Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

INDIGENOUS VETERANS DAY

Perseverance and sacrifices of Indigenous veterans honoured in Tk’emlúps ceremony Friday

Nov 8, 2024 | 5:30 PM

TK’EMLUPS — Indigenous Veterans Day is held on November 8 each year in Canada. It’s meant to acknowledge the 12,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis people who served this country in past and current conflicts, and peacekeeping operations.

Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc hosted a formal ceremony Friday morning (Nov. 8) from the Pen Pen Cemetery near St. Joseph’s Church. Dozens of local dignitaries came out to pay respect to those who chose to serve with Canada’s armed forces.

“Because of them, we see today. But we also know that it’s also about the hope for tomorrow as well. So we continue to honour them and pay tribute and respect for all that they’ve done,” said Tk’emlúps Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir.

BC AFN Regional Chief Terry Teegee says the day also brings to mind the situation that those who survived returned home to after the first and second World Wars.

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“Certainly, we know from the past that many Indigenous, First Nations veterans came home and their status as a First Nations person was taken away,” he explains. “And they didn’t even benefit from the benefits that should have been coming to those people as veterans.”

Dozens of veterans from Tk’emlúps stepped forward during both of the World Wars I and II, and other times of conflict.

“It definitely speaks to their character, knowing what they were signing up for when they were going to war,” adds Casimir. “To fight the war along with all the other Canadian soldiers and knowing the price that they were going to be paying. They did that for their families, the future of their families, and they did it for all those who were not yet born.”

Among the crowd gathered at the Pen Pen Cemetery was the president of the Rocky Mountain Rangers Regimental Association. As an Indigenous veteran herself, Master Corporal (retired) Lorna Shackelly describes a sense of pride when thinking of the service contributions that Indigenous people made.

“I joined in 1980 and I was 17 years old. I eventually became the first female in Canada to become a qualified tank operator. I broke the barrier to allow women into combat arms. I was 18 years old and I faced a lot of harassment, discrimination, sexism — and ageism, eventually,” explains Shackelly. “But I powered through. I have some great mentors.”

Shackelly felt strongly about wanting to protect the people and country she lives in, and shared that sense of working together with the other men and women she served with over the years.

“The Rocky Mountain Rangers and the King’s Own Calgary Regiment — the two units I served with — we were a family. And we’re still a family today,” she says.

November 8 and beyond, the hope is Canadians take time to acknowledge the perseverence of the First Nations, Metis and Inuit people who answered the call then and have stepped forward today.

“This is why we have a First Nations, Indigenous Veterans Day on November 8,” reiterates Teegee. “It’s to recognize those who paid the ultimate price.”

A Remembrance Day ceremony will also be held on November 11 from the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc Pen Pen cemetery, starting at 10:30 a.m.