Mother, Nehiyaw, Metis, & Itisahwâkan – career communicator. This is my collection of opinions, stories, and the occasional rise to, or fall from, challenge. In other words, it's my party, I can fun if I want to. Artwork by aaronpaquette.net
I do what I can to help where I can, but the truth is that often, if not most of the time, I really don’t feel seen or heard. I feel as effective as a tiny chirp at the back of the cacophony that earns maybe a slight eyebrow raise from some bored listener on Facebook.
I resist the urge to screech louder. We’re supposed to be cautious about over-sharing or zealotry… Even so, I know at times I push that envelope – so bewildered that so few seem to understand or see what I see, even though what I end up screeching about is very much about their world too – equity and equality, corrupt industry and leadership, preserving clean waters… This is OUR world, damn it.
Realistically, of course I know I’m not really an island and I’m definitely not alone in my concerns nor alone on the front lines of a march or rally. Still, while people outside of those rallies, on social media et al, may seem not to notice, I think some, at least do. But what can really be said in response? How many times will people say, yes, I agree, before moving on?
So where do I or anyone else who desire to influence or create change for the better go from there? I suppose it’s at this point that some of us quit and maybe go look for whatever peace is available in our daily survival struggles. Or maybe we push even harder, hoping more serious agitation will move greater numbers. Or maybe like me, regardless of how despondent, quitting is impossible, (trust me, Cree blood is hot!). So, we continue to push for some semblance of balance in all options.
Having said all that, once in a while something happens out of the blue, maybe even something really quite sweet or even astonishing. Like an old friend and Juno Award winner writes a song and he says your efforts inspired him and all you can think is… holay!
What a beautiful event, this unexpected gift from a friend’s heart. He told me I could sing and record it; it’s mine to do with as I wish. Maybe I will sing and record it. Maybe I’ll just sing it with him some day – and I’d love that, but for now, I’d really love to share it with all the other dreamers who dare to strive. We can’t possibly know all who actually see or hear us, but someone is there and maybe, no matter how many, they’re all we’re meant to connect with. Maybe that really is enough…
I originally posted this in November 2013, but for personal reasons in light of the recent release of the Truth & Reconciliation Report regarding Canada’s Indigenous peoples, it feels especially appreciable this year and so I wanted to share it again. I’ve also included some minor revisions.
Andrea Hotomanie, Principal, Glenda Speight, Constable Erin McAvoy
As Remembrance Day approaches, I am reminded of how profoundly I was moved by the Remembrance Day assembly at my son’s school last year. I found it particularly poignant for two reasons.
What I found initially striking was that the ceremony was presided over by all women, something I’d never seen before. This brigade of impressive feminine force were school Principal, Glenda Speight, RCMP Constable Erin McAvoy in Red Serge, and Andrea Hotomanie, the district Aboriginal Support Worker.
Andrea Hotomanie was the second reason of note. She stood up in recognition of the Indigenous peoples who serve and have served in the Canadian military. She wore a magnificent button blanket, borne of the Northwest Coastal tribes, around her shoulders. It was the first time I had seen this kind of Indigenous inclusion at any school remembrance assembly and it brought me to tears.
It moved me so deeply because it was the first time I felt my grandfather and uncles included in these remembrances in a way that they hadn’t before. It brought them, Cree warriors from northern Alberta, faded from history for so many decades, up to the front too. I felt they were being honored for the first time as servicemen and not as guests held only in my mind, while all the other heroes were noted up on the screens and in the speeches. Between Andrea’s presence and my son nearby, this acknowledgement brought it all fully home to my heart.
All those many years ago, there was never any doubt that at least three of my uncles would join the military from the time that, as young boys, they stared admiringly at the one photo of my grandfather in his uniform until they were all signed up and fitted into their own.
Along with pride of their homeland and reverence for the uniform, there was another underlying and stirring reason to join up. Uncle Philip finally expressed it after I asked him why he always declared that his favorite job was being in the Canadian forces. He said, “Respect”. While he wore that Canadian uniform, it was the first time in his life that he was treated with honest to God respect, and it didn’t matter where he was in the world. It was his greatest time of honor and pride. I can’t say so for my grandfather or the other uncles, but I suspect they felt much the same.
Their presence at the Remembrance Day assembly that day was palpable to me, and I have no doubt that they were all there in full uniform.
There is a lot of history about Indigenous participation in the military and the details are available more than ever. I would encourage anyone to look up that history sometime for some very interesting and enlightening reading.
For now, I would just like to say thank you to my family for their courage. We will always be proud. We will always remember.
In remembrance of:
John Gray-WW1, Frank Gray-WW2, Phil Gray-Korea, Larry Gray-CDN post Quebec
I’m not an authority on all things Indigenous. I am only an authority on being one. Despite my great-grandfather, being an Indian signatory on Treaty 8, most of the information regarding our history with government oversight is new to me, as I expect it will be to most of you. What a shame this statement is.
I’ve condensed a huge amount of myth debunking information here, which I sincerely hope you’ll find interesting, enlightening, and worthy of sharing.
If you’ve ever read general media stories on Indigenous issues, coupled with what you likely learned in school, it wouldn’t be surprising if you have very light, usually unfavorable understanding, of First Nations peoples. Too often we’ve been portrayed as drains on society’s purse and guilt strings.
The headlines, commentaries, and letters to Editors that I see daily certainly provide ample evidence of that. We’re at a place now where we can rise to counter the myths and we should.
My son has been in our local school district’s Aboriginal Program since 1st grade and though his lessons have included more cultural detail and none of the talk about Indians terrorizing settlers that I’d learned, there’s wasn’t much beyond that except one disturbing lesson.
It was only 3 yrs ago, within the general curriculum, that he was taught that Indigenous children forced into the infamous residential schools was a good thing because they were able to get an education. For the record, those notorious schools are not ancient history; the last of them closed in 1996.
Apparently, those school lessons remain much the same for the general curriculum and Aboriginal program until graduation. There are no details added such as why the original Indian/Aboriginal/First Nations reserve system was created, what the rules were for living on them, and how they’re funded.
This is mainly what’s behind the long-held misconceptions about what and why things are the way they are. I don’t think this is by mistake. I think we were all misled by early and some current governmental efforts to hide, subvert, and muddy the details of Indigenous history and issues in Canada. I think there was disinterest by most media who, given generous benefit of the doubt, were likely unaware of the full picture too.
As more demands for governing transparency are made and more communications technology becomes available, we’re all learning far more, which benefits the Indigenous greatly by finally being heard in more vast and accessible ways. Government records are being posted online for all to review, including the many Indigenous peoples catching up in education.
As mentioned in my previous post, some of my recent discussions about First Nations were rife with that lack of education and full of bitter assertions, derision and accusations against First Nations. When I contradicted their understandings, barrels of outrage erupted. The chats quickly devolved into calling me names and mentally unfit.
The highlights of the madness that ensued are these:
“Since when do First Nations people pay taxes”?
We give you our taxes!
The majority of First Nations people do, in fact, pay all taxes. Of the 1,400,700 Indigenous as of 2011, which includes registered and non-registered First Nations, Metis, Treaty, and Inuit, all are required to pay income tax and the same goods and services taxes as everyone else.
As for those other often touted ‘free funds for Natives’, I’m a card carrying legitimately recognized Metis and I have yet to find any funding to meet my medical needs or for continuing education outside of the same channels for everyone else.
…“How do all the chiefs get away with taking millions while their band members freeze, with no clean water”?
You’re dense; Chiefs steal
There are 3,000+ elected First Nations officials in Canada. They’re required to turn in over 160 to 200, financial reports per year to the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC, known as CIRNA effective 2018). Chiefs who misappropriate funds exist but number less than the annual mismanagement cases we find in the Senate. How are any bands able to consistently outwit the 4,000+ employee AANDC, when it is literally their job to read & approve the reports they demand of these bands?
Assembly of First Nations Interim Chief, Ghislain Picard made a good point when he said, it’s too bad it’s these exceptions that are trumpeted and viewed as the norm instead of no outrage for the many more Chiefs who are grossly underpaid. (It’s Ottawa’s turn to be transparent – The Globe and Mail)
Despite the heavy demands of the role, the average band Chief makes an average annual salary of $60,000 (updated in 2015 from a previous average of 36,000). Many are making far less than that, as low as $0.00 to $25,000 annually. They get no pensions nor entitlements as those provided for Prime Ministers, MPs, or Senators.
“When will they finally stop living off of taxpayer’s backs and stand on their own two feet”?
First Nations don’t live off of taxpayers, in fact, quite the opposite, their resources have generously subsidized Canada.
The common misunderstandings of facts
Although, the 1876 Indian Act was used to brutally coerce government control of Indian economic and resource development and land use, Canada was formed through legal negotiations rather than war.
Treaties were agreements meant to sustain Indigenous rights and uses of land and resources equally with European newcomers. They are not invalid ancient history documents; there have been several additions since, right up to the current Harper Government.
The Indian Act outlawed First Nations from acting for their own economic development. This has only recently been somewhat revised and many reserves now generate their own monies in addition to the transfer funds they get from the ‘Indian Trust Fund’ which is overseen by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, (AANDC). They’re often referred to as ‘federal funds’, but that term should really be, ‘federally managed Indigenous funds’.
Must deny facts to retain right to argue
The monies that were/are supplied to this trust fund came from part of the resources taken off of their lands. Note to people who insist it was started with taxes: the Bank of Canada and the taxation system didn’t even exist at that time.
This fund is substantial, billions of dollars, and the Government of Canada still decides how those funds will be distributed to the bands.
The country of Canada, when unable to manage with the rest of the resources from land and taxes, has actually lived off of that First Nations trust fund from time to time, paying for things like general Canadian infrastructure and economic stimulus plans.
This is only part of a rather large story, but writer, Elyse Bruce who regularly covers Indigenous affairs further speaks to the points. If you follow her link, you will also get a picture as to why there is chronic under-funding to First Nation’s people who were made to live on reserves and into the Arctic regions to maintain Canadian territory:
…”the monies due the First Nations peoples from natural resources has been taken into consideration as part of First Nation revenues”.
… “the First Nations Trust Fund isn’t the only money that belongs to First Nations peoples that is handled by the AANDC”.
She’s referring to the fees for the licenses, permits and other instruments to individuals and organizations for exploration and development on First Nations land, and the Indian Moneys Suspense Accounts under the direction of the AANDC.
…”If the resource exploration and development projects weren’t on First Nations property, there wouldn’t be any need for AANDC to involve itself ergo the revenues generated from “licenses, permits and other instruments to individuals and organizations” is First Nations revenues, is it not”?
“In other words, there’s all kinds of money that belongs to First Nations peoples that isn’t part of the First Nations Trust Fund, (and yet) the AANDC controls all of it”.
So where have all those extra funds been going? Could it be, that Canada is in debt to the First Nations Trust Fund? First Nations have been asking for transparency of that account for years.
They’ve also been asking for autonomy in administration of their funds, education, and social services; however this has not been a successful effort. This was very nearly accomplished with an agreement set to be signed in 2007, called the Kelowna Accord. It was cancelled by the then next incoming Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.
One more note that begs sharing, in my opinion:
“Anyone crying that FN’s should disappear from the world and assimilate, might as well be advocating for Canada itself to be dissolved because that is the only way to dissolve the treaties. Like it or not, dissolving Canada puts us directly under international law. Like it or not, under international law, you must prove right of discovery. Like it or not, right of discovery belongs to FNs and Inuit under international law, meaning the lands and resources would revert to FN’s and Inuit, which is worth a lot more. Like it or not, this is why even Harper’s government has entered into Treaty as well as using Inuit right of discovery to secure Canadian jurisdiction over the Arctic’s vast resources”. –David King comment, from the Westcoast Native News, “A Short Note To Correct Canadian Misconceptions About Indians Living Off “Taxpayer Monies”, September 23, 2014.
Most, if not all of this, should be common knowledge to the average Canadian citizen, after all it’s their history too. Given the speed with which we can share information now, I feel cautious optimism that most Canadians will finally understand the issues and the reasons behind them.
These details are a huge missing piece of esteem building block for people of Indigenous ancestry. We don’t all have a full understanding of our own history. We deserve this. We deserve recognition for the stunning contributions of the Indigenous Peoples on behalf of Canada even while being purposely oppressed or denigrated for the consequences of that history. Surely, this is worthy of respect; it’s certainly worthy of placement in all school history books.
Unfortunately, there will always be people who will continue to deny the worst of our history despite its evidence. There are citizens, leaders, and purveyors of history who say it’s time to just to move on. How do they propose successfully moving from point A to C, if we don’t acknowledge the hows and whys of point B?
Knowledge changes everything. All of Canada benefits when her history is fully known. The scars of that history can heal only if they’re truly and fully acknowledged; the fears that hold that back, hold us all back. Those fears are based in the idea of losing something, but the facts show that there is only everything to gain.
How much does Canada owe Indigenous communities for stolen land?
