Military history club speaker to speak about Indigenous people in war

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

A presentation by the Tillsonburg Military History Club has an appropriate topic for the day it’s being presented.

Eric Story, an adjunct professor at Wilfried Laurier and Western Universities, will be presenting Fighting Injustice - Indigenous People in Canada’s Great War on Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The presentation will be at the Tillsonburg Legion, starting at 7 p.m.

“Since it’s on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the idea is to tell a different story about the First World War than we’re used to hearing, which is a focus on British-born white people,” he said. “This story is going to look at how Indigenous People experienced the war similarly, and also differently, then British-born communities did during the war.”

Story has written a number of articles on this topic over the years and taught about it as well.

He said the talk will detail reasons Indigenous People enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, which were not a lot different than the reason anyone enlisted. Story named a desire to “pursue adventure and escaping the boredom of Canadian life” as motivators. He said many Indigenous people had recently signed treaties with the king and felt a strong relationship with the Monarchy.

However, Indigenous soldiers faced discrimination on the lines. When they returned home, they faced further discrimination, not being allowed to collect pensions and still not being allowed to vote.

“Many thought if they proved themselves on the battle field they would be rewarded with the ability to vote afterwards,” Story said.

An admission fee applies to the event.