As Remembrance Day approaches and Canadians gather to reflect on the service and sacrifices of men and women who served at war, many people gathered on Nov. 8 to recognize the service of Indigenous soldiers. National Indigenous Veterans Day started in 1994 and is recognized each year on Nov.
8. In Canada, Indigenous soldiers weren’t allowed to participate in Remembrance Day ceremonies. They could attend as individuals but weren’t allowed to lay wreaths, according to Indigenous Veterans Affairs Canada (IVAC).
On Friday, Nov. 8, a ceremony at the BC Legislature honoured First Nations, Métis and Inuit soldiers, and on the Saanich Peninsula, family and friends gathered to honour the Underwood brothers. “I don’t think a lot of people are aware that Indigenous war veterans didn’t have to sign up.
They didn’t have to go to war,” Mavis Underwood told CHEK. “If they went to war, in fact they sometimes lost their Indian status, and they lost their place in their homelands.” Mavis’ father and two uncles, the Underwood brothers, were among thousands of Indigenous soldiers who volunteered their service.
On Friday, a monument inscribed with their names was unveiled in Saanich. Mavis’ father, George “Swihalesup” served in the Princess Patricia Light Infantry and fought in Italy in World War II. Watch the full story below: “He was the best of our people.
He fed a lot of people with his work,” said Mavis. Born in 1924, he was a boat builder and died in 2014. Ma.