My boy – I will always hope that whatever your challenges are to be, you will always know that you are lovingly surrounded and supported by a thousand of your ancestors. You are a great spirit, with the wisdom of the eagle and the heart of a warrior.
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” -Albert Einstein.
It’s all so simple really, what’s at the bottom of the fight over changing the name of the Washington Redskin’s football team. The real deal point that hits home the hardest about the debate is the word racist. Not racism; it’s the full-on, take it personally, title of racist.
The idea that they have, for generation after generation, celebrated and cheered a term built upon the bloodied bodies of human beings is incomprehensible. It should be.
After all, regardless of the mouthpieces who speak in support of it, another truth is that the majority of those team fans are really just your average, basic, decent citizen and neighbors. They’re the same people who’d help you shovel your walk; they’d rush to help someone in an accident. They send donation after donation to help people devastated by wrath of nature disasters. They’re the same people you’d likely enjoy a coffee with at a local school or church event. Like most anyone, they will move heaven and earth to protect and cherish their children and community.
They will also do the same to protect that inner sensibility to remain good people. Good people are not racist. Therefore, that “R” word is the issue, but not really the term itself; it’s about the people who are changing their truth’s history of it.
The campaign to bring out that ‘truth’ is everywhere. Social media is fully covered by various groups in support of the talking points put out by the team’s organization. They include the origin of the term, the number of teams with the name, the original honor intended, and so on. The team has put up a page on their website dedicated to the issue. There are constant interviews given by their P.R. reps in radio, podcasts, TV, and newspapers.
The team owners created a charitable organization dedicated to the plight of Native Americans – although the altruistic intentions are vociferously debated given the timing of the new generosity and the requirement of highly visible team branding attached to what is given.
The information available for the entire issues’s history is ample and readily accessible, and yet its existence is denied over and over. The engagement of hundreds of Native American tribes and groups is almost wholly ignored. The organization at the head of the issue, the Change the Mascot organization is never referenced.
The irony in the labor to ignore the voices of Native Americans by declaring this is only an effort by white liberals serving a politically correct agenda is completely lost on them. They’ll state sadness and regret about the Trail of Tears, but if there is such a thing as opinion genocide, there is a good case for this being an example at work.
How do decent people seemingly willingly embrace racism?
How is all of this even possible by these same decent people of regular everyday life?
To get an idea, we’d have to ask what it would feel like, within the dawning of the realization, that what Native Americans are saying, is true. What does the evidence of horrible realities behind nearly 80 years of mythical stories of supportive honor do to the average heart?
What does it mean and what does it say about everyone who ever supported the team? What does that make every celebrating and cheering owner, employee, player and fan over those nearly 80 years?
Despite a likelihood of racism within some of the mindsets, for the most part, for the rest, in a word, it would have to be: ignorance. We’re talking about mostly just ignorance. For over two centuries there has been a deliberate effort to hide the history of Native Americans with even more fervor than the attempts to silence them today.
The concerted work to erase the attempted genocide of the America’s Indigenous Peoples includes omitting and revising facts in school history books. Governments even today will avoid the word genocide despite loads of buildings holding their own records detailing:
the creation of reserves, reservations,
the breakup of families and the creation of residential schools to break the cultures and assimilate them,
the demand to manage virtually every aspect of life on those reserves and reservations.
The most the average citizen learned about Indigenous people amounts to pemmican recipes, tipi making, and how they caused great harm to the poor besieged settlers on their land. This is just fact, and in truth, because of that even many of the Indigenous peoples have yet to learn their own histories.
So, it is in these cases, that we can say to people: we understand. We can’t condemn someone for racism unless they are informed and educated about the point of issue. To be sure, there has been a lot of informing going on and the aid of social media has been helpful in spreading the news even faster. There have been a good number of successful inroads because of this, but make no mistake, there is still a huge amount of ground to cover in North America.
For those informed and educated, but still insist on the old beliefs, I suppose the notion of change itself is even harder to embrace. There’s not much that can be done about that by us, but for all the rest, the truth of the words by slave abolitionist, William Wilberforce stands in this as much as all inhumanity:
“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you didn’t know.”
RL
Thank you, to Mike Wise – Washington Post Sports Writer, for sharing this piece at CSN Washington Post.
