Gord Peters: Honor sacrifices of Native veterans in Canada

Every year on Remembrance Day I think about my grandfathers, father, uncles, and the 6,000 First Nations soldiers who served alongside the Canadian Forces throughout the First and Second World Wars.

These men and women were not Canadian citizens and not subject to conscription efforts. Regardless, they volunteered and stood as allies with their settler brothers — nation to nation — in defence of the land and our collective freedoms. They made valuable contributions to the war efforts and earned more than 50 medals throughout both conflicts.

Our soldiers fought for the shared values of freedom and democratic rights for all. However, these soldiers returned from the war and quickly realized those freedoms and rights did not equally apply to them as they did their non-native comrades.

The policies of enfranchisement under the Indian Act meant that many returning soldiers had their identity as “Status Indians” stolen from them. The act stated that any Indian who was absent from the reserve for four consecutive years would lose their status.