CANADA MILITARY NEWS: WW1- Canada's Negro Army /Canada's First Nations /USA's WWI Negro Army /Canada's Sikh Soldiers WWI/CANADA WWI- Minorities were NOT allowed 2 serve in 1914 - that changed in 1917
NOVA SCOTIA- CANADA- The No. 2 Construction Battalion in November 1916. (Image courtesy
CANADA WWI- Minorities were NOT allowed 2 serve in 1914 - that changed in 1917
Canada First Nation Soldiers in the uniform of the Canadian Expeditionary Force
CANADA'S BEST KEPT SECRET- THE CHECKERBOARD ARMY
The Black Battalion- Canada
Juanita Pleasant Wilbur of Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada
They came two hundred to answer the call
But only to fall
Their way was not paved
For a country they wanted to save
The battle cry went out
But these men were ousted
Their colour was wrong
Their courage strong
From battle line to battle line they went
But no one wanted them
A checker-board army they were called
Their courage strong they still persisted
For the right to fight for a country they loved
For the right to live as all men
Free and strong
The march was on, their will was strong
From place to place they went
Rejected by all, their cry was heard
Let us do our best
Don't let us be less
Give us a chance to build a life for our children
Let us make our mark
Give us a chance to stand proud and free
Rejected and tired of waiting
They finally saw the light
You're on a flight
Over-seas you're bound
At last you found your place
A checker-board army has been born
A remembrance to my Grand-dad, Private Wallace James Pleasant and all
the black men who fought and became know as Canada's best kept secret.
We love you all so much.... to my Fannie (Clement) Brothers and to my Debbie Pleasant-Joseph ..... love you all so much....
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CAMADOAM William Hall, V.C.: The Naval Veteran (2:44 min.)
NOVA SCOTIA'S BLACK
LOYALISTS-Canada's Checkerboard Army- Segregated Schools Nova Scotia -telling
the truth-CANADA'S MILITARY- the honour, dignity, intelligence, duty- Boer, WWI
WWII , Korea, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, UN Peacekeepers- CANADA PURE
When the Military Service Act was passed on August 29, 1917 volunteers who had previously been turned away were now forced to go to war.
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14 Feb 2015 ... Image result for gibson woods nova scotia black history photos ... http:// nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/12/canada-military-news-halifax- ...
9 Jun 2015 ...CANADA MILITARY NEWS: The Coloured Corps: Black Canadians and the ..... http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/07/nova-scotias-black- ...
Jun 9, 2015 - black history- CANADA- Black Loyalist Soldier prominently depicted fighting ... By now, thanks to Lawrence Hill's novel The Book of Negroes and the .....MILITARY- the honour, dignity, intelligence, duty- Boer, WWI WWII ... http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/07/nova-scotias-black-loyalists-canadas.html
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NOVA SCOTIA- READER'S CORNER
Let's mark Black Battalion
centenary
In a little less than a
year, one of the most significant dates in Nova Scotia black history will be
upon us: the centennial of the commissioning of Canada's first and only black
battalion, the No. 2 Black Construction Battalion of the First World War.
On July 5, 1916, halfway
through the conflict and after two years of rejecting the voluntary enlistment
of black men to serve their country in a time of war, an encampment of just
over 600 proud black raw recruits was erected at the then Pictou Market Wharf
in northeast Nova Scotia under the authority of a special piece of legislation
by the government in power.
So contentious was this
venture that it remained Canada's best-kept secret for more than half a
century.
The commanding officer of
the Black Battalion was a Nova Scotian, the unit's core were black Nova
Scotians, the birthplace of the formation was Nova Scotia. Does that not demand
that a fitting tribute be planned and conducted for the centennial of that
landmark event?
Resources must be
forthcoming from all three levels of government, military departments, black
communities and other related entities.
A suitable tribute to the
No. 2 is as much a legacy of our Nova Scotian heritage as marking the arrival
of the Hector, whose passengers, by the way, likewise first encamped on or near
the same site that would become the Pictou Market Wharf.
Nova Scotia is renowned for
its recognition of ethnic and cultural histories and traditions as evidenced by
the annual multicultural festival, Scottish games and events and First Nations
celebrations. This is an opportunity to engage meaningfully in a black
historical event that will come only once in our lifetime. I call on all of
Nova Scotia to get behind the centennial celebration of the formation of
Canada's Black Battalion of the First World War.
From the onset of World War I African-Canadians began to volunteer to serve their country in the conflict overseas. Many who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were turned away at the recruitment offices. In November 25, 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Fowler, Commanding officer of the 104th Battalion, requested
Document courtesy of The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret, written by Calvin W. Ruck, published by Nimbus Publishing Limited
permission to discharge twenty black recruits on the basis of race. He wrote, “I have been fortunate to have secured a very fine class of recruits and I did not think it fair to these men
that they should have to mingle with Negroes”. This rejection was met with protest in the African-Canadian community.
The Canadian military decided upon a compromise of sorts in which the decision to allow African-Canadian recruits to join was left up to the individual commanding officer. “…most of them were sent to the Western Front. A few Negroes were among these troops, for individual Blacks were permitted to enlist in such local regiments as would accept them ” (as reported by historian Robin Winks). Approximately sixteen black volunteers were accepted into the 106th Battalion Nova Scotia Rifles CEF between December of 1915 and July of 1916. When the Military Service Act was passed on August 29, 1917 volunteers who had previously been turned away were now forced to go to war.
No. 2 Contruction Battalion CEF
Photo Courtesy of Windsor’s Community Museum (file P6110)
In addition, it was deemed ‘acceptable’ to form an all black battalion lead by white officers that would perform construction duties and other labour rather than armed combat. The first and only black battalion in Canadian history was authorized July 5, 1916. The No. 2 Construction Battalion, CEF, was based out of Pictou, Nova Scotia with recruits from across the country. Many local young men served in this unit as evidenced by the unit role as printed in The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret by Calvin W. Ruck. The Chaplain of the No. 2 Battalion was the only Black commissioned officer in the British Forces in World War I compared to six hundred in the United States. On March 28, 1917 a force of six hundred and five black troops embarked from Pier 2 in Halifax heading to the Western Front. A recruiting station also operated out of the Parker family home in Windsor. Most served in Lajoux, Peronne and Alencon. The unit was disbanded on September 15, 1920 (p21).
Photos courtesy of The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secretwritten by Calvin W. Ruck, published by Nimbus Publishing Limited
Veterans List
The names on this list appear courtesy of The North American Black Historical Museum. Click here to see the list.
Memorabilia
James Jacobs from Windsor served in World War I - Courtesy of NABHM
Memorabilia from WWI Veterans James Jacobs and Pte. Kersey on display at NABHM -photo H.Soulliere
Medals earned by Pte. Kersey during WWI on display at NABHM - photo H. Soulliere
Now is the time to show your patriotism and loyalty.
Will you heed the call and do your share?
Your Brothers of the Colonies have rallied to the Flag and are distinguishing themselves at the Front.
Here also is your opportunity to be identified in the Greatest War of History, where the Fate of Nations who stand for Liberty is at stake.
Excerpt from advertisement posted in the September 1916 issue of The Atlantic Advocate.
The advertisement placed in The Atlantic Advocate encouraging African Canadian men to enlist in the military came after hundreds of African Canadians were turned away when they first tried to enlist in 1914.
By 1916, the military higher-ups were ready to accept the services of African Canadians because the war had been raging for two years and the Allies had suffered heavy casualties. The authorities realized that they may have been a bit hasty when they told eager African Canadian men willing to enlist that the war was a “White man’s war” and there was no place for “coloured men” in what was essentially a European tribal conflict.
The history books tell us that the cause of what became known as the Great War or the War to End All Wars was the killing of Franz Ferdinand (first in line to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his wife. The unfortunate Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were killed on June 28, 1914 by a group of disgruntled Serbs and war broke out between Austria and Serbia.
Apparently the disgruntled Serbs were part of a group opposed to the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and seized the opportunity to get rid of the next in line for the throne when the couple visited Sarajevo (capital city of Bosnia-Herzegovina).
After hostilities broke out between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, other Europeans quickly picked sides (Britain, Russia and France on the Serbian side with Italy and Germany on the Austro-Hungarian side) and the war was on. By the conclusion of this “War to End All Wars” in 1918, there were more than 30 countries involved, including the countries that had been colonized by the Europeans.
The advertisement urging “colored men” to enlist to serve king and country is reproduced in the book The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret, written by Calvin Ruck. Documenting the struggles to contribute as they faced White supremacist policies and the contributions of African Canadians to the War, Ruck writes: “From the onset of World War I African-Canadians began to volunteer to serve their country in the conflict overseas. Many who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were turned away at the recruitment offices. On November 25, 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Fowler, commanding officer of the 104th Battalion, requested permission to discharge twenty Black recruits on the basis of race. He wrote: “I have been fortunate to have secured a very fine class of recruits and I did not think it fair to these men that they should have to mingle with Negroes. This rejection was met with protest in the African-Canadian community.”
The Canadian military was eventually forced to include large numbers of African Canadian recruits after enormous casualties among the White men fighting in Europe. However, these men served in a segregated African Canadian battalion, where they were forced to serve under the jurisdiction of White officers.
Although African Canadians have been actively involved in every armed conflict in Canadian history there is no recognition of this fact. In The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada ‘s Best Kept Military Secret, Ruck writes: “Black Canadians have a long and honourable tradition of patriotism, sacrifice and heroism in the British and Canadian armed forces. From the American Revolution (1775-1783) to the Korean War (1950-1953), Blacks fought, bled and died on behalf of Empire, King and Country.”
As quiet as it is kept, Africans have been living in this country since the 1600s (enslaved and free) and many African Canadians can trace their family’s history in Canada back seven and eight generations.
In 2001, members of the African Canadian population who could trace the history of their ancestors in Canada back several generations represented significant numbers in the overall African Canadian population in several provinces. In New Brunswick (41 per cent), in Newfoundland and Labrador (22 per cent), in Nova Scotia (57 per cent), in Prince Edward Island (31 per cent) and in Quebec (31 per cent). In spite of this history it is disappointing how little is known about the history and contributions of African Canadians because that history is not included in the schools’ curriculum.
On November 11, when there are images of those who are remembered and praised for fighting to maintain democracy and liberty for the free world, those images hardly include racialized people. There is usually no mention of the African Canadian men who Ruck wrote about in The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada ‘s Best Kept Military Secret.
African Canadian men returned from fighting for liberty, king and country to find that their living conditions had not improved. They still were treated as third-class citizens in the country of their birth where their ancestors’ blood, sweat and tears had contributed to the wealth and privileges that others could enjoy.
In The Black Battalion, Ruck acknowledges this: “Following the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, Black soldiers were sent home. They returned, without fanfare, to their homes in cities, towns and villages across the country – from Cape Breton Island in the East to Vancouver Island in the West. The Blacks who were prepared to serve and die in defense of freedom came home to many of the same restrictions they had left behind. The Great War did not end all wars, it did not make the world safe for democracy, and it did not signal an end to racial prejudice. Blacks were still subjected to segregated housing, segregated employment and even some segregated graveyards.”
On Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. we will once again pause to remember the men and women who served in various capacities and even lost their lives during the several armed conflicts in which Canada as a colony of the British Empire and as a sovereign nation were involved.
Ruck wrote with great optimism: “The authorization on July 5, 1916, of a segregated Black battalion exposed the latent prejudice in this country. In all likelihood, such a discriminatory policy shall never again be repeated. The Human Rights Act of the late seventies and more recently, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which prohibit discrimination based on race, colour etc., apply to all facets of Canadian society, including the armed forces.”
Ruck would have been very disappointed to see the recent image of a White man dressed as a member of the KKK leading another White man in blackface with a rope around his neck at an event held in a Legion Hall where they won first prize for their “costume”.
The fact that people at the event did not understand that the “costume” was racist illuminates how far we have (not) come since the days when African Canadians were relegated to third-class citizen status in this country.
An Indian in the Canadian Forestry Corps
By the era of the Great War, military service
simultaneously provided the Aboriginal
serviceman with the warrior status
which was much esteemed in many Native
cultures and communities back home;
introduced him to the workings of a wage
economy which was still unfamiliar to many;
and often permitted him to utilize skills
with which he was already proficient as a
function of his pre-war civilian
livelihood, whether in lumbering, river
navigation, or hunting, scouting and tracking.
The performance of at least some period
of military service is still considered
a significant rite of passage within many
Canadian Aboriginal communities today. Library and Archives Canada (PA 5424)
During
the First World War (1914-1919) and Second World War (1939-1945),
thousands of Aboriginal men and women voluntarily enlisted in Canada’s
armed forces. They served in units with other Canadians, and in every
theatre in which Canadian forces took part. More than 500 status Indian
servicemen lost their lives on foreign battlefields during the world
wars, and the number of casualties – including those injured – was much
higher. Their notable contributions to the war effort became a source of
inspiration and self-confidence to themselves, to their communities and
to Canadians in general.
The First World War (1914-1919)
When
Britain declared war in August 1914, the Dominion of Canada – as a
colony – was also legally at war. The extent of Canada’s commitment,
however, remained to be determined and no one could foresee the horrors
that lay ahead. The First World War, or the ‘Great War’ as it was known
to its generation, would force nations and empires to mobilize their
resources on an unprecedented scale. Canada played its part from the
beginning; so too did Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
Canadian
officials contemplated the role of Aboriginal peoples in the war almost
from its onset. The initial response in Ottawa was hesitation. In the
popular literature of the day, ‘Red Indians’ were associated with
torture and scalping, practices quite unacceptable under the rules of
war laid out in the Geneva Convention (1906). ‘While British troops
would be proud to be associated with their fellow subjects,’ official
logic held, ‘Germans might refuse to extend to them the privileges of
civilized warfare.’ The recruitment of ‘status Indians’ in Canada was
therefore prohibited. While these discussions were taking place,
however, many enthusiastic and dedicated Aboriginal men had already made
their way to recruitment stations and begun their training for overseas
service. Obviously, some militia units were either unaware of the
prohibition against Indian recruits or simply decided to ignore it.
Some
members of Canadian society did not give substantive weight to the
worries of differential treatment and were eager to recruit Indians for
service. The role of Indian agents in recruiting and Indian Affairs
policies regarding enlistments from reserves fluctuated during the First
World War, which reflected the contradictory mandate of the Department
of Indian Affairs: it was expected to protect the rights of status
Indians as well as to act in the interests of the federal government.
