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A continuing tradition of service

Canada´s Aboriginal people have a proud history of defending our society and our shared principles.

For more about the contributions of Canada's Aboriginal soldiers,
or information on opportunities in the Canadian Forces, visit:

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Veterans Affairs Canada
Canadian Forces Recruiting

Published under the authority of the Minister of Indian Affairs
and Northern Development, Ottawa, 2005.
QS-T024-000-BB-A1, Catalogue R2-420/2005, ISBN 0-662-69359-0,
© Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada.

Many Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, fought on the side of the British during the American Revolution and again during the War of 1812. It is estimated that 12,000 Canadian Aboriginal people served in the two World Wars and Korea, and more than 500 gave their lives. In the First World War alone, one in three able-bodied Aboriginal men enlisted — in First Nations such as the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan (in the Ottawa Valley), virtually every man volunteered.

Inset: In 1917, Edith Anderson Monture left Six Nations of the Grand River
in southern Ontario to volunteer as a nurse in war-torn France.
[Helen Moses / Veterans Affairs Canada ]

Aboriginal veteran Angus Pontiac. [Alex Peltier]

Aboriginal participation in Canada's war efforts has been proportionately higher than that of any other group
of Canadians.

Many Aboriginal soldiers used their traditional hunting skills to serve as snipers and scouts. "Code Talkers" used the Cree language to communicate sensitive military plans in a language the enemy could not understand. Aboriginal women also volunteered valuable skills in all three wars, mainly as nurses.

Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow, a member of Wasauksing First Nation on the shores of Georgian Bay, served in the First World War. An Ojibwa, he was the most decorated Aboriginal veteran in Canadian history.
[Indiana University]

The Government of Canada is working to ensure that the significant wartime contributions of Aboriginal veterans are remembered and recognized and that they receive the services and benefits to which they are entitled.
It declared 2005 the Year of the Veteran and supported an Aboriginal Spiritual Journey in which youth joined Aboriginal veterans on a trip to Europe to call home the spirits of fallen comrades.

Members of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation, located in central Ontario, served in the War of 1812, the 1991 Gulf War, and every major conflict between. [Gordon W. Johnston / Maadookii Seniors' Centre ]

Corporal Huron Brant of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte , near Belleville, Ontario, earned the military medal in Italy in 1943 in an action another Canadian soldier described as a single- handed attack on 30 of the enemy. [Capt. Frank Royal/DND/NAC/PA-130065]

More than 400 Canadian Rangers — most Aboriginal — are part-time reserve members of the Canadian Forces providing search and rescue and other services in northern Ontario. Here, Ranger MCpl Carson Fiddler assists in the evacuation of Sandy Lake First Nation when the Cree community was threatened by a forest fire. [DND]

Today, the tradition of service continues among the thousands of Aboriginal members of the Canadian Forces. Serving across Canada and in peacekeeping missions overseas, they enjoy travel, training, and career opportunities. Many got started with the Canadian Forces as Junior Rangers, as young Cadets, or through the CFAEP.

Graduates of the CFAEP celebrate. [DND/NAC]

Let us honour our Aboriginal veterans and the First Nation, Inuit, and Métis men and women who will serve Canada into the future.

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada wishes to thank
Veterans Affairs Canada,
the Department of National Defence
and the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation for their assistance on this publication.

INAC, Ontario Region, works to make Canada a better place for the province's 127 First Nations.

For information on Government of Canada programs and services
call 1 800 O CANADA or TTY/TDD at 1 800 465-7735.

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