Aboriginal veterans need our help

Page 5

My dad's a veteran of the Canadian army. My wife's father was in the air force. My first daughter's late grandfather was also in the army. We are really proud of our fathers, our other relatives and the other Indian men and women who put their lives on the line to defend this country. But we also recognize the fact that they put their lives on the line for lands that had been taken away from their people.

For me, it is very wrong what the Canadian government has done to the Indian veterans. Just recently, I took my father, Donald Angus, to a meeting of the Saskatchewan Indian Veteran's Association (SIVA) in North Battleford. This association just filed a law suit because of the way Canada has treated them since the wars.

The Indian veterans were treated differently from the non-Indian veterans. The Indian veterans were given land on the reserve, land that already belonged to them. So this really wasn't giving them anything at all, let alone treating them in the same way that non-Indian veterans have been treated. There were also other benefits that were denied to the Indian veterans.

The point of this column is not to explain how badly Canada treated the Indian veterans. My concern is a little different. I am concerned with the way that we Indian people, as nations, have treated these men and women who stood to protect the land. The Indian veterans don't have the money they need to hire the lawyers to take their case to court. Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart has refused to address the original situation. At the recent North Battleford meeting, Howard Anderson, the president of SIVA, reported that Jane Stewart had refused to help the veterans with their legal costs. The government found money for the students who protested the APEC conference. But, as usual, there's no money for Indian people - Indian people who are trying to do nothing more than help themselves and receive equality.

Compare this to how the Japanese people who were taken to camps during the war were treated. They were compensated a number of years ago. I am not saying that Canada shouldn't have done that - they should have and probably sooner than they did. But why is it that we - both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people- accept the continuing harm being done to Aboriginal veterans? When I think about the Japanese compensation and the help the students at APEC got, it's pretty clear that the government is still treating Indians differently and badly. Why do other Canadians tolerate this?

It will take at least two years to have the veterans' claim heard in court. I see the veterans waiting and I'm angry they don't have something to be hopeful about. We are losing these old people who stood for us. My dad just lost one of his friends. At the SIFC pow wow, three of the veterans in the grand entry were in wheel chairs, some were using walkers. For the veterans who have gone on to the other side, their wives and husbands are left without hope. Their children have been and continue to be affected by how Canada has discriminated against these men and women.

I am looking to our Indian leaders to really start taking this issue seriously. For me, it's the most important outstanding issue at the moment because we are burying these people in their sadness. The disrespect they have been shown is going to the graves with far too many of them. It's time all Indian people took this issue seriously. Call your chiefs. Tell them: Support the veterans!

Call or write Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart and really tell her!

Call the Saskatchewan Indian Veteran's Association and let them hear how important they are to us.