National Indigenous Veterans’ Day ceremony honours sacrifices, strides

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This article was published 08/11/2023 (717 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As traditional song and drumming rang through the air, government dignitaries and community members filled the rotunda of Neeginan Centre on Wednesday to honour Indigenous people who have served in the Armed Forces.

National Indigenous Veterans’ Day was commemorated first on Nov. 8, 1994, in Winnipeg, and has since become nationally recognized.

Bill Shead, Neeginan Centre’s chairman and a retired Royal Canadian Navy officer, said the day came about as Indigenous veterans were under recognized for their service, particularly during the First and Second World Wars and Korean War.

“There was no recognition of Aboriginal veterans at the National Cenotaph on Remembrance Day, there was no monument in Ottawa to Aboriginal veterans, so starting in the 1990s, some of the veterans started arguing some of these things should be in place,” said Shead, a member of Peguis First Nation who served in the navy’s regular force from 1956 to 1978.

Those veterans, Shead said, played an instrumental role in their communities, and Canada as a whole, when they returned from service, and it’s important to honour their sacrifices and strides in particular.

“I think it’s part of reconciliation — that’s where Indigenous people mixed well together, when they served in the navy, army and air force, everybody wore the same uniform, everyone worked for the same objective, and they really, really were comrades in arms,” Shead said.

“What followed after the war was that corps of people were able to open up a broader communication between the two communities, the Indigenous and the non-Indigenous.”

In the past, Indigenous Canadian Armed Forces veterans often could not be recognized in their remote communities Nov. 11, Shead said, as they would leave to attend central Remembrance Day ceremonies with their comrades.

On Wednesday, in the former Canadian Pacific Railway station on Higgins Avenue, a drum group began the ceremony with a veterans song, as active and retired service members carrying flags marched in a procession through the crowd, which included dignitaries from the federal, provincial and civic governments, as well as Indigenous governments.

NDP Premier Wab Kinew, who is Anishinaabe, spoke to the crowd about the importance of recognizing veterans who fought to preserve — and obtain — democratic rights.

“Freedom is never free, and you have made contributions so that each and every one of us here has the right to vote, has the right to speak freely, has the right to pursue a meaningful life,” Kinew said.

“You are the people who have defended our right to vote… It was the First Nations and Métis veterans who came back from (the Second) World War, who got First Nations people the right to vote in this country in 1960.”

New federal Veterans Affairs Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor also attended the ceremony and spoke to the crowd, noting Indigenous service members often still faced hardship in and out of uniform.

“Many Indigenous veterans… faced discrimination and systemic racism when they were serving and when they returned home,” she said after the ceremony. “It’s really important to make sure that we make amends of that.”

Cpl. Melvin Swan, who served as a military police officer from 1976 to 1988, took part in the ceremonial procession. Swan said, despite ailing health, including a recent stroke, he will continue to try to make his mark to ensure veterans are recognized.

“I continue to be guided by spirit, and the gifts I carry, and I have no choice but to advance and be recognized, as we say in the military,” said Swan, a member of Lake Manitoba First Nation.

“The veteran’s path has been neglected in this country. We only are honoured once a year, and I’d like to make my mark by going further, trying to develop a (Veterans Affairs) spiritual health policy to recognize traditional ways of healing.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca