Native veterans less than impressed with "honours"

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Howard Anderson said he didn't know why he was asked to come.

Organizers of the royal visit to the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) campus in Regina on May 17 had invited many Aboriginal military veterans to the campus as a sign of honour.

Instead, veterans such as Anderson and Tony Cote, said they felt more imposed on than honoured.

"Not a damn thing," Anderson, a former grand chief of the Saskatchewan First Nations Veterans Association (SFNVA), replied when a reporter asked him if the Queen's visit would draw more attention to their plight.

"The people have no interest in what the Queen's going to do ... I can't see any bloody help from it," he continued.

"Why the recognition? I don't know."

However, it didn't stop either veteran from carrying flags as part of the official honour guard for the Royal couple's entrance to the university.

Organizers of the visit said they believed the Queen made a specific request for meeting with Aboriginal peoples and veterans during her week-long trip to Alberta and Saskatchewan. FNUC officials, in turn, invited Saskatchewan Aboriginal veterans to the welcoming ceremony.

About 50 Aboriginal veterans of the Canadian armed services were among the 250 invited guests who welcomed Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to the campus.

SNVA Grand Chief Philip Favel was part of the official greeting party at FNUC, along with Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Alphonse Bird and FNUC president Dr. Eber Hampton. During the royal visit, Hampton and Bird presented Favel with a carving for Saskatchewan's First Nations veterans, on behalf of Saskatchewan's First Nations.

The cedar wood carving, made by FNUC third-year fine arts student Reynold Lavallee, shows the sacrifices the veterans have made for a better life, said the artist. The carved box was emblazoned with images of buffalo and horses.

"The buffalo used to support us. We got everything from it," he said. "Instead, today we have to depend on education, so education is now our buffalo.

"The horses represent courage and strength of our veterans."

What could have been the best result from the Queen's visit, in Anderson's opinion? "Somebody could offer us a decent living once in a while. Many of our people have passed away with nothing. Their children are left with nothing," he said.

Anderson and Cote, a former chief of the Cote First Nation, told reporters during the royal visit that their concerns have been almost forgotten by history.

"We didn't get the same benefits after the war that non-First Nations veterans received from the Canadian government, and that's why we're a bit negative about this," said Cote. "Every time we try to do something, there's always some government department that says it's not possible.

"It's time that we were heard. Every other time, we've been muzzled." said Tony Cote.

So, why not stay home during the Queen's visit? Cote said that wouldn't accomplish anything, either.

"It's important that we start developing better communications with them ... we have to pursue the promises that were made to our people," he said.

"If we stay in isolation, we segregate from others, that means the treaties will never be honoured,"

concluded Cote, who served 14 months with a Royal Canadian Army artillery regiment during the Korean War.

During the visit, co-hosts Merelda Fiddler and Nelson Bird presented a three-minute film about Aboriginal veterans and their service during the Second World War. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Allied defeat of the Axis powers in that conflict.

Howard Anderson, a member of Gordon First Nation, first went overseas as a member of the Canadian army during the war.

The son of a First World War veteran, Anderson joined the Royal Canadian Army in 1940, at the age of 16. He landed with the Canadian army in France in June 1944, shortly after D-Day, and served as a dispatch driver, achieving the rank of lace corporal.

"That was the same rank Hitler had in the First World War," Anderson joked.

In 1943, the King government passed legislation making the department of Indian Affairs, not the department of Veterans Affairs, responsible for looking after the needs of First Nations veterans. The federal government had several post-war programs to provide jobs and education for those leaving the armed forces, but no similar programs existed for First Nations veterans.

"When we came back, we weren't recognized for anything," said Anderson. "After the war, when I came back, the federal government would have meetings for veterans. They told us, 'You treaty Indians, get out and go see your Indian agent. You Metis and white guys, you stay here, you get up to $6,000 to go farming."

In comparison, Anderson said, he was given a quarter-section of land that was part of Gordon reserve for his use for a decade. He contends that the lands weren't the federal government's to give away, and that he and other First Nations veterans should have received the same benefits as other veterans.

When asked what he would say to the Queen if they met, Anderson smiled.

"I would ask her if she could still drive a truck. She used to drive trucks when she was a WAC (Women's Army Corps.) in the army (during the Second World War)."