Lavalley Presentation on Indigenous Veterans October 26th at Tobermory Legion
Submitted by Graham Bland for the Northern Bruce Truth & Reconciliation Group
Dozens of warriors from Cape Croker fought for Canada in the two World Wars. Many were wounded, not a few died. It is a remarkable history that members of the Northern Bruce Truth and Reconciliation Group heard recently for the first time.
Patrick Lavalley, an indigenous historian, has worked diligently to recover the stories of local indigenous veterans. Patrick, a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation (Neyaashiinigmiing / Cape Croker) describes the service of indigenous warriors to Canada:
“In the early 20th century, the wartime exploits of the men and women from the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation were told across Canada in recruitment materials. Out of a total population of 368, in 1916, from 67 men of military age, 63 volunteered and 57 were accepted, 53 went overseas and 22 of them came back wounded. Six men never came home and are buried in France.
In World War Two, the numbers are just as staggering for this small Band. In both wars, they went as young as age 15 and 16 and as old as 50, men and women leaving spouses, children, the aged and infirm behind to hold homes and farms together. At different times various news articles estimated enlistment from 92-100%; Cape Croker was the community with the greatest enlistment percentage record of Natives and non-Natives in WWI & WWII across Canada and perhaps throughout the Commonwealth.”
There were many other impacts of war on Canadian First Nations. For one, the use of indigenous territories for the war effort. Lavalley wonders what might have happened here had Sydney Bay (at Nawash) been chosen instead of Stony Point, in 1942, for use as an Army Camp and Artillery Range. There had already been a World War I training camp at Cape Croker.
Many Canadians became aware only in the 1990s of the tragedy of men from Stony Point Reserve – having fought bravely to liberate Europe – returning from the conflict only to find their homes and territory unilaterally expropriated under the War Measures Act after negotiations with the Canadian government had broken down.
A half century after those events, Lavalley says, “a resolution to Stony Point and Ipperwash Park required a grass roots uprising and tragedy, social vilification, compensation, a public inquiry, chemical decontamination and the removal of unexploded ordinances.”
Many may be unaware that 1,000 tons of ammunition had already been dumped in Saugeen Ojibway Nation Traditional Waters, 2 miles offshore in Lake Huron, in 1945.
Lavalley is coming to Tobermory to help us to learn about and to remember the sacrifices made by Peninsula indigenous veterans. He will bring some of his voluminous research to help shed light on what many of us may know very little about.
On October 26th from 1-3 p.m., as Remembrance Day approaches, Patrick Lavalley will be in conversation with those who gather at Tobermory Branch #290 of the Royal Canadian Legion.
This event is a collaboration between the Northern Bruce Truth and Reconciliation Group and the Tobermory Legion. As with any other act of Remembrance, the event is open to all.