Historian James Dempsey has charted the apparent inconsistencies in how
government administrators and recruiters applied the rules. In large
part, the government’s decision to actively recruit Indians appears to
have been a response to Prime Minister Robert Borden’s efforts to
replace the increasingly high number of casualties in front-line units
by 1916. Recruitment efforts, however, did not necessarily bring the
desired results. The Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs,
Duncan Campbell Scott, supported some Indian Councils and local Agents
that objected to the tactics used by recruitment officers on their
reserves. In one case, when Blackfoot elders requested that 15 enlisted
Blackfoot men be discharged from the army, Indian Affairs instructed the
military district’s commanding officer to release them.
Click to view larger image The petition of the Six Nations Clanmothers to King George V, 1917 Library and Archives Canada, RG 10 Indian Affairs, (Volume 6767, File 452-15, Part 1)
As
would again be the case in 1939-1945, Aboriginal support for Native
military involvement during the First World War was by no means
universal, and the pressures to participate or not divided communities
and families. Many Aboriginal cultures assign significant leadership
roles to women, and in 1917 a group of clanmothers from the Six Nations
of the Grand River petitioned King George V, invoking the Two-Row and
Covenant Chain wampum belts which record the condition of sovereignty
association existing between the Crown and the Six Nations Confederacy.
The clanmothers demanded that the King release forthwith from his
military service a number of their sons who had enlisted underage.
The Six Nations Veterans Petition, D.C. Scott, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, 1919
Following the war, newly returned
veterans on the same reserve organized
politically to help depose the traditional
system of hereditary chiefs, which they
claimed had not been supportive of them and
their families during the war. Library and Archives Canada, RG 10 Indian Affairs, (Volume 7930, File 32-32, Part 2)
For
the most part, recruitment activities tried to encourage rather than
coerce Indians to enlist. Private Canadian citizens also joined in the
effort. In various parts of Canada, priests, missionaries and
residential schoolteachers encouraged and influenced individuals who
were considering voluntary enlistment. In Southern Ontario, one
prominent figure offered to fund and back an entire battalion comprised
solely of Six Nations warriors. Neither Ottawa officials nor the local
Indian Council of Chiefs accepted the offer, albeit for different
reasons. Official government policy still restricted Indian
participation and, in this light, Defence officials found the offer
‘inconvenient.’ The Six Nations Chiefs’ response reflected larger
political issues. Based on past treaties and alliances, the Six Nations
considered themselves to be a separate nation, and thus felt that they
were due a formal request from the British Crown, from one nation to
another. This gesture would have political and legal ramifications, and
was not one that the Canadian government could support. Nevertheless,
Iroquois reserves proved active bastions of support for the war effort:
the areas around Brantford (Six Nations) and Tyendinaga (Mohawks of the
Bay of Quinte) became the highest sources of Indian enlistment in
Canada.
107th Battalion, "A" Company, Subalterns J. Moses Collection
Badge of the 107th Battalion
Pictured above
is the badge worn by members of the 107th
“Timberwolf” Battalion. Canadian War Museum
The
fortunes of war; Subalterns of “A” Company, 107th “Timberwolf”
Battalion, France, July 29th, 1917. Pictured at front row, sitting at
left, is Lieutenant Oliver Martin, a Mohawk from the Grand River
Reserve; and back row standing at right, Lieutenant James Moses, a
Delaware from the same Reserve. Both were later seconded to the Royal
Flying Corps. Martin survived the war as a pilot, stayed active in the
Canadian Militia during the interwar years, and was appointed Brigadier
during the Second World War. Moses was reported missing, later confirmed
killed, on April 1st, 1918 while serving as an air observer. A third
Indian junior officer from the 107th, John Randolph Stacey, a Mohawk
from Kahnawake, also became a pilot, but was killed in a flying accident
in England a week after Moses.
In
principle, the government did not form ‘ethnic’ units during the 20th
Century. As a result, there were no ‘all-Indian’ units during the world
wars. This makes any systematic analysis and generalizations about
Indian contributions difficult. Nevertheless, several regiments boasted
large numbers of Aboriginal soldiers. The 114th Battalion, more commonly
known as Brock’s Rangers, drew extensively from the Six Nations of the
Grand River and the Caughnawaga and St. Regis communities in Quebec.
Indian officers commanded two ‘Indian’ companies of the 114th. Like many
other battalions it was broken up when it arrived in England and
individual soldiers were dispersed amongst other fighting battalions.
Another unit with a high proportion of Aboriginal members was the 107th
‘Timber Wolf’ Battalion, raised in Winnipeg. More than 500 Aboriginal
soldiers filled its ranks. It was converted to a pioneer battalion in
England, then embarked to France in 1917 and participated in the battle
for Hill 70, just north of Lens. The Deputy Superintendent General of
Indian Affairs drew particular attention to the Anishnawbe men who
served with the 52nd Battalion:
Special
mention must be made of the Ojibwa bands located in the vicinity of
Fort William, which sent more than one hundred men overseas from a total
adult male population of two hundred and eighty-two. Upon the
introduction of the Military Service Act it was found that there were
but two Indians of the first-class left at home on the Nipigon reserve,
and but one on the Fort William reserve…. The Indian recruits from this
district for the most part enlisted with the 52nd, popularly known as
the Bull Moose Battalion. Their commanding officer, the late Colonel
Hay, who was killed, stated upon frequent occasions that the Indians
were among his very best soldiers. Their gallantry is testified by the
fact that the name of every Indian in this unit appeared in the casualty
list. The fine appearance of these Indian soldiers was specially
commented upon by the press in the various cities through which the
battalion passed on its way to the front. One of the Indian members of
the 52nd, Private Rod Cameron, won premier honours in a shooting
competition among the best marksmen of twelve battalions.
He rendered valuable service at the front as a scout and sniper and was subsequently killed in action.
Private
Joseph Delaronde, another Nipigon Indian, of the 52nd Battalion, won
the Military Medal for gallantry in action. His cousin, Denis Delaronde,
who was killed in action, was the first man of the 52nd to enter the
trenches of the enemy. Two other members of this fighting Indian family,
Charles and Alexander Delaronde, also served with the 52nd. The latter
was wounded, returned home, and discharged, re-enlisted and went back to
the front. Another Nipigon Indian of the 52nd to be decorated was Sgt.
Leo Bouchard, who was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Private
Augustin Belanger, another Indian member of the 52nd Battalion, who was
killed in action, was awarded the Military Medal. Alexander Chief, a
Fort William Indian of the 52nd Battalion, returned to Canada after two
years’ service with no fewer than twelve wounds. Although he was an
Indian of remarkably fine physique, he fell a victim to tuberculosis as a
result of the hardships he endured and died in December, 1918.
By
war’s end, Aboriginal soldiers had served throughout the army. ‘Many
soldiers of native ancestry shone individually within the various
battalions,’ historian Fred Gaffen concluded, ‘in keeping with their
traditional way of life and culture where individual heroism in battle
were held in high esteem.’
Lance-Corporal John Shiwak
Geographical isolation limited, but
did not preclude, Inuit enlistments
during the First and Second World Wars,
and in Korea. John Shiwak (Sikoak),
a Labrador Inuit from Rigolet, served
with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.
He was killed on Nov. 20, 1917 during
fighting at Cambrai. Frederick Freida
was another Great War Inuit volunteer
from the Labrador coast. During the
Second World War, the presence of
Inuit along the Labrador coast
complicated the efforts of German U-boat
crews in landing autotmated weather
stations. Presently across the Canadian
north, Inuit members of the Canadian
Ranger Patrol Groups of the Canadian
Forces reserve are an integral part of
our militarypresence in the Arctic. Royal Canadian Legion, Happy Valley, Labrador
The
Department of Indian Affairs, and in particular Duncan Campbell Scott,
trumpeted the wartime achievements of status Indians. His 1919 annual
report explained that, according to official records, more than 4,000
Indians had enlisted for service – approximately thirty-five percent of
all status Indian males of military age. Given the challenges that faced
these recruits, Scott highlighted how remarkable it was ‘that the
percentage of enlistments among the Indians is fully equal to that among
other sections of the community, and indeed far above the average in a
number of instances.’ Furthermore, these statistics did not include
non-status Indians, Métis, or Inuit, so more Aboriginal peoples served
in the armed forces that any official record can provide.
In
several Aboriginal communities the enlistment record was impressive.
Nearly half of eligible Mi’kmaq and Maliseet men in Atlantic Canada
enlisted. Every eligible male from the Mi’kmaq reserve near Sydney, Nova
Scotia, volunteered. New Brunswick bands sent 62 out of 116 eligible
males to the front, and 30 of 64 eligible PEI Indians joined. Although
Newfoundland and Labrador remained a separate colony during the world
wars, an estimated fifteen men from Labrador with Inuit ancestry served
with The Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the British Army. The statistics
from Quebec are somewhat sketchy, but also suggest a high enlistment
rate. In Ontario, all but three eligible men from the Algonquin of
Golden Lake band enlisted, and approximately 100 Anishnawbe (Ojibwa) men
from isolated communities in northern Ontario travelled to Port Arthur
(Thunder Bay) to sign up. As stated earlier, the Six Nations of the
Grand River Reserve provided more soldiers than any other Indian
community in the country: approximately 300. In Manitoba, 20 men from
the Peguis band saw frontline service – an impressive statistic
considering that the total adult male population was only 118. Sadly,
eleven never made it home. Similarly, The Pas Band, Sioux Band at
Griswold, and St. Peter’s Band all sent more than twenty percent of
their adult male population overseas. More than half of the eligible
adult males on the Cote Reserve in Saskatchewan served overseas. Only 29
Alberta Indians served, but 17 men volunteered from the Blood Reserve.
In British Columbia, every male member of the Head of the Lake band
between the ages of twenty and thirty-five enlisted. These cases are
exemplary by any measure. Men who lived in the Territorial North seldom
volunteered because they pursued a subsistence lifestyle and had little
information about or connection to international developments, but a few
– such as John Campbell, who ventured three thousand miles by trail,
canoe and steamer to enlist in Vancouver – joined the war effort. ‘It
must … be borne in mind,’ D.C. Scott explained at war’s end, ‘that a
large part of the Indian population, located in remote and inaccessible
locations, were unacquainted with the English language and were,
therefore, not in a position to understand the character of the war, its
cause or effect.’ This made the high levels of Aboriginal enlistment
even more remarkable.
Why
did they join? ‘No single answer suffices,’ Janice Summerby has
explained. ‘In newspaper interviews, oral histories, biographies, and
other published works, Aboriginal veterans – not unlike other war
veterans – speak of the call to adventure, the attraction of regular
pay, and the desire to follow friends and family into service.’ There
were a multitude of reasons, from patriotism to status within their
communities. According to one Indian agent, ‘the leading men of a number
of west coast tribes have expressed their desire to be allowed to serve
the empire at this crisis, and offer to send numbers of their younger
men if called upon.’ In Ontario, Chief F.M. Jacobs of Sarnia wrote to
D.C. Scott that his people were willing to provide ‘help toward the
Mother Country in its present struggle in Europe. The Indian Race as a
rule are loyal to England; this loyalty was created by the noblest Queen
that ever lived, Queen Victoria.’ Such patriotism was tied to
Aboriginal identities and culture. James Dempsey has also suggested that
a persistent ‘warrior ethic’ amongst the Prairie Indians motivated
young men to join.
For
those who served, the experience brought with it a unique brand of
culture shock. ‘For Indians who had been raised in the traditional way
there were some unique problems of adjusting to army life,’ Gaffen
observed. The rigid military hierarchy in the Canadian Corps sharply
distinguished between officers and other ranks, whereas traditional
relationships between war chiefs and warriors were more equal and
familiar. Other systemic differences plagued Aboriginal enlistees during
the First World War. Recruits from isolated communities faced language
barriers when they went off to train in the larger centres. Some, such
as Anishnawbe William Semia from Northern Ontario – who travelled more
than 400 kilometres to enlist and found himself in the city for the
first time – had the fortune of meeting other Aboriginal recruits with
basic training who could assist them. Semia eventually mastered English
and fought in the muddy trenches at Passchendaele. A few fortunate
individuals found themselves in the 107th Battalion, where
Lieutenant-Colonel Glen Campbell spoke the native tongue of several of
his men, or in an Alberta unit which had sixteen interpreters –
including the commanding officer, who himself spoke Cree, Chipewyan,
Dogrib and several dialects of Inuktitut. Another factor working against
Native people was health, particularly for those from the more remote
parts of the country where they had had little contact with white men
and the white man’s diseases. These enlisted soldiers were unusually
susceptible to sicknessess such as tuberculosis and pneumonia, and many
of those who enlisted were struck down early in their military careers.
This susceptibility was also used as a reason for requesting the
de-enlistment of men serving overseas by their elders back home, as in
the case of the Blackfoot of Alberta.
Many
Aboriginal communities eagerly contributed in whatever ways they could.
Their donations to the Patriotic Fund became a source of propaganda;
posters promoted the idea that Aboriginal peoples were so generous that
non-Aboriginal people had to follow their lead. Reserve communities
donated to the Red Cross, fundraised by selling native crafts, and
knitted socks and sweaters for those serving overseas. Although
Aboriginal people were often poor, government officials such as D.C.
Scott proved through statistics how they generously gave to the war
effort. The amounts varied greatly, from $7.35 donated by the Children
on John Smith’s Reserve to over $8,000 by the File Hills Agency. Even
the smallest donations were heartfelt. The Sioux of Oak River sent their
donation of $101 directly to the King stating ‘nobody asked us to do
this we are doing this with our free will this is not much but we are
doing it with all our hearts.’
Voluntary
contributions were one thing; compulsion was another. The most
contentious issue facing Aboriginal peoples in Canada during the world
wars was conscription, or compulsory military service. While members of
so many communities had willingly enlisted as volunteers, they did not
believe that they should be forced into military service. In 1917, after
the spectacular Canadian Corps victory at Vimy Ridge, the federal
government faced a severe manpower shortage overseas and decided that
conscription was necessary. When theMilitary Service Act was
originally drafted, government officials did not consider the special
case of the Indians. Indian communities reacted swiftly, however, and a
flood of letters from Indians and Indian agents demanding that status
Indians be exempt from conscription caught Indian Affairs unprepared.
