P. WHITNEY LACKENBAUER WITH JOHN MOSES, R. SCOTT SHEFFIELD, MAXIME GOHIER A Commemorative History of ǾɄɑȨȝȨȽǸȵ@ȐɄɉȵȐ ǸȽǸȇȨǸȽ4ȨȵȨɜǸɑɴ ǾɄɑȨȝȨȽǸȵ@ȐɄɉȵȐȨȽɜȣȐ ǸȽǸȇȨǸȽ4ȨȵȨɜǸɑɴ Cover: Chief of the Ottawa nation, War of 1812, Painting by Ron Volstad [Department of National Defence] A Commemorative History of Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military A Commemorative History of Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military P. WHITNEY LACKENBAUER WITH JOHN MOSES, R. SCOTT SHEFFIELD, MAXIME GOHIER D2-250/2-2009E 978-1-100-12652-4 Art Direction ADM(PA) DPAPS CS08-0436 ii Acknowledgements This history on our Aboriginal Peoples and their contribution to Canada’s rich military heritage is the latest in a series of books prepared by the Director of History and Heritage commemorating especial military experience. The idea of this book and initial support to its realization came from the late Lieutenant-General Christian Couture who championed the cause of the Aboriginals in the Forces. Today, more than 1800 First Nations, Inuit and Métis Canadians serve with the Canadian Forces at home and overseas with the same fervour and pride as their ancestors. Their diversity is extraordinary. They represent over 640 distinct bands, sharing common beliefs and practices, and all unique in themselves. As well, there are 55 languages and distinct dialects that belong to 11 linguistic families. A sincere and heartfelt "thank you" must be extended to all those who contributed to this book and in recognition of their invaluable assistance to the successful completion of this project. They are: Lieutenant-Colonel Marcel Beaudry, Sergeant Ryan Davidson, Maurice Desautels, Arlene Doucette, Donald Graves, David Duguay, Ben Greenhous, Madeleine Lafleur-Lemire, Major Paul Lansey, John MacFarlane, Major-General Walter Semianiw, Warren Sinclair, the Canadian Forces Joint Imagery Centre, Yvan Rompré (translator), Élisabeth LeBoeuf (editor), the authors P. Whitney Lackenbauer, John Moses, R. Scott Sheffield, Maxime Gohier and our Aboriginal veterans. Dr. Serge Bernier Director – History and Heritage iii About the Authors P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Ph.D., is assistant professor and chair of history at St. Jerome’s University, Waterloo, Ontario. His recent books include, Arctic Front: Defending Canada’s Far North (2008), Battle Grounds: The Canadian Military and Aboriginal Lands (2007), and two co-edited volumes on Aboriginal peoples and military participation. John Moses is an objects conservator and researcher with the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec. His particular interests are the accommodation of Aboriginal perspectives in mainstream museum practice, and the provision of collections care training to non-specialists. He is a registered member of the Delaware band at the Six Nations of the Grand River at Brantford, Ontario. R. Scott Sheffield, PhD., is an instructor in the Department of History at the University of the Fraser Valley. His major publications include, The Redman’s on the Warpath: The Image of the Indian and the Second World War (2004), A Search for Equity: The Final Report of the National Round Table on First Nations Veterans’ Issues (2001), and a recent edited volume on Aboriginal peoples and military participation in international perspective. Maxime Gohier holds a Master’s degree in history from l’Université du Québec à Montréal. He is the author of the book, Onontio le médiateur: La gestion des conflits amérindiens en Nouvelle-France (1603-1717), which focuses on the Native American policies of France in North America. He is currently doing doctoral research into the history of the native peoples of Quebec under the British regime. iv Table of Contents INTRODUCTION WARFARE IN PRE-COLUMBIAN NORTH AMERICA. .2 CHAPTER I THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPEANS: 17TH CENTURY WARS . 14 CHAPTER II THE IMPERIAL WARS . 38 CHAPTER III IN DEFENCE OF THEIR HOMELANDS . 58 CHAPTER IV TRANSFORMING RELATIONSHIPS, 1815-1902 . 90 CHAPTER V THE WORLD WARS. 118 CHAPTER VI THE LAST SIX DECADES . 156 CONCLUSION . 184 1 Introduction 2 ABORIGINAL PEOPLE IN THE CANADIAN MILITARY Warfare In Pre-Columbian North America The European explorers who ‘discovered’ the Americas in the 15th Century came to a land already inhabited by a diverse and substantial indigenous population. According to Aboriginal creation stories, their ancestors had lived here forever. According to archaeolo- gists, human beings had been living in what is now Canada for at least 12,000 years and probably much longer. The indigenous peoples in this land were divided into sedentary. The Five Nations (also known as the Iroquois a number of nations, which ethnologists classify on the or Hodenosaunee), as well as the Huron, the Neutral, basis of cultural and linguistic characteristics. In the the Petun and the Erie, lived in villages of as many as east, from the Atlantic coast to the Great Lakes area, 2,000 people in the area around Lake Ontario, Lake Erie Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples mingled and divided and Lake Huron. Their homes were 10-30 metre-long the