Indigenous soldiers’ legacy now preserved in northwestern Alberta

A researcher in Grande Prairie, Alta., has undertaken a project to ensure recognition of the sacrifices of past Native soldiers and veterans in both world wars.

Renee Charbonneau, who runs the Veterans Memorial Gardens in Grande Prairie, has been working for seven years to collect the stories of Indigenous soldiers in northwestern Alberta killed in action overseas. He was assisted by local elders and indigenous genealogists.

Charbonneau, who is not Indigenous but comes from a military family, finds the subject extremely relatable.

“Why don’t we thank them for their service? Why don’t we acknowledge what they serve?” he told CBC News.

“Why have they had to stand on the sidelines and watch Remembrance Day ceremonies in Canada for so many years, but aren’t allowed to lay wreaths as a group? Individually, they could have done that, but they didn’t.” “You’re not allowed to do this in a group.”

on Veterans Affairs Canada websiteThe federal government admits it mistreated Native veterans at the time. He notes that Canada expropriated hundreds of thousands of acres of reserve land while Indigenous people served the country, some of which was given to non-Indigenous people as part of a program that offered farmland to returning veterans.

The website says Indigenous veterans are often denied this program and other veteran benefits and face other mistreatment and discrimination when they return to Canada.

“When you work together in a dangerous situation like this, you become comrades in arms and then you go home,” Charbonneau said. he said.

“You have all these situations where your native brother is not allowed to go to the legion with you to have a beer at the bar when he comes home, because the Liquor Act and the Indian Act said they were not Canadian citizens.”

Monday marks Remembrance Day, when Canadians remember soldiers who died while serving the country.

Friday marked National Native Veterans Day, which Charbonneau sees as a particularly important day to reflect and try to educate those in his community.

“It is sad that it took their election to recognize their service,” Charbonneau said.

“(National) Native Veterans Day is about so much more than their service. It’s about their post-service treatment. It’s about them not being welcomed by the institution, and that’s their way of never forgetting.”

Putting stories together

Canada’s military does not keep track of details about the race, ethnicity and region of origin of those who served during the world wars, Veterans Affairs Canada told CBC News.

Charbonneau hopes his project can begin to change that.

“When we started to uncover the sheer size of the Indigenous population, my heart broke because most people have no idea,” he said.

According to the Veterans Affairs Canada website, the federal government estimates that 4,000 Indigenous people served during the First World War and more than 3,000 served during the Second World War.

Historians estimate that about 300 First Nations soldiers died during the First World War, Veterans Affairs told CBC News. In the late 1940s, the Canadian government estimated that between 170 and 220 First Nations soldiers died in the Second World War.

“Most historians today tend to round this number to 200,” he said in the statement.

The government’s estimates exclude serving Métis and Inuit people. The statement stated that this number only includes people who have status and live on reserve.

WATCH | Names and histories of Indigenous veterans uncovered by Alberta researcher:

Honoring Indigenous veterans in northwestern Alberta

A Grande Prairie woman is documenting the stories of area Native veterans killed in action in both world wars. It has confirmed 31 names and is investigating 23 more.

The statement stated that the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples estimated that approximately 500 indigenous people lost their lives during the Second World War.

Veterans Affairs said the estimates include those who died in combat and those who died from wounds or natural causes during military service.

Charbonneau slowly pieces together the stories of Indigenous soldiers from northwestern Alberta who sacrificed their lives in the world wars.

It said it had confirmed 31 from the region and was investigating 23 more. Research documents include names, birth dates and death certificates, regimental and unit numbers, and family trees.

The research helped Bruce McAllister, a Dunvegan Beaver Nation elder who also works at Veterans Memorial Gardens, discover more pieces of his family’s history.

His great-uncle, Henry James McAllister, and six other Canadian soldiers were killed in World War II after coming under enemy fire during the liberation of the village of Berville-en-Roumois in Normandy, France, on August 26, 1944.

“This means the world to me. I was always told that my uncle was the big brother so to speak and that I should honor him on this day. I honestly can’t believe this is happening,” McAllister said.

“I’m honored to be a part of this. He gave his life for us, and I feel like he gave his life for this to happen,” he said. “He didn’t want it to be racism, he didn’t want it to control the government and he didn’t want it to control everything. So he went out there and fought against it and lost his life.”

Currently, a monument is being erected in the French village in memory of the seven martyred soldiers. It was built a year after the liberation of the village by the residents’ “To Our Canadian Friends” committee.

According to letters sent to relatives after McAllister’s great-uncle was killed, a group of 60 school-age boys who were at a holiday camp near the village at the time of the liberation wrote letters to the soldiers’ families to express their gratitude. action.

“They prayed for these soldiers and each of them spiritually adopted one of the dead,” reads the letter, a copy of which was obtained by CBC News.

Veterans Affairs Canada funded the Veterans Memorial Gardens in Grande Prairie through its commemorative partnership program, which supports organizations undertaking commemoration initiatives.

The ministry’s statement stated that many communities in Canada are taking initiatives similar to Charbonneau’s.

“We applaud them for taking on this important work,” he said.