‘There are no general grounds I know of for relief or exemption of
Indians from military service,’ D.C. Scott initially claimed, which
meant that they would be called up for conscription like everyone else
in Canada. Many Indian communities considered this a grave injustice,
reminding the government of verbal treaty promises that assured them
they would never have to take up arms against their will. Numerous
letters noted that status Indians did not have full rights of
citizenship: they could not vote, for example, and were legally treated
as ‘wards’ or ‘minors.’ Given this status, how fair would it be to
compel them to serve and assume the same responsibilities as
enfranchised people? In the end, this sustained Aboriginal lobbying of
the government proved successful. Cabinet passed an order-in-council
(P.C. 111) on 17 January 1918 that exempted Indians from the Military Service Act.
Indians could still be called upon to perform non-combat roles in
Canada, but this legislation made it easier for them to claim deferrals
for industrial or agricultural work. Status Indians who served overseas
during the First World War thus did so as volunteers.
Henry Norwest gravesite
An Aboriginal serviceman’s civilian livelihood,
in combination with longstanding stereotypes
attributing extraordinary stealth and cunning
to Natives, in both World Wars and Korea
often had the effect of placing such
individuals in the most hazardous jobs
the Army had to offer. Henry Norwest,
a Cree-Métis saddler, cowboy, trapper and
hunter from Alberta, served as a sniper
with the 50th Battalion C.E.F. Officially
credited with 115 confirmed kills, the
highest “score” recorded in the armies
of the British Empire to that point,
Norwest was killed in action August 18th,
1918 near Amiens. Glenbow Archives
The
lore of the war maintains that Aboriginal soldiers particularly
distinguished themselves in dangerous but essential infantry roles.
Accounts of individual gallantry abound in studies such as Gaffen’s Forgotten Soldiers, Janice Summerby’s Native Soldiers, Foreign Battlefields, and James Dempsey’s Warriors of the King.
Several themes clearly emerge. First and foremost, Aboriginal soldiers
were lauded as effective snipers and scouts. Gaffen concluded that in
battle ‘the skills of the Indian hunter and warrior came to the fore.’
Aboriginal soldiers were seen to be adaptable and patient, with keen
observation powers, stamina, and courage. Correspondingly, an Aboriginal
background and rugged livelihood (acting in concert with longstanding
stereotypes attributing extraordinary stealth and cunning to Native
people) sometimes placed Aboriginal soldiers in the most hazardous jobs
that the army had to offer. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many
relished and excelled in these tasks. Francis Pegahmagabow, an Ojibwa
from the Parry Island agency in Ontario, was perhaps the most renowned
for his marksmanship. He enlisted in August 1914 and went on to serve at
Ypres, the Somme, Passchendaele, and Amiens. Credited with 378 kills,
his record was amongst the most impressive of any Allied sniper on the
Western Front. Amongst his many awards for bravery were the Military
Medal and two Bars for his services – he was one of only 39 members of
the CEF to achieve that distinction. Métis marksman Henry Norwest also
displayed remarkable prowess as a sniper. ‘On one occasion he waited two
days for two enemy snipers who had heard his rifle, as he accounted for
another of their friends, knowing they were suspicious of his post,’
one of his comrades recalled after the war. ‘At last he caught them off
guard and one went down followed by the other in fifteen minutes.’ Lance
Corporal Norwest amassed 115 confirmed kills and a Military Medal
before falling to an enemy sniper in August 1918. In all, at least 37
Aboriginal infantrymen were decorated for gallantry. Aboriginal soldiers
also served in other important roles, and by Armistice Day they could
be found in pioneer, forestry, and labour battalions, and amongst the
Railway Troops, Veterinary Corps, Service Corps, and the Canadian
Engineers.
Formal
educational restrictions meant that few Aboriginal soldiers had access
to commissions as officers, but many became non-commissioned officers:
corporals, lance corporals, and sergeants. These leadership roles built
confidence and demonstrated that they were just as capable and
intelligent as their non-Aboriginal comrades. A few managed to secure
commissions, often by virtue of their performance in the field,
including Lieutenants Cameron Brant and Oliver Milton Martin, and
Captains Alexander Smith and Charles D. Smith, all from Six Nations, and
Hugh John McDonald from the Mackenzie Valley. A small number also
served in the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force, including Lieutenant
James David Moses of Oshweken and Lieutenant John Randolph Stacey of
Kahnawake. In late March 1918, Moses wrote home:
My
pilot and I have had some very thrilling experiences just lately. We
bombed the German troops from a very low height and had the pleasure of
shooting hundreds of rounds into dense masses of them with my machine
gun. They simply scattered and tumbled in all directions. Needless to
say we got it pretty hot and when we got back to the aerodrome found
that our machine was pretty well shot up.
On
1 April, his plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and he lost his
life. He was one of 88 volunteers from Six Nations who lost their lives
during the conflict.
In
all, more than 300 status Indians died in the Great War. Hundreds more
were wounded, in body and in mind. Some veterans returned with
tuberculosis and other diseases that they had contracted amidst the
horrid conditions on the Western Front. When some soldiers returned to
isolated communities at the end of the war, they also unwittingly
carried with them the deadly influenza that swept the country in 1919.
They had made deep sacrifices alongside their comrades from the rest of
Canada, and Aboriginal peoples remembered their patriotic contributions
to victory. ‘Now that peace has been declared, the Indians of Canada may
look with just pride upon the part played by them in the Great War,
both at home and on the field of battle,’ Edward Ahenakew, a
Saskatchewan Cree clergyman proclaimed in 1920:
Not
in vain did our young men die in a strange land; not in vain are our
Indian bones mingled with the soil of a foreign land for the first time
since the world began; not in vain did the Indian fathers and mothers
see their son march away to face what to them were ununderstandable
dangers; the unseen tears of Indian mothers in many isolated Indian
reserves have watered the seeds from which may spring those desires and
efforts and aspirations which will enable us to reach sooner the stage
when we will take our place side by side with the white people.
Lieutenant J.D. Moses of the Royal Air Force is missing.
The
dreaded telegram. It was subsequently revealed through German Air Force
documents that the RAF 57 Squadron DH4 aircraft in which Moses was the
observer was shot down by Ltn. Hans Joachim Wolff of Jagdgeschwader
Freihrr von Richtofen, popularly known as the Flying Circus. Lieutenant
Moses was 28, and his pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Douglas Price Trollip (a
South African) was 23. J. Moses Collection
For this sacrifice, changes were necessary to better the Indian way of life in Canada.
Interwar Politics
In the Indian Affairs’ 1918-1919 Annual Report, Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs Duncan Campbell Scott wrote that:
In
this year of peace, the Indians of Canada may look with just pride upon
the part played by them in the Great War both at home and on the field
of battle. They have well and nobly upheld the loyal traditions of their
gallant ancestors who rendered invaluable service to the British cause
in 1776 and in 1812, and have added thereto a heritage of deathless
honour, which is an example and an inspiration for their descendants.
Portrait photo of Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture, AEF
Demonstrating the Iroquois woman’s
traditional independence of spirit,
Edith Anderson from the Six Nation’s
of the Grand River reserve was living
and working as a registered nurse in
New York City when the U.S. entered
the First World War in 1917. Joining
the American Expeditionary Force as
an army nurse, she served overseas
in France until demobilized in 1919.
She returned home to the reserve to
continue nursing, and to raise a
family. Aboriginal women on the
homefront during both World Wars
were heavily involved in charitable
work, and with various forms of war
relief and soldier’s support. During
the Second World War, a number of
Aboriginal women served in the
women’s branches of the three services. J. Moses Collection
Portrait photo of Lieutenant F.O. Loft “As
peaceable and law-abiding citizens in the past, and even in the late
war, we have performed dutiful service to our King, Country and Empire,
and we have the right to claim and demand more justice and fair play as
recompense.”
Lieutenant Frederick Ogilvie Loft had served
with the Canadian Forestry Corps during the
First World War. A Mohawk from the Six Nations
of the Grand River, in 1919 he founded the
League of Indians of Canada, the first
national Native political organization in
the country. The League’s political
activities (which were entirely self-funded)
in agitating for Indian rights and political
reform soon became an irritant to the
federal government. In the Bolshevik scare
of the 1920’s in Canada, some government
officials were concerned that the
fledgling Native political organizations
were somehow affiliated with communist
leagues and militant trade union movements.
The 1927 Indian Act amendments attempted
to limit Indian political activity.
Although never fully successful, these
restrictive Indian Act clauses remained
in force until 1951.
There
was, however, more continuity than change in the administration of
Aboriginal peoples after the war. ‘In contrast to the country which made
political and economic gains,’ Gaffen concluded, ‘the lot of the Indian
people remained much the same. The sacrifice of killed and wounded
achieved very little politically, economically or socially for them.’
Historian James Dempsey has described the disappointment felt by many
Prairie Indian veterans when they returned home. Their exposure to the
broader world had changed them profoundly, but they returned to the same
patronizing society that they had left. Although eligible for the vote
overseas, they lost their democratic rights after the war. Furthermore,
the inequitable eligibility requirements and dispensation of veterans’
settlement packages (money and land) disadvantaged many Indian veterans.
Although they had fought overseas, their legal status had not changed;
they continued to be wards of the Crown.
Armed
with increased political awareness following their experiences at war,
veterans began to organize politically. Fred Loft from Six Nations
spearheaded the establishment of the League of Indians of Canada, the
first pan-Canadian Indian political movement, in the early 1920s. ‘As
peaceable and law-abiding citizens in the past, and even in the late
war, we have performed dutiful service to our King, Country and Empire,’
Loft explained, ‘and we have the right to claim and demand more justice
and fair play as a recompense.’ The treatment of First Nations veterans
was amongst the primary concerns of Loft and other Aboriginal leaders.
Aboriginal soldiers had fought in the war as equals, and even voted for
the first time in 1917, but when they returned home they found that they
had unequal access to veterans’ benefits compared to non-Indians. The Soldier Settlement Acts of
1917 and 1919 were the cornerstone of the federal government’s attempt
to look after Great War veterans, providing access to land and farming
implements at a low rate of interest. When status Indian veterans
expressed an interest in farming on their own reserves, however, Indian
Affairs took over administration of the act from the Department of
Soldiers’ Civil Reestablishment. Complications regarding ownership of
lands both on and off reserves made it nearly impossible for Indian
veterans to receive reestablishment loans. Allegations that returned
soldiers were being forcibly enfranchised (losing their Indian status),
were denied War Veterans’ Allowance Act benefits, that the application
of the Last Post Fund was inequitable, and also that 85,000 acres of
allegedly ‘surplus’ Indian reserve land were surrendered for
non-Aboriginal veteran settlers, further frustrated Aboriginal veterans
during the 1920s and 30s.
Indian Soldiers' war memorial Wekwemikon indian reserve Canadian Museum of Civlization (#78927)
Order of service for the Unveiling and Dedication of the Six Nations and Mississaugas Indian War Memorial...Sunday, November 12th, 1933. J. Moses collection
Notice to trespassers on Indian Reserves c. 1922As
in towns, villages, hamlets and cities across all parts of Canada,
during the interwar years, Aboriginal communities likewise recalled the
sacrifices of their fallen members (above left and above right). Despite
their recent service overseas, there were few improvements to the lot
of Aboriginal peoples in Canada following the War. The impacts of the
Depression were especially hard upon Native communities. Indian Act
amendments introduced in 1920 briefly mandated the compulsary
enfranchisement (loss of legal Indian status) of more “advanced” Indians
deemed by Indian Affairs to have achieved an acceptable level of
self-sufficiency. By definition this category tended to include many
newly returned veterans. Earlier Indian Act amendments had for a time
stipulated the compulsary enfranchisement of any Indian person in
receipt of a university degree. Canadian Museum of Civlization (#56862)
The
veterans generated sympathetic attention. During the interwar years
(1919-39) ‘no factual account [of the Great War] was complete without a
salutary reference to the gallantry of Canada’s “braves at war,”’
historian Jonathan Vance observed. The ties of camaraderie transcended
cultural lines. The Royal Canadian Legion acknowledged that Aboriginal
veterans were being short-changed, and passed resolutions demanding
equal benefits for status Indians. In 1936, government policies were
revised to reflect these recommendations. By this point, however,
ominous clouds had begun to gather in the Far East and in Europe. When
the storm broke soon thereafter, Canada’s Aboriginal peoples again found
themselves fighting alongside their comrades to free the world from
dictatorial tyranny.
The Indian Act, 1938, sections 140-141.
By the eve of the Second World War, status
Indians in Canada had among the most severely
limited range of civil, political and legal
rights of any group of people anywhere in
the Commonwealth. Successive Indian Act
amendments in force between 1884 and
1951 (thus spanning the era of the two
World Wars and Korea) variously placed
restrictions on status Indian travel, the
raising of funds in payment of legal
advice, and the perpetuation of cultural
practices including spiritual observances
and the wearing of traditional dress. [Department of National Defence]
On
10 September 1939, the Canadian Parliament declared war against Nazi
Germany. Hitler’s armies had invaded Poland, and the leaders of the
Western world realized that appeasement was no longer a viable strategy.
Nazi aggression had to be countered, and Canada could not stand aside
in another great war involving Great Britain. Yet Prime Minister William
Lyon Mackenzie King was loath to make an unlimited commitment. Canada’s
war effort thus began as one of ‘limited liability.’ A modest military
force of one division was sent overseas, and the government devoted the
bulk of its attention to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and
to gearing up for war production. Fearful events soon made this
‘Canada’s War,’ and for six gruelling years Canadians poured their
energies into a fight to protect and uphold Western democratic ideals.
By war’s end, out of a population of only 11 million people, more than
one million Canadian men and women had donned a military uniform.
Despite
Aboriginal veterans’ discontent during the interwar years, there
remained an undeniable sense of patriotism across Canada when the Second
World War broke out. When the German armies swept through Denmark,
Norway, Holland, Belgium and France in May and June of 1940 the Canadian
government dropped its ‘limited liability war effort’ for one of ‘total
war.’ Aboriginal peoples, like all other Canadians, were called upon to
make sacrifices and contribute to the national crusade to defeat
totalitarian aggression. Aboriginal service personnel were among the
casualties at Hong Kong and Dieppe, they fought in Italy and Sicily,
served on convoy escorts in the Battle of the Atlantic, and flew with
bomber and fighter crews around the world. They landed with 3rd Canadian
Infantry Division on D-Day, and fought through the campaigns in
Normandy and Northwest Europe. The war was a partnership between all
Canadians who were willing to sacrifice their lives to restore peace and
security to a world in turmoil.
There
were many reasons to volunteer for the defence of Canada and Britain.
As in the First World War, these reasons were as diverse as the
Aboriginal people who participated. Lawrence Martin, an Ojibway with the
Red Rock band in northern Ontario, had many family members who served
in both world wars. His uncle was killed at Passchendaele, and his
father was wounded twice in the First World War. His father said to him
‘if you [have] to go to war do not shirk your duty.’ He served with the
Lake Superior Regiment in Europe. Sidney Gordon, who grew up on the
Gordon’s Reserve in Saskatchewan, joined the army in April 1941. ‘I was
single so I thought it was good experience for me to go in the army,’ he
recalled. He was making little money at the time working as a farm
labourer, ‘so I figured a dollar and a half a day would be better than
what I’m doing. See I get my food, I get my clothes, so therefore I
thought of it.’ Russell Modest, a member of the Cowichan band who served
in the Second World War, recalled that the reason he served was his
experience at the Coqualeetza Residential School in Sardis, British
Columbia. ‘I heard some of the staff mention that the fact that a member
of their family or loved ones had been killed in the bombing in London,
Scotland and brothers and cousins who were killed in North Africa.’ His
experiences at residential school prepared him for military life:
We
lined up every morning for whatever, breakfast, lunch, supper, church….
So when I entered the military this was nothing new to me, I just
blended right in with it and little easier than some of the white boys
who came out of the cities who had no inkling of any discipline in the
military, if you will. So I was partly prepared. I left the school at
the age of 16 and worked for a couple of years and … the day I turned
18, instead of going to work … in the logging industry… I went to the
recruiting office and joined up.
Like
others, he joined out of patriotism and a desire to help stop the
Germans: he wanted to ‘do his bit.’ His father was upset. ‘He said I
know what you’ve done and it’s none of you’re business,’ Modest
explained. ‘If the War was on in Canada I would expect you to do what
you’ve done and help the country. But the War’s in Europe, it’s a
European War, it has nothing to do with you, it’s none of your business
and I don’t appreciate what you’ve done. I said dad it’s too late I’ve
given my oath I have to go through with it.’ Overseas, Modest served on
the front lines with the Lanark and Renfrew Scottish Regiment, fighting
through the mountains, vineyards, and small towns of Italy.
For
some Aboriginal soldiers, military service was an adventure, an
opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to the King and Queen. Chief
Walking Eagle from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta encapsulated this
sentiment when he declared, ‘every Indian in Canada will fight for King
George.’ For others, it was the chance to perpetuate a warrior
tradition, or represented freedom from stifling conditions on reserves.
For a large number of hopeful recruits it represented a welcome relief
to unemployment. The depression of the 1930’s had devastated many
reserve communities, and like other Canadians, Aboriginal men looked to
support their families in whatever way they could. The chance to become a
soldier meant a good salary and the additional benefit of a dependents
allowance. After the declaration of war, there was no shortage of eager
men in the enlistment queues.
Early
in the war, the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian
Air Force were selective in who they chose to enlist. In the Army there
were general requirements for good health and minimum standards for
education. Across the country many more men volunteered than were
accepted, and the racial barriers to Aboriginal participation that were
evident during the First World War were still in place. Aboriginal
people had, on average, a substantially lower level of education than
most other Canadians. This excluded many from enlisting early in the
war. The number of cases of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases
that ravaged Aboriginal people were in excess of those in non-Aboriginal
communities. An Indian Affairs Branch report that listed the incidence
of tuberculosis among Indians during the war as ‘more than ten times as
high as among the white population.’ In fact, an assistant
superintendent of medical services noted that it was possible to
identify the health of a reserve community based on the number of
recruits that enlisted. Additional barriers to Aboriginal enlistment
were set up through individual prerogative. In certain areas, despite
letters lauding Aboriginal achievements from Ottawa, local recruiting
officers were disinclined to take applicants from Aboriginal volunteers.
In some instances, these refusals stemmed from the preconceived notion
that Aboriginal recruits could not handle the demands of the training
program and the confinement of military quarters.
The
Royal Canadian Navy was more selective in its recruitment policy than
the Army. At the onset of the war, the standing policy held that only a
person ‘of pure European descent and of the white race’ would be
admitted for naval service. This policy effectively barred any
Aboriginal participation. There were three primary reasons for this
discriminatory policy, outlined in a report from the Commanding Officer,
Pacific Coast: that confined spaces do not lend themselves to positive
racial mixing; that there were legal restrictions on Indian access to
liquor (the navy was the only arm of defence that still distributed a
grog ration to its enlistees); and that Indians would have to be messed
separately. The Canadian government upheld this policy until 12 March
1943, when it was finally changed. The application of this policy,
however, was not universal. The 1942-43 Indian Affairs report already
listed nine status Indians in the Navy.
The
Royal Canadian Air Force had high education standards and also did not
accept ethnic applicants. The Royal Canadian Air Force was closely
linked to its British counterpart, the Royal Air Force, and it was
expected to follow the same codes of behaviour and policies. Prior to
the war, the standard was not only ‘pure European descent,’ but also
specifically ‘sons of parents both of whom are … British subjects.’ In
1939, correspondence from the acting Chief of Air Staff indicated that
North American Indians were an exception to this rule. Despite this
apparent opening, there was far less Aboriginal representation within
the air force than in the infantry. To become a pilot, applicants were
required to have completed ‘junior matriculation’ – the equivalent to
grade 11 or 12. This effectively eliminated most Aboriginal hopefuls:
more than seventy-five percent of Aboriginal peoples in Canada attained a
level of education equivalent to grade 1 to 3. As a result, the
1942-1943 Indian Affairs Branch report listed only twenty-nine
Aboriginal servicemen in the RCAF. Nevertheless, men like David Moses, a
Delaware from Ohsweken who had studied agriculture at the University of
Guelph before the war, served with the RCAF. He was in Iceland for the
last year of the war flying Consolidated Canso ‘flying-boats’ on convoy
duty in search of German U-boats.
Regulations
aside, Aboriginal people enlisted in high numbers and once again a
sense of equality developed in the Canadian forces, inspired in part by
shared training and camaraderie. Enlistees – both Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal – spent months training in Canada before deploying to
Britain. There, they spent months further preparing for active service.
The troops also spent time socializing with Britons. Russell Modeste
found the reception for Native people in England to be a refreshing
change from the discrimination that he faced in Canada. ‘When we landed
in England it was so different,’ he reminisced. ‘We’d go to a dance and
anyone you asked, yes they would dance.’ Aboriginal soldiers, free from
the constraints of the Indian Act and the watchful eyes of Indian
agents, discovered English pubs and lived the life of any other soldier
overseas. This experience was formative: it was liberating to some; for
others it served to highlight the inequities of Aboriginal life at home.
It left lasting impacts, which ranged from growing personal
self-confidence, to marriage with British citizens, later called ‘war
brides,’ to increased Aboriginal activism in the post-war years.
Aboriginal
Peoples’ direct contributions to the war effort through military
service grew during the war, as it had during the previous one. In the
1940 Annual Report of the Indian Affairs Branch, Director H.W. McGill
observed that:
Always
loyal, [Indian communities] were not slow to come forward with offers
of assistance in both men and money. About one hundred Indians had
enlisted by the end of the fiscal year and the contributions of the
Indians to the Red Cross and other funds amounted to over $1,300.
As
laudable as this initial participation was, McGill subsequently noted
that by 1942 the rate of participation was not as high as it had been
during the First World War. Aboriginal men and women were drawn to high
paying war industry employment off-reserve. Enlistments were still
recorded in all provinces in Canada, and the 1942 Annual Report
indicated an increase in enlistees to 1,801. But mid-1943, the number of
Indian service personnel grew to 2,383 and then swelled to 2,603 in
1944. At the war’s end, the Indian Affairs Branch officially reported
that 3,090 status Indians had participated in the war (2.4% of the
125,946 status Indians identified in the Canadian census). As was the
case during the First World War, the figure for Aboriginal soldiers was
undoubtedly much higher because non-status Indians and Métis were
excluded from this count.
The Lainé brothers from the Huron-Wendat Reserve in Wendake, Quebec.
Not knowing if she would see her sons alive together again,
their mother took the opportunity to take this group
photograph (date unknown). From left to right are: Joffre
(who served with the American army), Fernand, Robert and
Jean-Baptiste. All four brothers survived the war. Photo courtesy of Denis Lainé
Enlistment
rates differed by region. The Maritimes boasted the highest per capita
rates of participation, with 7.4% of the overall status Indian
population enlisting. Ontario had the highest number of Aboriginal
recruits, which registered just over 4% of the status Indian population
in that province. Slightly more than 2% of Quebec Indians served. Nearly
1.8% of all Prairie Indians enlisted, although Saskatchewan
participation rates were significantly higher than those in Alberta or
Manitoba. Finally, 1.3% of status Indians living in British Columbia
served overseas. The increased demand for British Columbia fishers
following the internment of the Japanese Canadians helps to account for
this comparatively low rate of participation. The tiny number of
enlistments from the Territorial North reflects the relative isolation
of their communities, as well as their involvement in other wartime
activities such as remote airfield and road construction connected to
the Alaska Highway, Northwest and Northeast Staging Routes, and the
Canol oil pipeline, which dramatically transformed their homelands.
Aboriginal
women also served and noted a spirit of camaraderie that transcended
ethnic lines. Dorothy Asquith, a Métis who served in the RCAF Women’s
Auxiliary, recalled:
Discrimination?
Everybody was so involved in what was happening with the war that
nobody was involved in such pettiness. I don’t think you bothered to
look at the colour of your buddies’ skin, especially the guys who were
involved in warfare. A couple cousins of mine said, “Who the hell ever
stopped to look at colour? We were so all darned glad that you could get
a place to duck into; who gave a damn who’s with you? We were there
together, two lives. That’s my feeling; everything was too serious to
think petty like that.
P.
Gayle McKenzie and Ginny Belcourt Todd have interviewed and recorded
the memories of some of the Aboriginal servicewomen in Our Women in
Uniform. In their reminiscences, these women indicated that their
reasons for joining up were not very different from those commonly cited
by Aboriginal men. Several women noted the prospect of earning 65 cents
a day (less than the wage paid to male recruits), the opportunity to
travel, and patriotism. They were trained in non-traditional jobs, but
their primary role was seen as supportive. The RCAF Women’s Division
motto was ‘We serve that men may fly.’ In the Canadian Women’s Army
Corps, Aboriginal women learned first aid, military clerical duties, and
motor mechanics. In 1943, 16 of the 1,801 Aboriginal people in military
service were women. A 1950 government memorandum indicates that 72
status Indian women served overseas during the world wars.
Aboriginal
service also transcended generational lines. Older men not eligible for
overseas service enlisted for home defence with the Veteran’s Guard.
For instance, Joe Dreaver from the Mistawasis Cree Band had earned a
Military Medal at Ypres in the Great War; during that conflict he had
lost one brother in action and another who later died from his wounds.
In the Second World War he joined the Veteran’s Guard while three of his
sons and two daughters served overseas. The McLeod family from the Cape
Croker Reserve, on the Bruce Peninsula in south-western Ontario, also
had substantial representation in the military. John McLeod, an Ojibwa,
served in the Great War and with the Veteran’s Guard of Canada in the
Second. Six of his sons and one of his daughters enlisted between 1940
and 1944: two of the boys were killed in action, and two others were
wounded. In acknowledgment of her family’s sacrifice, Mrs. McLeod was
named Silver Cross Mother of the Year in 1972, and she was the first
Canadian Indian to lay a wreath on the National War Memorial in Ottawa
on behalf of mothers who lost their children to the wars.
The
McLeod family was not alone in its sacrifices. In October 1943, the
Globe and Mail reported that the Cape Croker Reserve – total population
of 471 – had 43 men in uniform with the army, navy, and air force; nine
members of the Veterans Guard; and seven women with the Canadian Women’s
Army Corps. These were exceptional numbers. In British Columbia, the
interior agencies of Kamloops, Stuart Lake, Williams Lake, Kootenay and
the Okanagan had the highest rates of enlistment. In Alberta, where the
overall numbers were much lower than the other provinces, the Blood,
Lesser Slave Lake, Saddle Lake and the Blackfoot agencies provided the
most recruits. Saskatchewan had higher than average representation for
the Prairies; the agencies with the highest enlistments were Carlton,
File Hills, Crooked Lake and Duck Lake. In Manitoba, Fisher River,
Portage la Prairie and Norway House proved to be solid recruiting
grounds. In the well-populated province of Ontario, the Six Nations,
Manitoulin Island, Parry Sound and Tyendinaga agencies produced high
numbers of volunteers. Most Indian recruits in Quebec came from
Restigouche, St. Regis and Lorette agencies. On the East coast the
agencies of South West (in New Brunswick) and Kings (in Nova Scotia)
contributed the highest numbers of young men and women to service
overseas.
After
the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, West
Coast residents demanded protection from possible attack. In response,
the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers were formed in British Columbia. These
voluntary ‘citizen-soldiers’ helped to defend the ‘Pacific Province’ by
patrolling their local area, reporting any findings of a suspicious
nature, and adopting guerrilla tactics in the case of enemy invasion. By
1943, 15,000 British Columbians and Yukoners served as Rangers in
isolated communities from Dawson to the Queen Charlotte Islands to the
American border. Given the demographic and geographical realities of
remote coastal areas, Aboriginal peoples made ‘natural’ Rangers.
‘Indians, with knowledge of trails that are charted imperfectly,’ the
Vancouver Sun noted on 6 March 1942, were ‘given a chance to do heroic
work in defense of a province … impregnable against the yellow menace
through intelligent, understanding manning of its contours and natural
barriers.’ The Pacific Coast Militia Rangers gave Aboriginal men in B.C.
a chance to serve in the defence of their communities while continuing
their daily employment and traditional activities. They made a vital
contribution in several areas, particularly along the extensive – and
vulnerable – Pacific coastline, serving as guides and scouts for
soldiers on Active Service. The members from Aboriginal communities
provided important operational intelligence to the military, reporting
unusual activities and phenomena (such as sighting Japanese
bomb-carrying balloons) through to war’s end in September 1945.
