Veterans make progress

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The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Saskatchewan First Nations Veterans Association have called, at least temporarily, a truce in their battle with the federal government.

The federal government, through the departments of Veterans Affairs and Indian Affairs, has begun discussions, which could lead to a settlement for First Nations veterans, said FSIN Grand Chief Perry Bellegarde.

Last year the FSIN and the SFNVA launched a lawsuit against the federal government. The lawsuit says the departments of Veterans Affairs and Indian Affairs conspired to cheat Aboriginal Second World War and Korean War veterans out of money and programs provided to non-Aboriginal war veterans.

"That lawsuit is in abeyance because there's political movement now," said Bellegarde. "But if we don't get the things resolved politically we will have the right to go to court."

The first break in the legal impasse came just after the recent Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa, where First Nations war veterans met with federal representatives.

"We're trying to establish a national process so we can get those issues resolved. Both Indian Affairs and Veterans Affairs, we hope, will formalize a process to get these issues finally resolved," he said.

"We have to get the research done, determine how many First Nations war veterans are still alive, what are their expectations for compensation. We need that national process established first."

The research unit will be established through a combined secretariat created by the FSIN and the Assembly of First Nations.

About 600 Aboriginal men and women served in the Canadian armed forces during the Second World War. Of those, less than 100 are alive today.

The process to come up with a solution is a race against time, he admits.

"We want to deal with this issue as quickly as possible. Our veterans are elderly and a lot of them are dying. But even if they do pass on, they have wives, they have children, and those people will want their husbands' or fathers' achievements recognized."

In 1943 the federal government passed legislation making the Department of Indian Affairs responsible for the care of First Nations veterans.

This left those veterans, after they were discharged from the armed forces, under the control of an Indian agent.

The legislation also provided separate - and, in most cases, inferior - benefits packages for returning veterans. For example the federal government after the Second World War and Korean War provided $2,320 to veterans who went into farming. However First Nations veterans weren't eligible for low-interest loans to establish a farm, nor were they eligible for land through the program. First Nations veterans were not allowed to take part in programs that would upgrade their education, provide housing or get into farming.

"They never got the same amount of land; they never got the same kind of grants that were available to non-Indian veterans; their spousal benefits weren't the same," said Bellegarde.

Under the terms of the treaties the federal government promised not to conscript status Indians into the military.

"Under the treaties, they didn't have to go to war," Bellegarde said. "They assured the Indian peoples (at the time treaties were signed) that the warriors would not be called off the reserves to fight the Queen's wars.

"But in the First and Second World Wars, they volunteered - and they were equals with non-Indians in the military. But when they returned home, they came back under the Indian agents' control and they became the forgotten warriors."

At different times, the federal government has proposed other ways to honor Aboriginal war veterans, such as issuing medallions, building a war memorial, and providing scholarships in their honor for First Nations students.