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‘A Flag that Knows No Colour Line’: Aboriginal Veteranship in Canada, 1914-1939 Brian R. MacDowall A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History, York University, Toronto, Ontario June, 2017 © Brian MacDowall 2017 ii ABSTRACT Historians have rightly considered the period from 1914 to 1939 as the time when Canadian Indigenous soldiers and veterans of the First World War faced unique challenges because of their legal status as Indians. But their acceptance of the idea that Indigenous veterans were victims of discrimination has led them to overlook the unique nature of these Indigenous peoples’ identities as “Indians” and veterans. The prevailing assumption is that Indigenous veterans were not an influential group politically, socially, or culturally and Indigenous veterans’ political awakening occurred only in the mid-1940s. This study contends that Indigenous veterans’ relationship with the state in the interwar period was more complicated than previously thought. Their war service created a fundamentally different and important legal relationship with the state from other soldiers or Indigenous peoples. Military service suspended soldiers’ Indian status temporarily, and this experience created a new set of expectations for Indigenous men upon their return home. As veterans, they expected material benefit and recognition for their sacrifices, and support for killed or wounded soldiers and their families. These expectations did not fit with government officials’ understanding that Indigenous men returning from the war would re-integrate into their communities as Indians and wards of the state. The dissertation offers an overview of Indigenous war service in the context of debates over status and citizenship, and then sketches how these debates informed developments in soldiers’ demobilization, re-establishment, re-integration, and restoration. Through the examination of Indigenous soldiers’ service records, pension and Soldier Settlement case files, and government records, this work argues that Indigenous soldiers’ and veterans’ experience iii from 1914 through 1939 should not be seen primarily as victims of the state, but rather as a group whose complicated identity of Indian and veteran, and as citizens, began to coalesce. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have many people to thank for their role in actualizing this dissertation. Many of these acknowledgements are long overdue. From first to last, my doctoral committee deserves enormous credit for their incredible patience and for their hard work on a tight timeline to bring this towards a defence. Marcel Martel has been a warm, supportive, and positive force, whose encouragement nudged me to stick with York for a PhD. I am glad I did. Craig Heron’s presence on my committee brought a weight of academic precision that improved this work immeasurably, but I wish to thank him especially for listening patiently to me when I felt lost and pointing me in the right direction with grace. This patience helped me narrow my topic and pursue focused research questions. Lastly, William Wicken and I worked together first as I did my Masters of Arts and continued on for this dissertation. I started my Masters at 22 years old with an abundance of self-assuredness and a paucity of life experience. I learned how to become an historian exclusively through his guidance. His gentle suggestions for me to systematize my research and writing led me to push myself. His commitment in 2016-2017 to read, comment, and edit my work is incredible, so I thank you wholeheartedly. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the generous financial support of the Avie Bennett Historica Dominion Fellowship and Ramsay Cook scholarship, and the additional funds and employment opportunities provided by the outstanding Department of History at York University. William Wicken, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, and R. Scott Sheffield offered me additional research advising work towards the end of my period of active scholarship v at York in 2011 and 2012, and this work helped me transition towards non-academic employment so I could keep this project alive. Additional scholars, historians and otherwise, deserve credit. Folks at the various research institutions and libraries that I have accessed have been eager to help. In that regard, I need to thank the staff at LAC and the Archives of Ontario for helping me understand the organization of such a giant beast as RG 10 and other voluminous records relating to Indigenous peoples in Canada. To their unending credit, the staff at the Glenbow Museum and Archives offered to arrange for me to work outside of their operating hours during my whirlwind trip to Calgary, which earns them a special place in my heart. The friendly staff at the Conestoga College library helped me on my lunch breaks to track down additional sources. I should also mention the joint York – U of T political history reading group whose reviews in 2012 helped me focus early work which eventually wound up as sections of Part I and Part II. Moreover, I had the tremendous pleasure to attend York University’s Department of History at the moment when a great many impressive minds were studying simultaneously. I’ll refrain from writing out the list of an entire Department of people whose company, humour, and intelligence was inspirational and aspirational. The list is simply too long! That being said, a few good friends deserve special mention. Angela Rooke and Alban Bargain both deserve special credit for their open-heartedness and cheerful encouragement from day one in the program. I value their friendships greatly. Additionally, Andrew Watson, Ian Milligan, and Tom Peace all served as eleventh-hour guides, helping me in the final months to improve specific sections and parts, and so I owe them each a hoppy beer. Thanks, friends! Reading thousands of pages that describe physical and emotional trauma, violence, and death is grim work. At times, I had to shut off at home after a day of academic work so that I vi could process what I had encountered in the archives. I thus dedicate every word of this dissertation to my home support network, Helen and Milo. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION: THE MAKING OF INDIGENOUS VETERANS .................................................. 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1 Thesis, Themes, and Sources .................................................................................................................... 3 Indigenous Soldiers, Veterans, and the State: An Historiography ......................................................... 11 Indigeneity, Veteranship, & Citizen-Solider: Critical Definitions and Key Terms ................................ 24 A Study in Five Chapters ........................................................................................................................ 37 CHAPTER I – “INDIANS OR BRITISH SUBJECTS”?: INDIGENOUS SOLDIERS AND THE CEF ............................................................................................................................................................ 42 Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 42 Recruitment: From Prohibition to Promotion ........................................................................................ 52 Regulating the Home Front .................................................................................................................... 67 “Historic Value”: The DIA and Programs of Knowledge, 1915-1917 .................................................. 87 The Military Service Act ......................................................................................................................... 93 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 101 CHAPTER II: “A FULL BLOODED INDIAN?” THE CONTESTED MEANING OF REPATRIATION AND RETURN ........................................................................................................ 104 Introduction........................................................................................................................................... 104 Demobilization and Repatriation Prior to Armistice ............................................................................ 108 Mass Demobilization: Armistice and Repatriation ............................................................................... 121 The Return to the Reserve ..................................................................................................................... 133 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 153 CHAPTER III: “MISSIONARIES
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