Home
front contributions went beyond military service. As had been the case
in the First World War, women’s service clubs and community groups
donated and raised funds for the Red Cross and other war charities. By
the end of 1945, Indian bands officially had donated $23,596.71. A note
found in Indian Affairs records indicated that many donations went
directly to local organisations and that the ‘substantial donations of
furs, clothing and other articles were made, the monetary value of which
has not been calculated.’ One community in particular received
international recognition for supporting the children orphaned by the
London air raids. In 1941, the Old Crow Indians in the Yukon sent
$432.30 to buy boots and clothing for these children. The British Press
noted their generosity, and the Old Crow community continued to support
various war funds in the subsequent years of the conflict.
As
Allied fortunes worsened in mid-1940 with the fall of France and the
Low Countries, the Canadian government again faced the difficult
question of conscription. Late in the First World War, P.C. 111 had
excluded status Indians from compulsory overseas services. This
legislation was repealed before the Second World War broke out, and
therefore the issue had to be dealt with once more. Parliament passed
the National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA) on 21 June 1940 to
intensify Canada’s war effort. The legislation required Canadian men and
women to register so that the federal government could rationally
manage the country’s resources, but it assured Canadians that
conscription would be for home defence only. Nevertheless, several
Aboriginal leaders and band councils wrote letters and petitions to
Ottawa, expressing their concern with compulsory enlistment and service.
The issue was not about home defence; most Aboriginal communities were
willing to contribute to the war effort. The choice of whether to serve
overseas was one of principle. In Alberta, the Peigan chief and headmen
‘expressed the views that the Indians should not be liable for military
service,’ the Indian agent explained in October 1940, ‘on the principles
that as they were native born Canadians and at the treaties signed with
them [it] was urged upon the Indians to settle down, cease fighting,
and live on peaceable terms with the whites.’ Several tribal councils in
north-western Ontario also passed resolutions denouncing conscription,
and demanded that their Indian Agent ‘stretch out a long arm and halt
all the functions of government.’ For their part, the Six Nations at
Brantford, Ontario ‘strongly protested the imposition of 30 days
military training upon the young single men of this reservation.’
Initially, groups of men were only conscripted for 30 days of training.
As enlistments slowed throughout Canada, these mandatory terms extended
to four months service and then for the duration of the war. This
reflected Canada’s transition from a ‘limited liability’ war effort to a
‘total war’ footing.
Government
promises and the wording of the NRMA reassured most status Indian men
that they would not be sent overseas and many complied with domestic
conscription. Several resisted its provisions by refusing to report to
medical examinations or evading police attempts to track them down.
These evasions became more common after a national plebiscite held on 27
April 1942 released the federal government from its obligation to limit
conscripts to home defence. Bill 80 authorized conscription for
overseas service if necessary. First Nations leaders raised issues of
fairness. ‘Why should we be asked to go?’ chiefs from the Blood Reserve
in Alberta questioned. They emphasized that, as wards of the government
who did not have the right to vote, they should not be asked ‘to submit
like children and take responsibility with those who are fortunate to be
full citizens and subjects of the King.’ This injustice would only be
corrected if they received the franchise. The government responded that
Indians were liable for conscription like other Canadian men. In Quebec,
an Aboriginal rights organization known as the ‘Protection Committee’
maintained that status Indians were exempt from conscripted service,
citing their inferior status under the Indian Act and their sovereignty
under the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The issue led to a confrontation
between police and the Aboriginal residents who opposed conscription on
the Caughnawaga (Kahnawake) reserve near Montreal. In northern Ontario,
Indian reserve communities argued exemptions under the terms of the
Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior treaties of 1850. When several
objectors, who failed to register, went to court, the Department of
Justice explained that ‘Indians, being British subjects, are subject to
Section 3 of the National War Service Regulations, 1940 (Recruits).’
This remained the government’s official position for the duration of the
war.
In
practice, the enforcement of the NRMA proved nearly impossible,
particularly in remote areas. The case of Edward Cardinal of Whitecourt,
Alberta, typified the problems facing NRMA registrars. When the post
office returned a notice ordering Cardinal’s medical examination prior
to military training, the Edmonton registrar asked the postmaster why it
had not been picked up. He replied that Cardinal frequented an area
twelve miles north and only picked up his mail twice each year. Other
Indians who pursued a trapping, hunting and fishing lifestyle were even
more difficult to contact, and the registrar admitted that it was
‘practically impossible’ to locate many of them. In lower mainland
British Columbia, for example, the Native peoples tended to treat the
notices ‘with apparent indifference,’ according to the Vancouver
registrar. This made administration very difficult, and therefore the
government inconsistently applied the regulations regarding Aboriginal
men. Furthermore, language barriers and persistent health problems on
many reserves meant that many status Indians who registered were never
compelled to serve. As a result, any success in conscripting Aboriginal
peoples was limited at best.
Italy and Sicily 1943-1945 Department of National Defence
By
1943, some of Canada’s volunteer soldiers found themselves in sustained
operations in Europe. Henry Beaudry from Sheepgrass First Nations was a
young man who left his reserve to work for a farmer in the spring saw a
sign at the Post Office: ‘Join the army and see the world.’ He decided
to do so. ‘I went to the post office and just … signed my name. That
same evening I was in a train going to Saskatoon.’ After serving with
the forestry corps in Scotland, he transferred to Saskatchewan Light
Infantry and participated in the Sicilian and Italian Campaigns. ‘I was
in the front all the way along,’ Beaudry recalled, ‘and we came to this
place called Ortona, one of Hitler’s defence line. I was an attack
gunner. I had a gun on the top of the hill and the town was kind of on
the lower part.’ During the battle, Beaudry was hit by sniper fire. When
he got out of hospital a month later, he transferred to the Princess
Louise Dragoon Guards (a reconnaissance unit) that ‘used to go to in
front of infantry to … cut off communications and supply lines.’ In one
of their more harrowing tasks, they had to cross two canals to take a
town. ‘They were pretty deep up to our necks you know. We had our guns
up. My clothes were past these canals and when we got on the other side
we were all ice it was so cold. Our clothes were all icy, we had cross
two canals. One of my friends from Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, he was a
Métis, he got killed right beside me then we kept on going.’ Beaudry was
again injured in hand-to-hand combat but kept on fighting. Pinned down
in a building throughout the night, he faced a continuous stream of
German grenades infamously known as ‘potato mashers.’ ‘They used to come
around the floor you know by the time they reach us I used to throw
them back to them and they explode,’ Beaudry reminisced. He ran out of
ammunition by morning, and when the Germans captured the building he
played dead. They prodded him awake and he was taken prisoner. Two
officers questioned him a few days later. One had been to Saskatchewan a
few years earlier and said ‘We are honoured to capture a Brave. You
guys are the best fighters in the world. You’ve been fighting for 500
years, [and you’re] still fighting. Why do you come and fight? Them guys
took all your country.’ Beaudry could not reply because he had told his
captors that he did not speak English. He spent time in prisoner of war
camps in Italy and Germany before participating in a two month long
‘death march’ in the spring of 1945. When he finally returned to
England, he had to spend time in hospital to recover.
The
main Allied invasion of Europe came in mid-1944. Raymond Anderson, from
Sandy Hook, Manitoba, went overseas in 1943 with the 1st Canadian
Parachute Battalion. He parachuted into France just before midnight on 5
June 1944 to set up the drop zone for the remainder of his battalion.
‘I was picked for this job and leading patrols because I was a Métis,’
Anderson explained, ‘and they thought my skills as a Métis, with an
Aboriginal background, should be come very valuable.’ The following
morning, D-Day, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landed at Juno Beach.
Charles Bird recalled:
Early
on the 6th of June … we got into these … Landing Craft Assault, now we
were going into the real thing now… We were getting close, oh about a
mile off the beach when the shells start coming. From the beach now they
were shelling but they weren’t landing right here where we were in that
boat. Then we hit the beach and there was a big pillbox right on the
left of us a big in there. The gun was down and we figured we were all
coming in on the beach now. When the big door opened at the front then
the machine guns started. That was rough.… They bombed the beach before
and there was a bomb that kind of hit the ground and five of us got into
that hole there. Just got there and there was a wall about ten feet
high, we just got to that when a grenade came flying in amongst us.
Right in amongst us all you could do was just swing around and turn
around so we swung around. That grenade exploded in there. One guy got
pretty badly hurt I got in the leg. I got shrapnel in the leg….
George
Myram of Edwin (Long Plain), Manitoba, remembers landing and ‘seeing
the dead, the wounded and the suffering. I think that was the longest
day of my life…. All these bombers coming over bombing, and artillery
and the heavy artillery from the battleships just roaring and planes
flying all over – some are on fire – and, fireworks. Like fireworks but
this was for real, this was for victory.’ The liberation of Western
Europe had begun.
The
Canadian fighting in Normandy and Northwest Europe took its toll:
18,444 casualties in the Normandy Campaign. Canada was given a
significant role in the ensuing pursuit of the retreating Germans
through Belgium and the Netherlands. Harry Lavallee, a Métis from
Stonewall, Manitoba, avoided the fate of several relatives who ended up
at Hong Kong with the Winnipeg Grenadiers. He joined the Royal Canadian
Ordnance Corps, and eventually served in Northwest Europe as a rifleman
with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. ‘We marched, marched and
marched, but the first night going into the front line I nearly got
killed [by] bombing,’ he remembered. ‘We walked to the front line so we
had to go there and all of a sudden there were bombs coming all over and
we had to dive for the ground and ended up going up into a trench, and
that’s where I was nearly shot.’ He felt the breeze of shrapnel or
machine gun bullets as they passed near his body. ‘If I’d have went over
a foot or something I could have been split in half.’ George Myram also
fought through Northwest Europe. He explained that ‘when there was a
war on we knew you were going over there to kill or be killed but we
still volunteered.’ They fought ‘with rifles and bayonets’ and ‘didn’t
wait for the heavy guns to soften up the enemy or bombard a position
before we went in. We went in, we fought our way in.’ By late November,
the Canadian Army was deeply engaged in the clearing the Scheldt
Estuary. Facing stiff resistance in difficult polder country, Canadian
casualty rates quickly outpaced enlistments.
With
much consternation, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King decided
in November 1944 to send NRMA conscripts overseas. As the first
conscripts boarded ships for Europe, the Cabinet War Committee dealt
with the unique case of Aboriginal service. In late December 1944, it
decided that all Indians were liable for military service; Cabinet did
not grant a blanket exemption as it had in the First World War. Indian
Affairs could not find any references to conscription in the written
texts of the treaties, but they did find cases where ‘exemption under
treaty could be claimed with justification.’ Verbal promises were made
to the Indian signatories of Treaties 3, 6, 8 and 11 that they would not
have to fight in future wars. By 1944, at least 324 individuals from
these treaty areas had already volunteered to serve overseas. The
conscripts from these treaty communities who remained in Canada would
only be expected to defend their homes in North America, and would not
be compelled to serve overseas.
Officially,
all other Aboriginal conscripts in Canada were liable for overseas
service, but few if any of the 13,000 Canadian conscripts sent overseas
in the Second World War were status Indians. In February 1945, Indian
Affairs directed federal registrars not to call up Indians who spoke
neither English nor French, not to issue orders to any Native person
living in remote areas, and to record any Indian recruit deemed
unacceptable to the army, regardless of his physical condition, as ‘Not
Acceptable for Medical Reasons.’ This excluded most status Indian men
who remained in Canada. Band council opposition and grassroots
resistance to conscription continued, however, and tensions ran high. As
a result, the government abandoned any concentrated attempt to
conscript the status Indian population in the final months of the war.
Officials decided to drop any further prosecution of Aboriginal men who
had fought the registration process, and granted suspended sentences on
all outstanding cases before the courts. Concurrently, Aboriginal
volunteers fought on in Europe. Lawrence Martin fought with the Lake
Superior Regiment along the Maas River and into Germany. He spent much
of his time on half-tracks or clearing houses. “It was a dirty job,” he
reminisced. “But somebody had to do it.” Alongside other Canadian and
Allied soldiers, they celebrated Victory in Europe on 8 May 1945.
Cecil Ace, Ojibway from Aird Island, Ontario in the Canadian Army, reclining at left somewhere in Germany, the morning after the peace was signed.
“We went to Caen which we helped to liberate … We started
our push and we moved up to the Falaise Gap ... We fought
in the Scheldt Estuary also, a lot of fighting there [against]
a pocket of Germans. [We] lost a lot of soldiers there …
We were there quite a while in the Scheldt. We had a hard
time there. The weather was so bad … cold [and] muddy …
We had to dig [the guns] in all the time too. [And there
were a lot of German 88s]. And then when we got to
[the] other side were in Germany, then we really started to
move … After that the war was just about finished … We could
see big columns of Germans marching back home … and we
were there to watch where they were going … That was it.” Photo provided by Cecil Ace
Although
the conscription issue generated significant concerns during the war,
it cannot be allowed to overshadow the important voluntary contributions
made by Aboriginal peoples on individual and communal levels. Most of
the 3,000 status Indian recruits served in the infantry. Similar to the
structure found in the First World War there were no ethnic specific
units formed. However there were many infantry battalions that had
significant numbers of Aboriginal personnel, such as the Princess
Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, The Calgary Highlanders, The
Edmonton Regiment, The South Saskatchewan Regiment, The Hastings and
Prince Edward Regiment, The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, The Regina
Rifle Regiment and The Royal Winnipeg Rifles. The skills that served
them in peacetime were readily adaptable to infantry training. Books by
Janice Summerby and Fred Gaffen provide additional biographical sketches
of specific individuals and their wartime contributions, including
courageous men who earned multiple decorations. Three anecdotes provide
an introduction to their noteworthy achievements.
Charles
Byce’s mother, Louisa Saylors, was a Cree from Moose Factory, Ontario.
