Aboriginal military involvement focus of conference

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To mark June 21, National Aboriginal Day, the Canadian Forces Leadership Institute and the Canadian Defence Academy are co-ordinating a two-day conference on Aboriginal contributions to the Canadian military.

Aboriginals and the Canadian Military: past, present, future will take place at the Royal Military College in Kingston on June 21 and 22.

The goal of the event is to celebrate and raise awareness of Aboriginal involvement in the Canadian Forces, both past and present, and to build bridges with Aboriginal communities to promote continued involvement in the future.

Organizers hope to attract participants from three main target audiences-Aboriginal members currently serving in the Canadian Forces, academics doing research into the history of Aboriginal service, and people working in the areas of human resources and recruiting, explained conference manager Melanie Dennis.

"We have a lot of academics coming into the conference and they're studying some of the historical aspects of the Aboriginal contributions to the defence of Canada through time. So we have a few presentations on, let's say, the War of 1812 and such, so that their contributions to the defence of Canada can be highlighted, so that it's not forgotten," she said.

"And that kind of goes into the theme of the conference, which is past, present and future. So the past aspect is handled by these academics who are doing the historical aspect. The present aspect is highlighted by some of our practitioners within the Forces that are going to be discussing some of their community relations projects that they do ... and some of the job opportunities that we can present. And the future aspect is, of course, recruitment and retention and how to improve the relationships between the communities and how to Aboriginal individuals fell that they can identify with the military culture as well as with their own culture."

Organizers are also hoping to attract Aboriginal veterans to the conference. Opportunities will be provided throughout the two days for both Aboriginal veterans and serving members to share their experiences with each other and other conference attendees.

James Bartleman, Ontario's lieutenant governor, will be on hand for the opening ceremonies of the conference on June 21. A traditional Aboriginal feast is scheduled for that evening.

Among the sessions planned for the conference are an examination of the affect the Oka Crisis had on Aboriginal recruitment, the role Aboriginal servicewomen played during the Second World War, a look at the experiences and access to benefits of First Nation and Metis veterans folowing the Second World War and the relationship between traditional spirituality and recruitment.

The conference is open to anyone interested in attending and there is no conference fee, but pre-registration is recommended because of limited seating. A registration form is available in PDF format online at www.cda.forces.gc.ca.