In the First World War, all the men in the Head of the Lake Okanagan Indian Band in Vernon between 21 and 35 years volunteered to serve overseas. All of the men.
Okanagan College professor Jim Wood presented this piece of little-publicized information to his audience at the Salmar Classic Theatre on March 12.
While time demonstrates ‘history is written by the victors,’ a proverb attributed to Winston Churchill, Wood has researched the First World War and provides a less-known aspect of Canada’s history. He focused on the 114th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, a battalion in Ontario formed by Commanding Officer Andrew T. Thompson, with half of its troops First Nations volunteers. Two of the four companies in the 114th were commanded by First Nations soldiers.
Wood said 4,000 indigenous people in Canada volunteered to serve, “many with the hope that service would result in equal treatment after the war.”
That was, however, not their reality.
Wood discovered Thompson when he was researching the Canadian Military Gazette, the army’s newspaper. There he found the Gazette to be “very progressive in its thinking about the place First Nations people should occupy in Canada.”
Wood learned Thompson was the editor of the Gazette at the time. Thompson had developed a good relationship with members of the Sixth Nations and had been made one of their honorary chiefs prior to commanding the 114th Battalion.
Canada in August 1914 was a country of eight million people starting the task of raising an army of 600,000. With about four million of the population men, and fewer of them the appropriate age, “you’re looking at a relatively small number,” he said.
For most Canadians, “it was still possible to support the British Empire fully, but not really to think of it as Canada’s war,” he said.
However, in the first battle of Ypres in Belgium, the ugly reality of trench warfare became evident. Calls from the British of ‘where are the Canadians?’ began to be heard, while the troops were sometimes derogatorily referred to as the “comedian contingent,” instead of the Canadian contingent.
The second battle of Ypres saw the first extensive wartime use of chemical weapons, and casualty lists became alarming.
In 1915 status Indians were denied the right to serve because the government said, as ‘wards of the state,’ they couldn’t be subjected to the atrocities occurring.
Such volunteers weren’t welcome until the supply of Canadians of British and European descent began to dry up.
“Canadians were starting to realize it’s not a great adventure, it won’t be over by Christmas,” Ward said.
Thompson’s recruits were denied the ability to fight together as a battalion overseas and, much to his chagrin, Thompson was not allowed to accompany them because of his age.
In 1917, Canada imposed conscription. Wood explained the government was going to conscript First Nations, until it was pointed out to those in power that they weren’t allowed to vote and were termed wards of the Crown.
An election was held over the conscription decision already imposed, where Robert Borden’s party tried to make sure everyone who would vote in his party’s favour would.
“It was a time when women got the vote,” said Wood. “Only certain women – the wives, sisters and mothers whose men were already at the front.”
In that election, First Nations volunteers in the Canadian Corps were also able to cast votes.
However, said Wood, “when guns fall silent, you go back to status Indian and now you’re not going to be able to vote.”
These were the circumstances that led Thompson to write editorials headlined: “Shall our Indian fighters go voteless while defaulters vote?”
It referred to those Canadian men who had evaded military duty, but would still be permitted to vote.
The positive part of the story was the recognition and admiration First Nations received from their fellow soldiers, Wood added, noting it was veterans’ organizations who were later their staunch allies.
Dan MacQuarrie, lecture sponsor and catalyst for the series promoting social justice, peace and the environment, made a request of his audience.
“If you’d like to do something to show your appreciation to me..., look at every person as your brother and sister, and build a community that’s even better than it is now.”
Closely connected
Louis Thomas of the Neskonlith band attended the lecture. He remembers stories of four relatives serving in the First World War, including his grand uncle William Parrish.
“They never really talked about it, they did their duty, came back, and lived the way they did before,” he recounts.
Thomas recalls the story of one man who, during the war, went outside, and started drumming and singing – for four days. When he came back in, he said ‘they’re all OK, some are hurt but they’re all okay.’ A week later, an overseas cable came saying the men were all right.
“These are the things we can’t understand, the stories that are handed down,” he says.