His father Henry Byce, a non-Aboriginal man from Westmeath, Ontario, had
won both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and France’s Médaille
militaire during the Great War. At his urging Charles joined The Lake
Superior Regiment during the Second World War. On 21 January 1945,
Charles was serving in the Netherlands. An acting-corporal at the time,
he led a five-man group across the Maas River to capture German
prisoners for intelligence. When the patrol landed it came under attack
from three different enemy positions. Corporal Byce personally located
two of them and silenced them with grenades. ‘As the patrol hurried
across the dyke several grenades hurtled through the air towards them.
Fortunately, they exploded harmlessly … but they did serve to reveal the
location of two more enemy soldiers.’ In response, Byce ‘charged the
German dug-out and into it hurled a 36 [the type classification]
grenade,’ killing both the occupants. For his bravery he was awarded the
Military Medal. Six weeks later, Summerby explains, during the battle
for the Rhineland’s Hochwald Forest, Byce became one of 162 Canadians to
win the Distinguished Conduct Medal during the war. His ‘C’ Company was
under severe fire and sustained heavy casualties, including every
officer. Acting Sergeant Byce took over the command and ‘fought as long
as he could; then gathering what few men he was able to find about him
he made his way back through the bullet-strewn escape alley.’ Byce
personally covered the retreat, sniping at the enemy infantry to prevent
them from overrunning his men. His citation reads:
The
magnificent courage and fighting spirit displayed by this N[on]
C[ommissioned] O[fficer] when faced with almost insuperable odds are
beyond all praise. His gallant stand, without adequate weapons and with a
bare handful of men against hopeless odds will remain, for all time, an
outstanding example to all ranks of the Regiment.
Lieutenant David Greyeyes, Cree from Muskeg Lake, Cree Nation, 1st Infantry Division Support Battalion (The Saskatoon Light Infantry), 21 September 1943. Department of National Defence
Private Mary Greyeyes, Cree from Muskeg Lake,Cree Nation, Canadian Women's Army Corps. Library and Archives Canada (PA-129070)
Department
of National Defence public affairs noted that Greyeyes enlisted in 1940
and attained the rank of Sergeant overseas before being returned to
Canada in February 1943 for officer training. Returning to Britain as a
Lieutenant in July 1943 “he was believed to be the only officer of
Indian blood who is serving in the Canadian Army overseas”. This image
was used for recruiting during and after the war. The Winnipeg Tribune
caption identified “Councillor Harry Bull, of the Piagut Indian
community near Regina who lost a leg at Vimy Ridge in the Great War
‘giving his blessing. Stephen Reid recalled later that his mother ” the
first Indian girl to enlist in Canada…was accepted into the CWAC as a
cook and was posted overseas to England in the Laundry Unit”. Two other
brothers also served.
Charles Byce was one of the few Canadians who won both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal.
During
a long and distinguished military career, Oliver Milton Martin, a
Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River, made his mark in both
the army and the air force. Martin attained the highest rank ever by an
Indian, ending his wartime service as a brigadier. Born in 1893, he
joined The Haldimand Rifles as a bugler in 1909. Six years later, he
volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force with his two brothers.
As a lieutenant he spent seven months in France and Belgium before
becoming an observer with the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. The following
year he earned his pilot’s wings. Between the wars he taught school and
commanded The Haldimand Rifles from 1930 until 1939, and at the outbreak
of war he was promoted to colonel. The following year he was promoted
to brigadier and subsequently commanded the 14th and 16th Infantry
Brigades on the West Coast. In October 1944, at the age of 53, Brigadier
Martin retired from active service. He eventually became a magistrate
and a proud spokesperson for the Aboriginal cause.
Perhaps
the best-known Aboriginal soldier of the 20th Century is Thomas George
Prince, who distinguished himself in battle in Italy and in France
during the Second World War. Prince was born into a large family in
Manitoba, and began his military career as a sapper with the Royal
Canadian Engineers. He trained with the 1st Canadian Special Service
Force and became a paratrooper. The ‘Devil’s Brigade,’ as the Germans
came to call the Special Service Force, took Prince to Italy in 1944. On
one occasion, he was ordered to maintain surveillance at an abandoned
farmhouse approximately 200 metres from the enemy lines. Connected to
his battalion by some 1,400 metres of telephone wire, Prince radioed
updates about artillery placements. When the communication line was cut
by enemy shelling during his watch, Prince put on civilian clothes and
pretended to be a farmer hoeing his field. Slowly making his way down
the line he fixed the severed line and continued his reports. He
repaired damaged lines a number of times in this manner during his
24-hour posting. With the information he provided, four German positions
were destroyed and Prince earned the Military Medal. Six months later,
Prince’s unit was stationed in Southern France. He and another soldier
went behind enemy lines to locate gun sites and an encampment area. They
then walked back 70 kilometres to make their report. For this bravery
Prince received his recommendation for the Silver Star – an American
decoration for gallantry in action. After the fighting was finished,
King George VI summoned Prince to London and awarded him the Silver Star
and ribbon on behalf of the President of the United States. There were
only 59 Canadians awarded the Silver Star, and only three also wore the
Military Medal. Prince was in elite company.
North American Indian Brotherhood convention, Ottawa, 1945 Kahnawake Cultural Centre
Francis Pegahmagabow, Anishinabeg of Parry Island, during a 1945 visit to Ottawa. Canadian Museum of Civlization (#95292-3)
Following
the Second World War, Canada as a nation embarked upon an unprecedented
period of economic growth, prosperity and social reform, as the
government implemented the features of the modern welfare state. As had
been the case following the First World War, newly returned Aboriginal
veterans and their supporters were active in promoting the rights and
interests of their people through various means. Francis Pegahmagabow
was emblematic of those veterans who assumed leadership roles within
their respective communities during the interwar and post-war years.
Pegahmagabow served as a sniper with the 1st Canadian Infantry Battalion
during the First World War and was awarded the Military Medal for
bravery three times. Treated as an equal by his fellow soldiers, he was
disillusioned upon his return to the Reserve where he was treated as a
second-class citizen. He would champion aboriginal rights through a
peaceful campaign of letter writing and court challenges for the rest of
his life. He presided as band Chief from 1921-25 and served as a band
councillor from 1933-36. In 1943, he was named Supreme Chief of The
Native Independent Government, an early native rights group. Other
groups such as the League of Indians of Canada (led by another Great War
veteran, F.O. Loft) pushed for the recognition of aboriginal rights.
The North American Indian Brotherhood pictured at a convention in Ottawa
in 1945 was another of these organizations.
All
told, the extent of Aboriginal service during the Second World War was
impressive. This participation also came at a cost. After the war, the
Indian Affairs Branch reported that 200 status Indian soldiers had been
killed in action or died in uniform. Historian Fred Gaffen reported the
number at 220, and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
extrapolated that about 500 Aboriginal peoples gave their lives,
assuming similar percentages for non-status Indians and Métis. Whatever
the number, Aboriginal people’s voluntary contributions – and sacrifices
– testified to their support for the war and the ideals and values for
which it was fought.
Most
of the Aboriginal soldiers recalled that they were treated as equals in
the military. Charles Bird encountered ‘no such thing as
discrimination… Everybody is a brother to you that’s the way it was.’
Howard Anderson of Punnichy, Saskatchewan, explained that ‘it was the
coming back that was the hard part. That’s where the problem was. We
could never be the same yet we were the same in the Army. When [we came
back we] were different.’ When the war was over and Aboriginal service
personnel returned home from active duty, they looked forward to
starting a new life with the help of the provisions of the Veterans
Charter, the generous benefits package set up by the federal government
during the Second World War. Unequal access and administrative
differences proved a source of dismay for many Aboriginal veterans. In
theory, all veterans were eligible for the same dependents’ allowances
and veterans’ benefits. The only formal exceptions were special
provisions in the Veterans’ Land Act for status Indian veterans who
wished to settle on reserve lands. In practice, systemic factors
inhibited Aboriginal veterans’ access to information, counselling, and
benefits. Indian veterans faced the unique difficulty of having to deal
with three federal bureaucracies with overlapping jurisdictions, and
they were reliant upon their local Indian agent for accurate details and
advice on programmes. Other veterans dealt directly with Veterans
Affairs counsellors. These different administrations left ample room for
inequity.
For
individual veterans, frustration mounted in the years after the war
regarding what they saw as unequal and unfair treatment. ‘We came from
Europe and they give us some money for a while and then we got a grant
for $2,320, the grant was, I think, run by the Indian Agent,’ Charles
Bird explained. He, and his brother Gerry, used it to buy a tractor and
tiller, and started to farm a quarter section in Saskatchewan. But they
couldn’t sell their produce or livestock without permission. ‘If you had
cattle you couldn’t sell it. You had to get a permit from the agent.
You had to have a permit for everything…. Even …if you took a load of
wood to town to sell it you had to have a permit. That was rotten.’
Status Indian veterans on reserves did not have access to $6,000 in
Veterans’ Land Act loans – after all, reserve lands were communally
owned and veterans did not hold individual title to the land, which
meant that their parcels could not be used as collateral. Instead, they
received a grant of up to $2,320. This limited their capital and hence
their business options. With energy and determination, some Aboriginal
veterans presented their case before Parliamentary committees after the
war and formed Aboriginal veterans’ associations. Their search for
compensation extended into the next century.
Many
Aboriginal veterans stressed that they sought one thing above all else:
acknowledgement for their contributions. They had participated in the
national war efforts from 1914 to 1919 and from 1939 to 1945. They had
fought as equals with their comrades-in-arms from all segments of
Canadian society. They returned home with a self-awareness that they
were not ‘second-class’ persons, and they sought the same principles of
democracy, freedom, and equality for which all Canadians had fought and
died. Aboriginal sailors, soldiers and air personnel would continue to
serve their country when the ‘new world order’ envisioned in 1945 failed
to bring its promised peace.
Buckam Singh and Sikh Canadians in the First World War
Buckam Singh, labourer, soldier (born 5
December 1893 in Mahilpur, Punjab, India; died 27 August 1919 in
Kitchener, ON). There is little information published about the role of
Sikhs in Canadian military service during the First World War. The
discovery of Buckam Singh’s Victory Medal led to his reclamation by his
community, which commemorates him with an annual Remembrance Day service
A Sikh Canadian soldier during WWI. Image: Asia Canada.
Asia Canada/Historica Canada
It is little known that Sikh Canadians served with the Canadian Army in the First World War. Ten such men have been found among the military records of the Great War, all volunteers to fight for a country that denied them the rights of citizenship. Among them, eight served in Europe, two of whom were killed in action. Another, who was wounded and died after returning to Canada, was Buckam Singh, whose story has been discovered more fully than the others.
Sikh Canadian soldiers in the Red Sea, during WWI. Image: Major James Skitt Matthews/Vancouver Archives/AM54-S4-2-;CVA 371-2752.
Vancouver Archives
Private Buckam Singh
Buckam (Bukkan on his headstone) Singh was born at Mahilpur, Punjab, India, in December 1893. He came to Canada in 1907, at the age of 14, and became a miner in British Columbia before moving to Toronto in 1912 or 1913. Although he was very young when he immigrated to Canada, he was already married, but because of harsh immigration laws he could not bring his bride with him. In 1915, Singh enrolled in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was working as a farm hand in Rosebank, Ontario, when he was called for active service and joined the 20th Battalion. His last service was with the 28th Battalion, according to his headstone.
Singh was wounded twice, in separate battles, and is said to have been treated by Dr. John McCrae, who wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields.” Singh was sent to a hospital in England to be repatriated to Canada. While in England, he contracted tuberculosis. He died in a Kitchener, Ontario, hospital in August 1919. He was buried in Kitchener’s Mount Hope Cemetery — the only known First World War Sikh Canadian soldier’s grave in the country.
Commemoration of Sikh Canadian Soldiers
There is little information published about the role of Sikhs in Canadian military service during the First World War. The discovery of Buckam Singh’s Victory Medal has led to his reclamation by his community, which commemorates him with an annual Remembrance Day service, and to interest in discovering the history of Sikh soldiers in Canada.
The largely undocumented story of Sikh Canadian soldiers was told by filmmaker David R. Gray. The documentary, Canadian Soldier Sikhs: A Little Story in a Big War, for OMNI Television, uncovered the stories of Buckam Singh and these other forgotten men.
Sikh Canadian Soldiers of the First World War
John Baboo of Winnipeg, originally from Punjab, India. He was wounded at Vimy Ridge.
Sunta Gougersingh, originally from Punjab, India, who enlisted in Montréal and served in the Québec Regiment. He was killed in action 19 October 1915.
Hari Singh of Toronto, originally from Punjab, India, who served with the Reserve Battalion, Royal Canadian Dragoons.
Harnom Singh, alias Harry Robson, of Chilliwack, BC, possibly born in Juarez, Mexico. His parents were possibly from Singapore and India. He served in the 143rd Railway Construction Battalion.
John Singh of Winnipeg, born in India. He served in the 108th Overseas Battalion.
Lashman Singh, born in India, and enlisted at Smiths Falls, Ontario. He served with the 75th Battalion and was killed in action on 24 October 1918.
Ram Singh of Grand Forks, BC, born in Punjab, India. He enlisted in Vancouver.
Sewa Singh of Vancouver, born in Dinjutah, India. He served with the 1st Canadian Reserves Battalion.
Waryam Singh, born in Punjab, India, and enlisted at Smiths Falls, Ontario. He served with the 38th Battalion, Eastern Ontario Regiment.
Fighting for Respect: African-American Soldiers in WWIby Jami Bryan, Managing Editor, On Point Article originally appeared in On Point, an Army Historical Foundation publication
As
the people of the United States watched World War I ignite across
Europe, African American citizens saw an opportunity to win the respect
of their white neighbors. America was a segregated society and African
Americans were considered, at best, second class citizens. Yet despite
that, there were many African American men willing to serve in the
nation’s military, but even as it became apparent that the United States
would enter the war in Europe, blacks were still being turned away from
military service.
When
the United States declared war against Germany in April of 1917, War
Department planners quickly realized that the standing Army of 126,000
men would not be enough to ensure victory overseas. The standard
volunteer system proved to be inadequate in raising an Army, so on 18
May 1917 Congress passed the Selective Service Act requiring all male
citizens between the ages of 21 and 31 to register for the draft. Even
before the act was passed, African American males from all over the
country eagerly joined the war effort. They viewed the conflict as an
opportunity to prove their loyalty, patriotism, and worthiness for equal
treatment in the United States.