available resources in the sub-Arctic boreal forest ‘longhouses’ made of wood and covered with bark that and north-eastern deciduous woodlands. The former each housed three to five families. They enjoyed a milder America North Pre-Columbian In Warfare were generally nomadic, living by hunting, gathering climate than most of their Algonquian neighbours that and fishing. Generally, the Beothuk in Newfoundland, permitted the most northerly extension of indigenous the Mi’kmaq, Abenaki and Malecite in the Maritimes, agriculture in North America, growing corn, squash, and the Algonquin, Attikamekw, Naskapi, Montagnais beans, sunflowers and tobacco. (now known as Innu), Odahwah, Nipissing, Ojibway and Cree in Quebec and Ontario all gathered in summer In the northern Plains, the Assiniboine and Blackfoot at sites of major fisheries to socialize, trade and make lived a nomadic pedestrian existence. They survived alliances. In the fall, they would disperse into kin-based mainly by hunting bison, which were abundant at the hunting bands for the winter. On the other hand, the time and met nearly all their needs, providing not only nations that spoke Iroquoian languages were much more food but also hides for clothing and lodge coverings, as Mohawk Warrior from Tyendinaga, Autumn 1813 The warriors from the small Mohawk community at tyendinaga near Kingston, although few Harbor and in the Niagara peninsula in 1813. Their most prominent service was rendered at the battle for Crysler’s Farm in November,1813 where they played a role disproportional of their numbers. This warrior is depicted as he may have appeared at Crysler’s Farm. Painting by Ron Volstad [Department of National Defence] INTRODUCTION 3 well as horn and bones for tools and weapons. In the Finally, the Thule and their cultural and biological sub-arctic forests that stretched from northern Manitoba descendants, the Inuit, whom the French generally called through the Northwest Territories to the Yukon lived ‘Esquimaux,’ lived in the arctic north of the tree line. highly mobile Athapascan speaking nations, including Their ingenious technologies, from snowhouses to the Chipewyan, Slavey, Sekani, Dogrib, Beaver, Sarcee kayaks, allowed them to live in an unaccomodating and Hare among others. They had a lifestyle similar to environment, where they necessarily relied on animal that of the Algonquian nations and subsisted mainly by resources to survive. For most groups, the sea provided hunting moose and caribou. On the other side of the the most important resources: for example, seals pro- Rockies were the peoples of the cordillera and Pacific vided food for humans and dogs, oil to heat homes and Coast. Those nations in the mountainous interior cook food, and hides which could be made into boots, included the Kootenay, as well as various Interior summer clothing, tents, harpoon lines and dog harnesses. Salish and Athapascan speakers, who lived a varied On land, caribou was their most important prey, provid- hunting and gathering existence. In the linguistically ing meat, hides and sinew for clothing, and antler for diverse coastal region, Haida, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu tools. The Inuit seasonal cycle, like those followed by chah nulth, Cowichan, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and others other indigenous peoples in northern North America, was lived a lifestyle built around salmon and cedar. The rich well adapted to the characteristics of their homeland. subsistence economy of the region enabled some of the Warfare in Aboriginal societies densest and most complex hierarchical societies found Despite the myth that Aboriginals lived in happy har- amongst hunter-gatherers anywhere in the world. The mony before the arrival of Europeans, war was central semi-sedentary patterns combined with the wealth of to the way of life of many First Nation cultures. Indeed, the coastal rain forest to enable highly elaborate artistic war was a persistent reality in all regions though, as traditions to develop in wood carving, which they used Tom Holm has argued, it waxed in intensity, frequency to build homes and make canoes, utensils and various and decisiveness. The causes were complex and often ceremonial and religious objects. The nations of this interrelated, springing from both individual and collec- region were the last to come into contact with Europeans, tive motivations and needs. At a personal level, young when Russian, Spanish and British explorers arrived in males often had strong incentives to participate in mili- the mid-to-late 18th Century. tary operations, as brave exploits were a source of great Warfare In Pre-Columbian North America North Pre-Columbian In Warfare 4 ABORIGINAL PEOPLE IN THE CANADIAN MILITARY Hochelaga around 1535 America North Pre-Columbian In Warfare Library and Archives Canada (C-10489) prestige in most Aboriginal cultures. According to one wealth to host potlatches and other give-away ceremo- Jesuit account from the 18th Century, ‘The only way to nies. At a community level, warfare played a multifac- attract respect and public veneration among the Illinois eted role, and was waged for different reasons.