"Why some Indigenous people chose to go to war for Canada" Topic

"For many of the more than 7,000 Indigenous people in Canada who served in the First World War, Second World War and Korean War, enlisting in the military was a chance to escape colonial constraints and reclaim their warrior heritage, according to two University of Alberta researchers.

"Each Indigenous group has their own unique stories of the war and unique interactions with local officials. And individuals had their own unique reasons for signing up," said post-doctoral researcher Will Pratt, who studies how the First World War affected the 29 men from the Treaty 7 region in southern Alberta who served in the conflict. "I'm trying to disentangle them from the national narrative."

According to Pratt, the Department of Indian Affairs and militia were uncertain about whether they were actively going to recruit Indigenous soldiers for the Great War-at first, the official policy was that they would not…"
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Armand

The same happened in the US in almost all wars since WWI. Hell even before that !

Even during Vietnam about 30,000 Canadians came to the USA and served in the US Military. Which was illegal IIRC. But nothing was done by the Canadian Gov't AFAIK.

I'm betting there were some "indigenous people" from Canada in the group.

Thanks!

Armand

I would not have guessed 30K. A few, but 30K is A LOT.

OTOH, rural Canada's politics are a lot like rural America's. The prairies and Maritimes produced a lot of volunteers in both world wars.

Possibly for the same reasons young men volunteer to go to war.

Yes, 30K is a lot to volunteer to go to a very unpopular war as time went on. While many protested in the streets. Which for the most part IMO was a reaction to the Draft. If there was no Draft only a few would be protesting the war. I.e. Fonda, Baez, Brown, etc., etc. Regardless this makes those numbers of Canadians even more surprising …

While at the same time many in the USA went to Canada to avoid being Drafted …

And yes many young men have volunteered to go to war. Over the centuries. I think based on my experience, part of it is may be testosterone … Many of us joined the Army even after Vietnam … may of had more testosterone than common sense ! 😎

Yes, I tend to agree with you there: I worked in the Pentagon from before the attack until the time of the Iraq surge, and I saw a lot of protests. What I didn't see were a lot of protestors. I did, however, see the same protestors over and over and over again.

One in particular sticks out in my mind: for months, in IIRC the ‘03-‘05 timeframe, I came up from the Metro every morning at roughly the same time. Every morning, I was chanted at by an angry crowd of protestors, accompanied by a single beating drum. The same guy beat that drum every morning, and I could tell it was the same drum, because it always bore the same legend:

"FREE TIBET"

I don't know how or why those people could do that every morning, or how they could always manage to work themselves up to the "Five Minutes' Hate" pitch that they consistently displayed. But they did. I suspect if the story were ever told, it would provide an interesting and illustrative chapter of a history of that conflict.

I expect that I will see the evidence of the Dardanelles Commission long before I read that, though.

I do hope we kept those thirty thousand Canadians as citizens. We need them.

Nothing illegal about joining the US military for Canadians, no law north of the border would have prevented it.

As for volunteers, in WWI the majority came from the West (Manitoba, Alberta and BC) and Ontario, this was due to higher population levels than in the Maritimes and of course Quebec had a large French Canadian Population which was not in support of an Empirical war. The initial onslaught of recruits were 60 percent ex-british citizens and not Canadian. This slowly changed as the war progressed and by 1917 the recruitment slowed to the point where the nasty word conscription was brought up and finally passed, causing no end of angst in Quebec.

Second World War had the same ratios, roughly for provincial/area volunteers. Time and again the only province to not come close to the manpower commitment generated across the country was Quebec, but I think that is understandable given the great portion of the population did not truly support or like the British Empire and had a very difficult time buying into the Empire dogma. Though if you look at the name tags of VC winners, you will find a high proportion of those with French Canadian Names, when taken in conjunction with their recruiting numbers.

Just a point of note, estimates on Canadian Indigenous Soldiers in both World War is now ranging in the 15000 range. The growth in numbers was because some were not allowed to join if they admitted to being First Nations or they would lose their status and so did not give their status. Strong military heritage amount many of our First Nations peoples.

"Reclaiming their warrior heritage" is an interesting concept. Of course, I'm totally separated from the warrior heritage of my English/Celtic, German, and Viking ancestors by centuries of time and a third of the way around the world.
My family does have a tradition of military service as needed to protect their country, but not in the spirit of some European families or perhaps the Pattons in the USA.

Grelber

Nothing illegal about joining the US military for Canadians, no law north of the border would have prevented it.

I did not know that … thanks ! Now I do !

"FREE TIBET"

Interesting observations. Some are just "professional" protesters, and show up no matter what. As far as Tibet … nothing the USA can do about that …

I do hope we kept those thirty thousand Canadians as citizens. We need them.

I agree … IIRC POTUS Carter gave all those that dodged the Draft by going to Canada, etc., got amnesty …