Following
the Civil War, the Army disbanded volunteer “colored” regiments, and
established six Regular Army regiments of black troops with white
officers. In 1869, the infantry regiments were reorganized into the 24th
and 25th Infantry. The two cavalry regiments, the 9th and 10th, were
retained. These regiments were posted in the West and Southwest where
they were heavily engaged in the Indian War. During the Spanish-American
War, all four regiments saw service.
When
World War I broke out, there were four all-black regiments: the 9th and
10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. The men in these units
were considered heroes in their communities. Within one week of Wilson’s
declaration of war, the War Department had to stop accepting black
volunteers because the quotas for African Americans were filled.
When
it came to the draft, however, there was a reversal in usual
discriminatory policy. Draft boards were comprised entirely of white
men. Although there were no specific segregation provisions outlined in
the draft legislation, blacks were told to tear off one corner of their
registration cards so they could easily be identified and inducted
separately. Now instead of turning blacks away, the draft boards were
doing all they could to bring them into service, southern draft boards
in particular. One Georgia county exemption board discharged forty-four
percent of white registrants on physical grounds and exempted only three
percent of black registrants based on the same requirements. It was
fairly common for southern postal workers to deliberately withhold the
registration cards of eligible black men and have them arrested for
being draft dodgers. African American men who owned their own farms and
had families were often drafted before single white employees of large
planters. Although comprising just ten percent of the entire United
States population, blacks supplied thirteen percent of inductees.
While
still discriminatory, the Army was far more progressive in race
relations than the other branches of the military. Blacks could not
serve in the Marines, and could only serve limited and menial positions
in the Navy and the Coast Guard. By the end of World War I, African
Americans served in cavalry, infantry, signal, medical, engineer, and
artillery units, as well as serving as chaplains, surveyors, truck
drivers, chemists, and intelligence officers.
Although
technically eligible for many positions in the Army, very few blacks
got the opportunity to serve in combat units. Most were limited to labor
battalions. The combat elements of the U.S. Army were kept completely
segregated. The four established all-black Regular Army regiments were
not used in overseas combat roles but instead were diffused throughout
American held territory. There was such a backlash from the African
American community, however, that the War Department finally created the
92d and 93d Divisions, both primarily black combat units, in 1917.
With
the creation of African American units also came the demand for
African-American officers. The War Department thought the soldiers would
be more likely to follow men of their own color, thereby reducing the
risk of any sort of uprising. Most leaders of the African American
community agreed, and it was decided that the Army would create a
segregated, but supposedly equal, officer training camp. In May 1917,
Fort Des Moines opened its doors to black officer-trainees.
Approximately 1,250 men attended the camp in Des Moines, Iowa.
Two
hundred fifty of those men were already noncommissioned officers, and
the rest were civilians. The average man attending the camp only had to
have a high school education, and only twelve percent scored above
average in the classification tests given by the Army.
Run
by then LTC Charles C. Ballou, the fort’s staff of twelve West Point
graduates, and a few noncommissioned officers from the four original
all-black regiments put the candidates through a rigorous training
routine. They practiced drilling with and without arms, signaling,
physical training, memorizing the organization of the regiment, reading
maps, and training on the rifle and bayonet. However, as Ballou noted
after the war, the men doing the training did not take the job very
seriously, and seemed to consider the school, and the candidates, a
waste of time. Consequently, the War Department determined that the
instruction at Fort Des Moines was poor and inadequate. Also adding to
the poor training was the fact that no one knew exactly what to expect
in France, so it was difficult to train as precisely as was needed.
On
15 October 1917, 639 African-American men received their commissions as
either captain or first or second lieutenant, and were assigned to
infantry, artillery, and engineer units with the 92d Division. This was
to be the first and only class to graduate from Fort Des Moines; the War
Department shut it down soon after their departure. Future black
candidates attended either special traning camps in Puerto Rico (from
which 433 officers graduated), the Philippines, Hawaii, and Panama, or
regular officer training facilities in the United States .
The
Army had no written policy on what to do if an officer training camp
became integrated, so each camp was allowed to decide for itself the
manner in which the integration was executed. Some were completely
segregated and others allowed for blacks and whites to train together.
Over 700 additional black officers graduated from these camps, bringing
the total number to 1,353.
Although
African Americans were earning higher positions in the Army, that did
not necessarily mean they were getting equal treatment. Black draftees
were treated with extreme hostility when they arrived for training.
White men refused to salute black officers and black officers were often
barred from the officer’s clubs and quarters. The War Department rarely
interceded, and discrimination was usually overlooked or sometimes
condoned. Because many Southern civilians protested having blacks from
other states inhabit nearby training camps, the War Department
stipulated that no more than one-fourth of the trainees in any Army camp
in the U.S. could be African American.
Even
when integrated into fairly progressive camps, black soldiers were
often treated badly and sometimes went for long periods without proper
clothing. There were also reports of blacks receiving old Civil War
uniforms and being forced to sleep outside in pitched tents instead of
warmer, sturdier barracks. Some were forced to eat outside in the winter
months, while others went without a change of clothes for months at a
time. Not all black soldiers suffered treatment like this, however, as
those who were lucky enough to train at newly erected National Army
cantonments lived in comfortable barracks and had sanitary latrines, hot
food, and plenty of clothes.
The
first black troops sent overseas belonged to service units. Because the
work that these units did was absolutely invaluable to the war effort,
commanders promised special privileges in return for high-yield results.
With such motivation, the soldiers would often work for twenty-four
hours straight unloading ships and transporting men and materiel to and
from various bases, ports, and railroad depots. As the war continued and
soldiers took to the battlefields, black labor units became responsible
for digging trenches, removing unexploded shells from fields, clearing
disabled equipment and barbed wire, and burying soldiers killed in
action. Despite all the hard and essential work they provided, African
American stevedores received the worst treatment of all black troops
serving in World War I.
Although
not nearly as respected as any of the white soldiers involved in the
war effort, African American combat troops, in many respects, were much
better off than the laborers. The two combat divisions--the 92d and 93d
Divisions--had two completely different experiences while fighting the
Great War.
The
92d Division was created in October 1917 and put under the command of
BG Charles C. Ballou, who had organized the first African American
officer candidate school. Organized in a manner similar to the other
American divisions, the 92d was made up of four infantry regiments,
three field artillery regiments, a trench mortar battery, three machine
gun battalions, a signal battalion, an engineer regiment, an engineer
train, and various support units.
Although
in no case did a black officer command a white officer, most of the
officers (up to the rank of first lieutenant) in the unit were African
American. Unlike just about every other American unit training to go
into battle, soldiers from the 92d were forced to train separately while
in the United States. The War Department, fearing racial uprisings, was
willing to sacrifice the unit’s ability to develop cohesion and pride.
The lack of a strong bond between the men was one of the factors that
led to the unit’s poor performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign.
The
personal animosity between LTG Robert Bullard, commander of the
American Second Army, and BG Ballou was another problem. Bullard was not
only a staunch racist, but he also had a rivalry going with BG Ballou.
In order to make both Ballou and the black soldiers appear completely
incompetent, Bullard spread misinformation about the successes and
failures of the 92d.
Even
COL Allen J. Greer, Ballou’s chief of staff, was in on the plan to
sabotage the reputation of his African American unit, and helped put a
negative twist on stories from the front lines. Regardless of how well
the 92d Division actually did on the battlefield, it was virtually
impossible to overcome the slander from prejudiced officers.
Following
some initial successes in Lorraine in mid-August, on 20 September 1918,
the 92d was ordered to proceed to the Argonne Forest in preparation for
the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The division reached the front lines just
before the first assault. The 368th Infantry Regiment immediately
received orders to fill a gap between the American 77th Division and the
French 37th Division. However, due to their lack of training with the
French, shortages of equipment, and unfamiliarity with the terrain, the
regiment did not successfully complete this important assignment. The
failure to accomplish this crucial mission blemished the 92d’s combat
record, and it was often used by military authorities for more than
thirty years to prove the inadequacy of African American soldiers in
combat.
After
the disaster in the Argonne, the entire division was sent to a
relatively quiet area of the front in the Marbache sector. Their primary
mission was nevertheless a dangerous one: harass the enemy with
frequent patrols. The danger of the assignment was reflected in the 462
casualties sustained in just the first month of patrolling. Although
American commanders were dissatisfied with the unit’s performance, the
French obviously had a different opinion--they decorated members of the
365th Infantry and 350th Machine Gun Battalion for their aggressiveness
and bravery.
By
late 1918, the German Army was in full retreat, the Allied Commander in
Chief, Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch, wanted to apply heavy pressure for
a decisive breakthrough and defeat. The 92d was ordered to take the
heights east of Champney, France, on 10 November 1918. Although only
lasting one day, the attack was fierce and bloody, costing the division
over 500 casualties.
As
the 92d Division struggled to clear its reputation, the 93d Division
had a much more successful experience. Commanded by BG Roy Hoffman, the
93d Division was also organized in December 1917. Unlike other American
infantry divisions, the 93d was limited to four infantry regiments,
three of which were comprised of National Guard units from New York,
Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, the District of
Columbia, and Tennessee. Being made up of mostly draftees and National
Guardsmen, the 93d lacked any sort of consistency in its experience or
composition. The unit also lacked its full number of combat units and
support elements, and as a result never attained full divisional
strength. Seeming to have odds stacked against it, the 93d fared
remarkably well when faced with battle.
The
situation was desperate in France, and with exhausted and dwindling
armies, the French begged the United States for men. GEN John Pershing,
commander of the American Expeditionary Force, promised them four
American regiments. He decided to give them the regiments of the 93d
Division since the French, who had used French colonial troops from
Senegal, had experience in employing black soldiers in combat. The first
African American combat troops to set foot on French soil belonged to
the 93d Division. Armed, organized, and equipped as a French unit, the
93d quickly adjusted to their new assignment. Although experiencing some
difficulties like language problems, the black soldiers were treated as
equals.
The
369th Infantry was the first regiment of the 93d Division to reach
France. They arrived in the port city of Brest in December 1917. On 10
March, after three months of duty with the Services of Supply, the 369th
received orders to join the French 16th Division in Givry en Argonne
for additional training. After three weeks the regiment was sent to the
front lines in a region just west of the Argonne Forest. For nearly a
month they held their position against German assaults, and after only a
brief break from the front, the 369th was placed once again in the
middle of the German offensive, this time at Minacourt, France. From 18
July to 6 August 1918, the 369th Infantry, now proudly nicknamed the
“Harlem Hellfighters,” proved their tenacity once again by helping the
French 161st Division drive the Germans from their trenches during the
Aisne-Marne counter-offensive.
In
this three-week period, the Germans were making many small night raids
into Allied territory. During one of these raids, a member of the 369th
Infantry, CPL Henry Johnson, fought off an entire German raiding party
using only a pistol and a knife. Killing four of the Germans and
wounding many more, his actions allowed an wounded comrade to escape
capture and led to the seizure of a stockpile of German arms. Johnson
and his comrade were wounded and both received the French Croix de
Guerre for their gallantry. Johnson was also promoted to sergeant.
From
26 September to 5 October, the 369th participated in the Meuse-Argonne
offensive, and continued to fight well throughout the remainder of the
war. The regiment fought in the front lines for a total of 191 days,
five days longer than any other regiment in the AEF. France awarded the
entire unit the Croix de Guerre, along with presenting 171 individual
awards for exceptional gallantry in action.
Although
the 369th won much of the glory for the 93d Division, the 370th, 371st,
and 372d Regiments, eached assigned to different French divisions, also
proved themselves worthy of acclaim at the front. The 370th fought hard
in both the Meuse-Argonne and Oise-Aisne campaigns. Seventy-one members
of the regiment received the French Croix de Guerre, and another
twenty-one soldiers received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC).
Company C, 371st Infantry, earned the Croix de Guerre with Palm. The
371st Regiment spent more than three months on the front lines in the
Verdun area, and for its extraordinary service in the Champagne
offensive, the entire regiment was awarded the Croix de Guerre with
Palm. In addition, three of the 371st’s officers were awarded the French
Legion of Honor, 123 men won the Croix de Guerre, and twenty-six earned
the DSC.
The
372d Infantry also performed admirably during the American assault in
Champagne, and afterwards assisted in the capture of Monthois. It was
there the regiment faced strong resistance and numerous counterattacks,
resulting in many instances of hand-to-hand combat. In less than two
weeks of front line service, the 372d suffered 600 casualties. The
regiment earned a unit Croix de Guerre with Palm, and in addition,
forty-three officers, fourteen noncommissioned officers, and 116
privates received either the Croix de Guerre or the DSC.
On
11 November 1918 at 1100, the armistice between the Allies and Central
Powers went into effect. Like all other American soldiers, the African
American troops reveled in celebration and took justifiable pride the
great victory they helped achieve. It was not without great cost: the
92d Division suffered 1,647 battle causualties and the 93d Division
suffered 3,534. Expecting to come home heroes, black soldiers received a
rude awakening upon their return. Back home, many whites feared that
African Americans would return demanding equality and would try to
attain it by employing their military training. As the troops returned,
there was an increase of racial tension. During the summer and fall of
1919, anti-black race riots erupted in twenty-six cities across America.
The lynching of blacks also increased from fifty-eight in 1918 to
seventy-seven in 1919. At least ten of those victims were war veterans,
and some were lynched while in uniform.
Despite
this treatment, African American men continued to enlist in the
military, including veterans of World War I that came home to such
violence and ingratitude. They served their county in the brief period
of peace after the World War I, and many went on to fight in World War
II. It was not until the 1948 that President Harry S Truman issued an
executive order to desegregate the military, although it took the Korean
War to fully integrate the Army. African Americans finally began to
receive the equal treatment their predecessors had earned in combat in
France during World War I, and as far back as the American Revolution.
For more reading on African American soldiers in WWI, please see: The Unknown Soldiers: African-American Troops in WWI, by Arthur E. Barbeau & Florette Henri,The Right to Fight: A History of African-Americans in the Military, by Gerald Astor, and Soldiers of Freedom, by Kai Wri. http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwi/articles/fightingforrespect.aspx ----
hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/danieled/ACS%2011/.../World%20Wars.ppt - Cached - SimilarIt was known as First World War,
the Great War, and "The War To End All Wars” ...
They did not think that white soldiers wanted to fight along side black soldiers.
