atlantic Canada (including 15 Indigenous men who served in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment) for the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet were nothing short of extraordinary — reaching almost 50 per cent in some of those communities. As Whitney Lackenbauer (and others) notes in his book, "A Commemorative History of Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military": “Every eligible male from the Mi’kmaq reserve near Sydney, Nova Scotia, volunteered. New Brunswick bands sent 62 out of the 116 eligible males to the front, and 30 of 64 P.E.I. Indigenous joined.”

NASTY HISTORY

Still, outrageous acts of discrimination and deliberate unkindness against our First Peoples have had a long and nasty history in Canada. Indeed, anti-Indigenous racism goes back to first contact between Indigenous peoples and Europeans and that was certainly no different for returning Indigenous veterans from the First War.

Under the 1919 Pensions Act, Canadian war veterans from the Great War were supposed to receive a host of special benefits, educational opportunities and financial allotments. But that was clearly and shamefully not the case for returning Indigenous veterans.

In fact, Indian Act provisions specifically nullified the “status” of those Indigenous members who served abroad because they were away from their reserves for more than four years. It was also true that Indigenous soldiers had to give up their “status,” or become enfranchised as it were, in order to actually participate in the Second World War. And in the 1920s and 1930s, to incentivize increased agricultural production during wartime, land was improperly taken from Indigenous reserves (thousands of acres) and leased to non-Indigenous veterans to farm.

In the early 1930s, Indigenous soldiers returning from overseas were also disqualified under the Indian Act from receiving any benefits that were made available to non-Indigenous members under the 1930 War Veterans Allowance Act. Those Indigenous veterans who were returning to their communities were to be treated no different than anyone else living on reserve.

CUTTING CORNERS

In the Second World War, Indigenous soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice on D-Day, in battles at Hong Kong and Dieppe and in the military campaigns in Normandy, Italy and Sicily. And although these warriors were given equal status on the battlefields in Europe, these Indigenous men were treated as secondclass citizens upon their return to Canada.

When it comes to Indigenous communities in Canada, then, the federal government has always looked to cut corners, nickel and dime them and to find creative ways to slash funding to our First Peoples. After the wars, Ottawa maintained that since status Indigenous veterans were already benefitting from financial support from the government, they should be disqualified from receiving any additional assistance.

Take Ottawa’s 1940 Veterans Charter — which contained a generous package of benefits — for those returning from active service overseas. But as is often the case for Indigenous peoples, the program did not serve Indigenous veterans well. They were frequently frozen out of much-needed financial support, counselling and general information by uncaring “Indian agents.”

Furthermore, those status First Nations veterans, unlike their non-Indigenous comrades, were not entitled to the $6,000 in loans under the 1940 Veterans Land Act. Instead, they were given the lesser sum of $2,320 in grant money — making it next to impossible to start a new business or develop some reserve farmland.

Not surprisingly, countless Indigenous veterans were merely left to fend for themselves and eventually they often ended up destitute and broken.

LONG TIME COMING

Indigenous peoples in Canada are, of course, used to being viewed as largely invisible to governments and most non-Indigenous Canadians. And, until recently, that was also the case with respect to Indigenous service in Canada’s many wars and conflicts.

Indeed, it was not until 1995 that Indigenous communities were granted permission to participate fully in Remembrance Day services at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Why did it take 50 years after the Second World War had ended to do so?

As Indigenous communities in Canada are all too familiar, this redress has been a long time in coming. You may recall that the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument in Ottawa was finally unveiled in 2001 and a governmental apology for denying rightful benefits to Indigenous veterans was only delivered in 2002.

Nevertheless, it is critically important to at least have a starting point for acknowledging Indigenous military service.