{"id":48705,"date":"2021-11-08T08:02:33","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T13:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=48705"},"modified":"2021-11-08T07:08:10","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T12:08:10","slug":"nov-8-marks-national-aboriginal-veterans-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/08\/nov-8-marks-national-aboriginal-veterans-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Nov. 8 marks National Aboriginal Veterans Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The National Aboriginal Veterans Monument in Confederation Park in Ottawa. Photo courtesy – Veterans Affairs Canada<\/p><\/div>\n

Aboriginal Canadians have been part of our proud military history for over\u00a0200 years.<\/p>\n

During the War\u00a0of\u00a01812, they were vital allies in the protection of Canada, helping protect the citizens of this emerging country from attacks and invasions of Americans. Since then, thousands served bravely in both World\u00a0Wars and the Korean\u00a0War. Without their sacrifices, we might not have the Canada we have today.<\/p>\n

Some of these veterans are some of the highest decorated soldiers, aviators and sailors in our military history. Sergeant Tommy Prince was a member of\u00a02nd<\/sup>\u00a0Battalion, Princess Patricia\u2019s Canadian Light Infantry at Kapyong, and was one of the most decorated aboriginal soldiers in Canada. Some veterans have even been tagged as heroes, though many didn\u2019t think they should be considered heroes because to them they were only doing their duty.<\/p>\n

Aboriginal Veterans Day was established in Manitoba in\u00a01994 and has since spread across the country to the other provinces and has been renamed National Aboriginal Veterans Day, recognized annually on Nov.\u00a08. It\u2019s a day to recognize and acknowledge the many contributions and sacrifices of Aboriginals not only to Canada\u2019s war efforts but to its peacekeeping reputation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A national monument was later erected in Ottawa, just down from the National War Memorial. On National Aboriginal Day on June\u00a021,\u00a02001, the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument was unveiled by then\u2011Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to commemorate the contributions of Aboriginal peoples in war and peacekeeping.<\/p>\n

Today, about 3.5\u00a0per\u00a0cent of the Canadian Armed Forces is of First Nation descent, representing many distinct cultures. They continue to make Canada proud through their service at home and abroad. We should honour their contributions and of those before them.<\/p>\n

One negative that came after the amazing contributions Native soldiers made to our nation\u2019s war effort through their gallant service, and service in general, was how they were treated by Veterans\u2019 Associations and society as a whole. An Aboriginal veteran was not allowed to share a \u201ctoast\u201d in honour of lost comrades with fellow veterans in a Royal Canadian Legion until\u00a01951, and only if the province where the Legion was located allowed it. This included Remembrance Day. It wasn\u2019t until the\u00a0mid\u20111990s that Native veterans and families were authorized to lay wreathes or have their own formed guards at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Remembrance Day.<\/p>\n

In this day and age of reconciliation, acknowledging Aboriginal roles in the protection of Canada will help other citizens understand what true reconciliation means to the country as a whole. We must never forget the sacrifices and accomplishments of Aboriginal Veterans, especially as we move forward in our journey of healing, reconciliation and a renewed relationship between Canada and its First Nations peoples.<\/p>\n

Nov.\u00a08 is about making efforts to better understand the role Indigenous Veterans have played in Canada, and expressing our heartfelt gratitude. Ceremonies are held across Canada to mark this day, and Canadians across the country should pause for a minute or two to honour our Aboriginal veterans.<\/p>\n

MWO\u00a0Sheldon Quinn, 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0Canadian Division Indigenous Advisor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Aboriginal Canadians have been part of our proud military history for over\u00a0200 years. During the War\u00a0of\u00a01812, they were vital allies in the protection of Canada, helping protect the citizens of this emerging country from attacks and invasions of Americans. Since then, thousands served bravely in both World\u00a0Wars and the Korean\u00a0War. Without their sacrifices, we might …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-28 21:51:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48705"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48709,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48705\/revisions\/48709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}