...
white men here will not serve in the same ranks with negroes or coloured
persons. ... In the late 1920s, Canada's economy and stock exchanges
were
booming.
-----------------
Sikh Canadians in the First World War
It is little known that Sikh Canadians served with the Canadian Army
in the First World War. Ten such men have been found among the military
records of the Great War, all volunteers to fight for a country that
denied them the rights of citizenship. Among them, eight served in
Europe, two of whom were killed in action. Another, who was wounded and
died after returning to Canada, was Buckam Singh, whose story has been
discovered more fully than the others. Private Buckam Singh
Buckam (Bukkan on his headstone) Singh was born at Mahilpur, Punjab,
India, in December 1893. He came to Canada in 1907, at the age of 14,
and became a miner in British Columbia before moving to Toronto in 1912
or 1913. Although he was very young when he immigrated to Canada, he was
already married, but because of harsh immigration laws he could not
bring his bride with him. In 1915, Singh enrolled in the Canadian
Expeditionary Force. He was working as a farm hand when he was called
for active service and joined the 20th Battalion. His last service was
with the 28th Battalion, according to his headstone.
Singh was wounded twice, in separate battles, and is said to have
been treated by Dr John McCrae, who wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields.”
Singh was sent to a hospital in England to be repatriated to Canada.
While in England, he contracted tuberculosis. He died in a Kingston,
Ont, hospital in August 1919. He is buried in Kingston’s Mount Hope
Cemetery—the only known First World War Sikh Canadian soldier’s grave in
the country. Commemoration of Sikh Canadian Soldiers
There is little information published about the role of Sikhs in
Canadian military service during the First World War. The discovery of
Buckam Singh’s Victory Medal has led to his reclamation by his
community, which commemorates him with an annual Remembrance Day
service, and to interest in discovering the history of Sikh soldiers in
Canada.
The largely undocumented story of Sikh Canadian soldiers is being
told on film by filmmaker David R. Gray. The planned documentary, Canadian Soldier Sikhs: A Little Story in a Big War, for OMNI Television, seeks to uncover the stories of Buckam Singh and these other forgotten men. Sikh Canadian Soldiers of the First World War
John Baboo of Winnipeg, originally from Punjab, India. He was wounded at Vimy Ridge. Sunta Gougersingh, originally from Punjab, India, who
enlisted in Montréal and served in the Québec Regiment. He was killed in
action 19 October 1915. Buckam Singh of BC, originally from Punjab, India, who
served with the 20th Canadian Infantry and was wounded twice. He died in
Kitchener, Ont, 27 August 1919. Hari Singh of Toronto, originally from Punjab, India, who served with the Reserve Battalion, Royal Canadian Dragoons. Harnom Singh, alias Harry Robson, of Chilliwack, BC,
possibly born in Juarez, Mexico. His parents were possibly from
Singapore and India. He served in the 143rd Railway Construction
Battalion. John Singh of Winnipeg, born in India. He served in the 108th Overseas Battalion. Lashman Singh, born in India, and enlisted at Smiths
Falls, Ont. He served with the 75th battalion and was killed in action
on 24 October 1918. Ram Singh of Grand Forks, BC, born in Punjab, India. He enlisted in Vancouver. Sewa Singh of Vancouver, born in Dinjutah, India. He served with the 1st Canadian Reserves Battalion. Waryam Singh, born in Punjab, India, and enlisted at Smiths Falls, Ont. He served with the 38th Battalion, Eastern Ontario Regiment.
Learn more: Sikh Soldiers
Early Sikhs fought for Canada http://asia-canada.ca/meeting-cultures/newcomers/pig-pen/sikh-canadians-first-world-war-0
February 1911: Anti-Black Campaign
By 1909, hundreds of Oklahoma Blacks had moved to the Canadian Prairies, where they met the same wariness and discrimination that had allowed slavery to exist in an earlier time. In February 1911, a few newspapers in Winnipeg even predicted that the Dominion government would move to exclude "Negro immigrants."
1911: Oliver's Immigration Policy
Alberta's Frank Oliver wanted tighter controls on immigration. He became the Liberal government's Minister of the Interior in 1905. Oliver was staunchly British, and his policies favoured nationality over occupation. By 1911, he was able to assert that his immigration policy was more "restrictive, exclusive and selective" than his predecessor's.
Image: Harriet Tubman
10 March 1913: Heroine of the Underground Railroad Dies
Harriet Tubman, ardent abolitionist and heroine of the Underground Railroad, died in New York in 1913. As a conductor with the Underground Railroad, she made 19 secret trips to the American South and guided more than 300 slaves to freedom in Canada.
5 July 1916: WWI All-Black Battalion
In 1916, Canadian enlistment figures fell from 30,000 to 6,000 per month, while the year-end goal was a force of 500,000. When Reverend C.W. Washington of Edmonton offered to raise an all-Black battalion, military officials authorized the creation of the No. 2 Construction Battalion. The battalion served in France with the Canadian Forestry Corps.
Image: A musical band from the No.2 Construction Battalion, c. 1917.
1914-1918: Black Canadians on the Home Front in WWI
Between 1914 and 1918, Black Canadians at home became actively involved in the war effort. Black associations—on their own and in cooperation with White groups—raised funds, worked in factories and volunteered in hospitals and as labourers.
1939-1945: Blacks Accepted into Canadian Services in WWII
Initially, the Canadian military rejected Black volunteers, but as the war continued, many Blacks were accepted into the Regular Army and officer corps. While there was still some segregation in the Canadian forces until the end of the war, hundreds of Black Canadians served alongside Whites in Canada and Europe.
Image: Black Railway Porters in Montréal, Québec. Railway porters played an important role in the struggle for Black rights in Canada (courtesy Africville Genealogical Society).
1939-1945: Conditions on the Home Front in WWII
Blacks at home assumed the responsibilities of the men and women serving overseas, working alongside Whites in jobs across the country. During World War II, hundreds of Black workers joined labour unions for the first time. The all-Black Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was one of the greatest success stories of the war years.
14 March 1944: Ontario Passes Racial Discrimination Act
Ontario was the first province to respond to social change when it passed the Racial Discrimination Act of 1944. This landmark legislation effectively prohibited the publication and display of any symbol, sign, or notice that expressed ethnic, racial, or religious discrimination. It was followed by other sweeping legislation.
Image: Viola Desmond.
8 November 1946: Black Woman Sits in Theatre's "White Section"
The Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP) united civil rights forces. The NSAACP supported Viola Desmond, a Black woman from Halifax, in her case against a New Glasgow theatre where she was arrested for sitting in the "White-only" section, even though she was willing to buy the more expensive ticket.
2-3 September 1954: Toronto Telegram Covers the Dresden Story
Black discrimination continued in the 1950s, despite legislation prohibiting it. In 1954, two Blacks visited rural Dresden, Ont. and were refused service in two restaurants. The Toronto Telegram sent Black "testers" to investigate, who were also refused. When the Telegram ran the story, it confirmed what many Blacks suspected, that Canada's laws and regulations were ineffective.
Image: Ellen Fairclough, former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (photograph by D. Cameron, courtesy Library and Archives Canada / PA-12 9254).
19 January 1962: Fairclough Dismantles Discriminatory Policy
During her term as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Ellen Fairclough oversaw improvements to the Canadian Immigration Service, but her most significant accomplishment was the radical reform of the government's "White Canada" immigration policy. Regulations tabled in 1962 helped to eliminate racial discrimination in Canada's immigration policy.
25 September 1963: First Black Elected to a Canadian Parliament
Leonard Braithwaite became the first African-Canadian in a provincial legislature when he was elected as the Liberal member for Etobicoke, Ontario in 1963.
1964 - 1970: Africville Demolished
Encouraged by media attention to Africville's "American-style ghetto," the Halifax City Planning Commission expropriated the land. Residents resisted, citing the community's proud traditions, although Africville lacked basic services such as water, sewage, and good roads. Between 1964 and 1970, residents were relocated and the community razed.
11 August 1965: Klan Activity in Amherstburg
In 1965, racial tension ran high in Amherstburg, Ont. A cross-burning set the tone; the Black Baptist Church was defaced and the town sign was spray-painted "Amherstburg Home of the KKK." Five days of racial incidents threatened to escalate but the situation was saved by an investigation by the Ontario Human Rights Commission. No arrests were made.
Image: A performer at Toronto’s Caribana Festival (photograph by Jeffrey Gunawan).
28 July 1967: Toronto's Caribana Festival Founded
Approximately two-thirds of Canada's West Indian population resides in the greater Toronto area. On 28 July 1967, ten Torontonians with a common West Indian heritage founded the Caribana cultural festival to display their rich cultural traditions. The Caribana festival continues to promote cultural pride, mutual respect and social unity.
18 September 1967: African-Canadian Wins Middleweight Championship
In 1967 David Downey won his first Canadian Middleweight Championship, which he retained until August 1970. Downey's boxing career coincided with one of the most dynamic periods in Halifax's history, which saw the emergence of the city's Black population as a social and political force.
October 1967: Immigration "Points System"
Prior to 1967, the immigration system relied largely on immigration officers' judgment to determine who should be eligible to enter Canada. Deputy Minister of Immigration Tom Kent established a points system, which assigned points in nine categories, to determine eligibility. Ethnic groups all across Canada endorsed the new selection process.
October 1971: Trudeau Introduces Canada's Multicultural Policy
Canada's multiculturalism policy grew partly in reaction to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, which endorsed a "bicultural Canada," barely recognizing "other ethnic groups." This dilemma was partially resolved in 1971 by Prime Minister Trudeau's assertion that Canada was a "multicultural country with two official languages."
1971: African-Canadian Sprinter Receives Order of Canada
In 1971, sprinter Harry Jerome was awarded the Order of Canada medal for "excellence in all fields of Canadian life." Jerome proudly represented Canada in three Olympic Games, winning bronze at Tokyo in 1964.
1974: West Indian Immigration Overwhelms Black Communities
With the Immigration Act of 1962 and 1967 reforms, Black West Indians flocked to Canada. Indigenous Blacks and their established communities were overwhelmed by the influx and felt threatened by cultural differences. At first some thought skin colour was their only connection. In the early 1980s, Black Canadians of all backgrounds began uniting around common causes.
Image: Dr. Wilson A. Head (courtesy Quebec English Schools Network).
1975: Head Founds Urban Alliance on Race Relations
Black reformer Wilson Head brought a lifetime of experience in civil rights activism with him when he moved from the US to Canada in 1959. Among his numerous accomplishments was the creation, in 1975, of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. The organization is still dedicated to fighting discrimination against all ethno-racial communities.
1984: Nova Scotian Civil Rights Advocate Awarded Order of Canada
Dr. William Pearly Oliver and his wife Pearleen Borden Oliver helped unite the Black community in the 1940s and 1950s. William, founder of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP), received the Order of Canada in 1984. Pearleen received an Honorary Doctorate from Saint Mary's University in 1990.
Image: The Honourable Lincoln Alexander, the first Black Canadian to sit in the House of Commons and to hold the office of lieutenant-governor (courtesy Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario).
20 September 1985
Lincoln Alexander was born of West Indian immigrant parents. He was sworn in as Ontario's lieutenant-governor in September 1985, the first Black person to hold the vice-regal position in Canada. Alexander was also the first Black MP and federal Cabinet minister.
1991: Race Riot at NS High School Prompts Education Reform
In 1991, at Cole Harbour District High School, a fight between one Black and one White student escalated into a brawl involving 50 youths of both races. The event mobilized provincial Black activists around the issue of unequal educational opportunities. Nova Scotia's Ministry of Education established a fund in 1995 to improve education and support anti-racist initiatives.
4 May 1992: The Yonge Street "Rebellion"
A daytime demonstration against the acquittal of police officers in the Rodney King case in Los Angeles descended into a nighttime riot on Toronto's Yonge Street. Ignoring the historical context, the media decried the "America-style violence" of the young Black men. However, the riot prompted Canadians to address the root causes of Black frustration.
7 June 1993: Father Convicted for Hiring Hit Man to Kill Daughter's Black Fiancé
Helen Mouskos, daughter of Greek immigrants, planned to marry Lawrence Martineau, son of Trinidadian immigrants. When her parents realized the couples' relationship, they protested. Helen's father, Andreas, was enraged and hired a hit man to kill Lawrence. The murder plot was discovered and Andreas was sentenced to five years in prison in June 1993.
Image: Bissoondath asserted that Canada’s multiculturalism policy, whatever its intentions, was “a gentle and insidious form of cultural apartheid.”
1994: Bissoondath's Selling Illusions is Published
Canada's multiculturalism policies came under attack by many authors who claimed that it had created a divided and fragmented society of hyphenated Canadians. The most powerful condemnation came from Neil Bissoondath, a Canadian novelist and immigrant from Trinidad who refused the "burden of hyphenation," which would label him "an East Indian-Trinidadian-Canadian."
6 August 1995: Canadian Sprinter Becomes "World's Fastest Human"
In 1995, Oakville's Donovan Bailey assumed the title of "World's Fastest Human" by winning the 100-metre sprint at the World Track Championships at Göteborg, Sweden. Taking silver in the same race was Montreal's Bruny Surin. Bailey went on to win gold at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, setting a new world and Olympic record (9.84).
Image: Author Austin Clarke, 1999 (courtesy Athabasca University, Centre for Language & Literature).
5 November 2002: Clarke Wins Giller Prize forPolished Hoe
Austin Clarke, Canada's most widely-read Black novelist, won the Giller Prize for fiction in 2002 and the Regional Commonwealth Prize for best book in 2003 for his ninth novel The Polished Hoe. Clarke, who was born in Barbados, has sensitized generations of readers to the plight of West Indian immigrants.
4 August 2005: First Black Governor General Announced
On 4 August 2005, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced the appointment of Haitian-born Michaëlle Jean as Governor General of Canada. Her dual French-Canadian citizenship and allegations of separatist connections generated controversy. Jean renounced her French citizenship before taking office and refuted a connection to the separatist movement.
27 September 2005: Jean Sworn in as Governor General
Michaëlle Jean was sworn in as Canada's first Black governor general. She emphasized freedom as a central part of the Canadian identity and has suggested that it was time to "eliminate the spectre" of the two solitudes, French and English, which has so long characterized the country's history.
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Introduction
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