Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Métis veterans honoured at last
New exhibit installed at Juno Beach Centre
TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image
Métis veteran Robert Bruce, with wife, Lorna, look through photos from the Second World War.
Hundreds of Métis veterans were forgotten when they got home after serving in the Second World War and they were left out of a museum exhibit when it opened six years ago at Canada's Juno Beach Centre in Normandy.
Now, elderly veterans returning to Juno Beach for Remembrance Day services will finally see their heritage acknowledged.
"It's about the nation, the people, the culture, the identity," said Manitoba Métis Federation president David Chartrand.
The exhibit highlights the history of the Métis in Canada and includes a Red River cart. The symbol of Canada's Métis will accompany the veterans and Métis youth during Remembrance Day events at Juno Beach this year.
Close to 50 people are leaving Nov. 8, with just a handful of the elderly Juno Beach veterans able to attend.
Robert Bruce, 87, is going with mixed feelings.
"They always say the Great War," said the Métis Winnipegger, who grew up in Saskatchewan. "I don't think there's anything great about any war. A lot of people were killed -- on the other side, too."
Bruce said he's physically prepared for the return to Normandy.
One of the elderly soldiers recently had to cancel for health reasons, said Chartrand, who went to Juno Beach Centre five years ago with a small group of Métis veterans.
"We were ignored," he said. "There was not one piece or message that the Métis even existed in the entire museum. There was an Inuit inukshuk out front."
Chartrand asked one museum official about the lack of a Métis presence. "He said, 'It doesn't matter; you're all aboriginal.' That's like telling all black people they're all one culture."
Veterans Affairs Canada pitched in $80,000 for travel and setting up the Métis exhibit, which volunteers from Manitoba assembled in October. Chartrand said they've nearly matched the amount received from the government by fundraising in their communities so more Métis,including young fiddlers and square dancers, can attend the unveiling of the exhibit.
The Métis veterans have been hoping for a memorial that would finally honour their wartime service and sacrifice.
After the Second World War, Canadian veterans were given financial help to buy houses and land and upgrade their education. According to a report prepared for a Métis veterans association, only eight per cent of Métis veterans reported receiving any benefits and fewer than one per cent received land under the Veterans Land Act.
In 2002, status-Indian veterans were offered $20,000 each in compensation for benefits they were denied.
"The Métis veterans got left out," Chartrand said. "There were two lines. In the Canadian line, they'd say, 'You're native -- go to the native line.' "
In the "native line" they were also rejected. "They'd say, 'You're not Indian.' "
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 2, 2009 A5
- Rate this

-
-
We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high. If you thought it was well written, do the same. If it doesn’t meet your standards, mark it accordingly.
You can also register and/or login to the site and join the conversation by leaving a comment.
Rate it yourself by rolling over the stars and clicking when you reach your desired rating. We want you to tell us what you think of our articles. If the story moves you, compels you to act or tells you something you didn’t know, mark it high.
The comment period for this story has ended.
Ads by Google
- Back to Top
- Return to Local
-
Working in Winnipeg
A close-up look at the jobs people do and why they do them
-
Helping Haiti
Where to make donations
-
Open Secrets
Red River students mine government data banks
-
Ski with WFP
Register here to ski Asessippi with the Winnipeg Free Press
-
Random Acts of Kindness
Your encounters with goodness
Poll
Most Popular
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- Falls from operating table prompt new procedures at hospitals
- Murder charges against top CFB Trenton officer leave military community reeling
- Bombers sue over cancelled Aerosmith concert
- Should have been listening, Tiger
- No support for Winnipeg's 'Homeless Hero' in days before attack: stepdaughter
- Checking out sex show all part of journalist's job
- MPI playing politics with poll question: Tories
- Body found in Delta airplane wheel well after arriving in Tokyo from New York
- Larger garbage carts may become available
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Storm warning issued
- Built-in text messages ruined life, says city man
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- City streets very slippery; several vehicles involved in crashes
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- Car stolen at gunpoint recovered
- Guns N' Roses show a massive rock 'n' roll spectacle
- Extended family pulls together
- Water pressure drop caused by power outage: city
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Avoid Perimeter: RCMP
- Two dead after crash on Bishop Grandin
- Winter storm warnings issued for Winnipeg, southern Manitoba
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Cheap Vancouver rentals, if tiny's OK
- Larger garbage carts may become available
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- Take one downtown, fill it with people
- No support for Winnipeg's 'Homeless Hero' in days before attack: stepdaughter
- Councillors nix oversized rolling garbage bins
- Got more trash? It'll cost you
- MPI playing politics with poll question: Tories
- Bombers sue over cancelled Aerosmith concert
- Sinclair inquest should be an inquiry: family
- City looking at adding bike lane on Pembina
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- 300 pounds of marijuana found in semi
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Sick days spike during blizzard
- Woman arrested in Faron Hall beating
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- Car stolen at gunpoint recovered
- Shielding buyers, or 'cash grab'?
- Bad cocaine results in grave illness, hospitalization
- Built-in text messages ruined life, says city man
- 300 pounds of marijuana found in semi
- Girl not a bully, shouldn't have been suspended, says mom
- Arrest tape kills auto-theft case
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Don't dock students for missing deadlines: NDP
- Alleged mobsters seek to stay
- RCMP investigating after video shows police beating suspect
- U.S. fighter slams Canada's 'Third World' health system
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Drunk cop crashes motorbike, gets fined
- Site for parents' sore eyes
- Iran playing its hand
- Falls from operating table prompt new procedures at hospitals
- First female boss for Destination Winnipeg
- No peace for dead girl's mom
- Happy 111th birthday to oldest Manitoban
- Food for thought
- Murder charges against top CFB Trenton officer leave military community reeling
- Footprints in snow lead to stolen goods
- Bone-chilling temps become hot commodity
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- Cat came back: 14 years later
- 26 cats too many, woman told
- A super-lab to fight superbugs
- Hutterite biography to debut despite legal chill
- Pilot burnt plane as signal before walking to shore
- Site for parents' sore eyes
- Built-in text messages ruined life, says city man
- Happy 111th birthday to oldest Manitoban
- 'Tough guys' wanted as film extras
- Nylons still smooth as silk
- Bath & Body Works coming to St. Vital
- Cat came back: 14 years later
- Little boy left cold, crying outside locked daycare
- Guns N' Roses show a massive rock 'n' roll spectacle
- Winnipeg desserts are a piece of cake
- LaPolice named as Bomber head coach
- VIDEO: A winter wonderland?
- Harper really is dangerous
PREVIOUS

3 Comments
Posted by: jrobertson
November 2, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Whatever happened to just be Canadian. All these vets fought for Canada. French,English, Aboriginal, Metis, Ukrainian, Polish,etc. They were all Canadians fighting for Canada.
Posted by: len marcischuk
November 2, 2009 at 12:54 PM
canada has problems. look at ottawa. when will things improve in this country. heros on civy street, not in ottawa. thank you sir for serving.
Posted by:
November 2, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Very sad. All Vets need to be recognized. Thank you for serving our Country. My Dad also served his country.