Here is a reflection I wrote in honour of Indigenous veterans, putting together excerpts of articles and their statements. I began to think of the poem At The Going Down of the Sun and then this phrase began to echo through these stories and statements - Bunats'utilnih - We will remember them.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
Bunats'utilnih - We will remember them.
“Indigenous Peoples in Canada have fought on the front line of every major battle Canada has been involved in, and have done so with valour and distinction. It is estimated that 7,000 First Nations People served in the First and Second World Wars, and the Korean War; an unknown number of Métis, Inuit and non-Status Indians also served. However, it was not until 1995, fifty years after the Second World War that Indigenous Peoples were allowed to lay Remembrance Day wreaths at the National War Memorial to remember and honour their dead comrades.” This statement is in the history books with one small piece missing, as stated by one of the veterans who was there.
“I was there [Ottawa] that time and we were not allowed to march with the other veterans of Canada in Ottawa to the Cenotaph. I was there and the little hole they tell us to lay a wreath there for our war dead; we did that. And after I came back it was really a sad time for me because I figured I was a Canadian and I earned it and I know my myself we did very well in Italy.”
Bunats'utilnih.
Ironically, they fought for freedom for others while being denied equality in their own country.
"He [Gunner Dick Patrick, Saik’uz], accepting a medal for bravery, pleaded to King George to help his people…He mentioned that all the time." Dick Patrick fought against his treatment as a second-class citizen, said his sister Arlene John. He insisted on going to a Vanderhoof shop that refused him service. For that, Patrick was arrested and released 11 times, and even sent to Oakalla prison in Burnaby. "He was defiant and he kept going back. As soon as he was released, he would come back to Vanderhoof and he'd do it again. He said 'I fought for my people'" John recalled of Patrick, who died in 1980.
"He opened the door for us natives," John said.
Bunats'utilnih.
Many found they had lost their Indian status after fighting overseas because the Indian Act specified that Indians absent from the reserve for four years were no longer Indians.
“I was kicked out of the reserve right after the war, in 1946…all these years after I came back from overseas I did not receive my full soldier’s settlement.”
“The Indian Agent he knocked on my door and said we have to take you off the reserve. He gave me a little blue card they call enfranchisement. He said you can drink beer now and do like I do and whatever. I been drinking beer all the time anyways I told him.”
Bunats'utilnih.
"The lives of numerous Aboriginal veterans ended in despair and poverty."
Like my friend in [Cheslatta] [they] had to bring him to the reserve with a stretcher right from where the road was, just where it was flooded after. And he couldn’t move himself. And these people had nothing, no protection.
Bunats'utilnih.
Many war veterans not only fought for veterans’ rights, they also became strong advocates of social justice in all areas of their communities. Ray Prince said in a statement to the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples:
And I work hard for our people. What I am doing for our veterans is on a voluntary basis [documenting their stories to fight for equal compensation]. We are not getting any money for it. But every time we are trying to do something I know we get in the papers and they that Oh the Native people are getting everything hand out. I think the biggest handout of the people is your corporate affairs… your sawmills…that mining outfit…the government is putting all the money in…In the next few years you’ll have no more timber for the young people, our children, their children.
Bunats'utilnih.
He [Enoch Patrick, Nadleh Whut’en] was proud to be fighting overseas for his country. He told me he liked being treated just like everyone else over there, ‘like a regular white person.’ He had more freedom in France than in his own country.
In 1989, when Enoch Patrick passed away, Norman, the oldest son, was given a box of his father’s personal items. Inside, Norman found a silver war medal bearing the image of King George VI, some military papers, and an old photograph of his father in uniform. "Once it was over, it was over and the people that contributed, the sacrifice they made was virtually forgotten."
Bunats'utilnih.
In the words of Stellat'en Second World War veteran Antoine "Tony" Ketlo, written in 1994 months before he died, he fought for the hope of "peace of mind and freedom of speech and creed may be attained one day soon."
Bunats'utilnih.
But to tell you the truth ---to tell you the truth that the Native war veterans they never will take a back seat to anybody because they done very well in those war theatres.
Bunats'utilnih.
“However I myself got a big trap line [traditional territory]. I know that country like a book. I do not need a map. After the war I did go back there. And that’s my land. My culture is there. My culture is my land.”
Bunats'utilnih.
For more information visit https://humanrights.ca/story/dick-patrick-an-indigenous-veterans-fight-for-inclusion