We should be impressed with how many people are well versed in Native American culture and history. It’s been amazing and enlightening to see all kinds of average citizens report and comment so expertly on First Nations and Aboriginal issues lately. Of course, this post isn’t really about how much is known about Native Americans as much as how deplorably inadequate our education about the culture(s) still is.
The story that has caused all the questionable commentary was the news the U.S. Patent Office revoked the name trademark for football team, the Washington Redskins. The public response has revealed that a number of people feel immersed enough in Native American culture that they can speak for how Native Americans should or do feel about all kinds of issues. This includes how to react to the use of a term historically known as racist for the sake of sports team logos and names.
I keep reading things like, as a Native, I’m one of the people who doesn’t really care about this, and so why should anyone else. I most definitely have feelings about this – I feel hurt, angry, and sometimes surges of the humiliation burn I endured at times throughout my life because I am a Native person. The sting of being called a dirty redskin when I was a child is as piercing now as it was then.
I’ve read over and over that even if I do care, what I feel is beside the point because there are far more people out there who really matter. I happen to think it’s the ones who stand against racism and discrimination of any form that matter. I believe in the ones who say let’s make the world a better place without the cost of that being another human. I seek those who speak beyond the words that filled so many, too many, of the commentaries like this:
BUT – 90% of the Universe Likes the Name!
“90% of Indians don’t mind the name Redskins.” or sometimes it’s stated as, “90% of Americans like the name”. These statements refer to the often cited, but academically questioned, National Annenberg Election Survey from 2004. They proudly quote that 90% figure, but that’s 90% of the 768 respondents – 691 people who claimed Native American ancestry, not 90% of all Native Americans. That’s part of why people take exception to this poll. It also took almost a year to find those 768 respondents, which begs the question, which neighbourhoods were they looking in?
If you want to get technical, according to U.S. Census records for 2004, there were approximately 3,000,000 Native Americans in the U.S. then. The number needed to statistically represent 90% of Natives (with a 3% +/- error margin) would’ve had to have been at least 1,100 people – preferably Native Americans who live within the culture, or are well-versed in it.
There is a constantly ignored October 2013 SurveyUSA poll that showed 59% of 500 non-Native American Washington DC residents thought the name was offensive. 79% of them didn’t think changing the name would make them think less of the team.
There was something else I noticed in the comments and that was how many Native American relatives we all have. If the number of self-identified part-Native Americans claiming not to have a problem with the name is true, then Native Americans must really represent close to a third of the overall U.S. population. For sure the Cherokee nation’s population has got to have tripled in the last week.
There is tremendous debate as to the truth of the word’s offensiveness. This is where the vast in-depth knowledge of Native American history appears most in the comments. The origin of the word is debated to the nth degree with disagreement about the word being born of racism. Therefore, no racist beginning, no problem.
Origin is not the point
noun: etymology
the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history. The origin of a word and the historical development of its meaning.
plural noun: etymologies
A paper by Ives Goddard is often cited as incontrovertible proof that the word did not begin as a slur because he cites English and French notes from 17th-19th century journals where they note a chief and some tribal members called themselves red people. First Nations are hundreds of cultures. Some people take exception to those notes because Native historians – as in the Native peoples themselves – did not record their history in the same way, and most do not historically refer to themselves as red people, let alone redskins. In any case, the paper does acknowledge the term evolved into a slur, or “obloquy”.
Next, victoriously trotted out are exceptions to the view that most Native Americans are offended and why they shouldn’t be:
The first Redskins coach was Native – Disputed as someone who took on a Sioux identity to escape the draft. He also did not name the team.
The Natives have always been proud of these honors – it was Natives who started the trademark revocation in 1992, but overall objections to the name began in the 1950s.
Many school teams, even Native ones, call themselves redskins and are damned proud of it. Most are forgetting when those schools were originally named and by whom, but even so, self identification to claim the name is not the same thing.
Oklahoma is Native named and is Choctow for ‘Red People’. Actually, ˆ“Ogla-ut-homma”, has a different etymology. In the Choctaw language “Homma,” can mean rust, brown, tan, or red. Oklahoma could easily be translated as ‘tan people.’
This may be interesting debate so far, but what isn’t disputed is that the name evolved into a term that evokes centuries of derision, hatefulness, discrimination, and attempted genocide. The term is recorded in historical accounts repeatedly calling for the scalps and genitalia of our ancestors. It’s this part of history that most resonates with the people who are offended by the images and names that dehumanize them to a cartooned existence, i.e. redskins.
