Canadian military service

Thousands of Indigenous men and women have served in the Canadian military, starting in the First World War despite status First Nations people being exempt from conscription. Exact numbers aren’t known because enlistment forms didn’t only provided options other than First Nations or European identity (Métis veterans ; Sheffield and Gallant, 2022). However, when these volunteers returned home their service was neither recognized nor honour the way non-Indigenous service was. Indigenous veterans faced barriers in receiving veterans' benefits, including housing, and status First Nations veterans returned home to discover they had lost their status by enlisting (“Indigenous Veterans”, 2021).  

First Nations veterans recognised

Through advocacy and activism, a report on Indigenous veterans was written in 2001 with an apology and compensation offered to First Nations veterans in 2003 (Sheffield and Gallant, 2022). Métis and Inuit veterans "grievances have not received the same hearing” (Sheffield and Gallant, 2022). 

A day to honour Indigenous veterans

On November 08 their service is honoured as Indigenous Veteran’s Day. This day was founded in 1994 as a day “for Aboriginal Veterans to remember, reminisce, and be recognized by their community” before participating in Remembrance Day events on November 11 (30 Years Later...). 

Further reading

Check out these resources to learn more: 

• Indigenous Veterans: Equals on the battlefields, but not at home (2021). Indigenous Corporate Training blog
• Indigenous Veterans, Canadian Government (includes K-12 classroom activities)
• “Now it is all over...I am practically No-Body”: Indigenous Veterans of Canada and Australia and the Great War for civilization. Winegard, T. C. (2019). , (1), 12–30.  
• Tales of the mighty code talkers. Volume 1 (2016) edited by Arigon Starr 
• Métis veterans, Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada
• Forgotten warriors, 2010, NFB, Loretta Todd (director). 51 minutes 

The Decolonizing the Library Working Group invites everyone to learn alongside us with Project 57. This project is a response to the TRC Call to Action 57, which calls on "federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to provide education to public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples." 

For more information visit Indigenous Initiatives.