Veterans and community members gathered across British Columbia Friday to mark Indigenous Veterans Day, which honours the sacrifices made by Indigenous people serving in Canada’s Armed Forces.
A march took place in Vancouver that ended with a commemorative event at Victory Square, beside the cenotaph honouring First World War veterans. In North Vancouver, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation held a ceremony at Whey-ah-Wichen (Cates Park), one of the nation’s ancestral village sites.
And, in Victoria, the flag atop the B.C. Parliament Buildings was lowered to half-mast to mark the day.
In a statement, B.C. Premier David Eby said many thousands of Inuit and First Nations and Métis people served at home and overseas in the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War and the Gulf War, as well as in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and other peacekeeping missions.
He said Indigenous Peoples contributed to those efforts even as they were refused basic civil liberties in Canada, including the right to vote.
The premier said Indigenous veterans were discriminated against and denied benefits available to others for decades after the Korean War, despite their service. He said they leave a “proud legacy” that more people should know about.
Tom Adams, who is Métis and served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1981 to 2006, attended the Vancouver event. He said he is glad to see the contributions of Indigenous veterans, and the obstacles they faced, slowly gaining recognition.
“Finally people are recognizing that we were treated unfairly.”
“My great-grandfather was an engineer in World War I and he came home to nothing. He was not given anything and, in fact, land was taken away from him in Manitoba when he got home. So now they are starting to recognize this.”
According to the federal government, an estimated 4,000 Indigenous people served during the First World War, and more than 3,000 served during the Second World War.
On its website, the government also acknowledges how it treated Indigenous veterans during that time. Canada expropriated hundreds of thousands of hectares of reserve lands while Indigenous people were serving the country, it says, some of which was given to non-Indigenous people as part of a program that offered farmland to returning veterans.
In a statement, the B.C. Assembly of First Nations said that while perceptions are changing, it’s important to “confront the alarming and stark realities faced by many veterans today.”
“The high rates of homelessness and unemployment among this group are of serious concern and require immediate attention. It is urgent that we not only recognize their sacrifices but also take concrete actions to ensure their well-being and integration into our communities and the larger society.”