Despite that, the reasons given to keep the name run the gamut from derision to the absurd; Natives and white liberals are just whiners and choosing to be victimized. There is simple ignorance of the issue to blaming Obama, who apparently is in need of another distraction. Some people are very concerned about the expenses this could cost teams if they have to re-tool names or images. Some people want to cling to tradition, eagerly willing to overlook the horrific and bloody history associated with the term.
Coming to terms with the idea of change can be hard, and for some people, very hard. Changing something that is eight decades along is even seen as dishonoring “tradition”. However, if a tradition is based in the highly questionable honor of documentable racism, the time for change is long overdue.
Banning racist slurs may not change everything, but words do have power and standing against words that caused so much damage is the beginning of the end of discriminations, and it says, yes, we do matter.
Besides, there are already cases to show that it can be done without irreparable loss.
The University of Utah Redskins became Utah Utes in 1972.
The Miami University (of Ohio) Redskins became the RedHawks in 1997.
The Southern Nazarene University Redskins became the Crimson Storm in 1998.
To date, there were more than 3,000 American Indian mascots and names used in school K-12 athletic programs; more than two-thirds of those have been changed.
Still don’t think any racism underlies the word? Then why do you suppose that in every single one of those comments – all those stridently opposed to change and steadfastly insistent that the term redskins is really an honor – why did none of them refer to Native Americans as redskins? Not a single one.
RL
Some may have noticed I didn’t capitalize the term in some areas. I did that in order to reflect how that term changes tone even with a simple adjustment of a letter. I doubt the irony of that was missed by even the most ardent slur defender.
∗Updated June 29, 2014 to include the Oklahoma reference increasingly cited as self-description for entire Native American nations. With thanks for the information provided by Paula Starr, Executive Director at Southern California Indian Center.
Andrea Hotomanie, Principal, Glenda Speight, Constable Erin McAvoy
As Remembrance Day approaches, I am reminded of how profoundly I was moved by the Remembrance Day assembly at my son’s school last year. I found it particularly poignant for two reasons.
What I found initially striking was that the ceremony was presided over by all women, something I’d never seen before. They were school Principal, Glenda Speight, RCMP Constable Erin McAvoy, impressive in her Red Serge, and Andrea Hotomanie, the district Aboriginal Support Worker.
Andrea Hotomanie was the second reason of note. She stood up in recognition of the First Nations who serve and have served in the Canadian Military. She wore a magnificent button blanket around her shoulders. It was the first time I had seen this kind of inclusion at any school remembrance assembly. It brought me to tears.
It moved me so deeply because it was the first time I felt my grandfather and uncles included in these remembrances in a way that they hadn’t before. It brought them, Cree warriors from Northern Alberta, faded from history for so many decades, up to the front too. I felt they were being honored for the first time as servicemen and not as guests in the back of my mind, while all the other heroes were noted up on the screens and in the speeches. Between Andrea’s presence and my son nearby, this acknowledgement brought it all fully home to my heart.
All those many years ago, there was never any doubt that at least three of my uncles would join the military from the time that, as young boys, they stared admiringly at the one photo of my grandfather in his uniform until they were all signed up and fitted into their own.
Along with pride of nation and reverence for the uniform, there was another underlying and stirring reason to join up. Uncle Philip finally expressed it after I asked him why he always declared that his favorite job was being in the Canadian forces. He said, “Respect”. While he wore that uniform, it was the first time in his life that he was treated with honest to God respect, and it didn’t matter where he was in the world. It was his greatest time of honor and pride. I can’t say so for my grandfather or the other uncles, but I suspect they felt much the same.
Their presence at the Remembrance Day assembly that day was palpable to me, and I have no doubt that they were all there in full uniform.
There is a lot of history about Indigenous participation in the military and the details are available more than ever. I would encourage anyone to look up that history sometime for some very interesting and enlightening reading.
For now, I would just like to say thank you to my family for their courage. We will always be proud. We will always remember.
In remembrance of:
Private John Joseph Baptiste Gray – WW1
Private Frank Joseph Gray – WW2
Private Philip Sanford Gray – Korea
Private Larry Alexander Gray – Canadian post, Quebec
To an old friend serving in Afghanistan, Deputy Chief of Staff, John Valtonen, as always, thank you, and stay safe.
Our Home and Native Braves was published October 30, 2013 on the Reader’s Digest community website: 
Our Home and Native Braves was published October 30, 2013 on the Reader’s Digest community website: 
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