Lena Shaw Elementary honours First Nations on National Indigenous Veterans Day

In recognition of National Indigenous Veterans Day, Grade 2 and Grade 7 students at Lena Shaw Elementary worked together to write, draw and colour letters for Indigenous veterans from First Nations in B.C. and across the country. (Photos by Jacob Zinn)

As schools across Surrey and White Rock spend this week remembering heroes of war, two classes at Lena Shaw Elementary have started an initiative of writing letters to Indigenous veterans for National Indigenous Veterans Day, recognize their noble service to Canada and its history.

Observed every Nov. 8, National Indigenous Veterans Day honours the contributions of more than 7,000 Indigenous soldiers to the First World War, Second World War and Korean War. The day was established in Manitoba in 1994 and acknowledges the courage and sacrifice of Indigenous soldiers to the country’s war efforts, as well as its peacekeeping reputation.

For Lena Shaw teachers Rowena Lochhead and Yena Shin, the idea to write to Indigenous veterans came about in October as an opportunity to participate in truth and reconciliation, with the aim of their respective Grade 2 and 7 classes collaborating on the writing, drawing and colouring of the letters. Indigenous enhancement worker Diego Wolfevillage assisted with tracking down Indigenous veterans through local First Nations and Royal Canadian Legon branches, which proved to be a challenge.

“I called about 20 legions in the Lower Mainland and a lot of them were excited that this was something we were looking forward to doing,” said Wolfevillage. “They were also disappointed because they couldn’t really help in being a part of it.”

Despite Indigenous Canadians being a part of the Canadian Forces for more than 200 years, Wolfevillage said many legions did not keep a record of which soldiers were of Indigenous backgrounds.

Fortunately, he had some success finding Indigenous veterans through the Kwikwetlem First Nation, the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation and the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Center Society, and he received a considerable hand from a major at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #133 in Port Coquitlam, who offered his assistance in running his inquiry up the chain of command.

“The Port Coquitlam legion passed me on to Maj. West Von Papineau – he said he didn’t know of any veterans, but he passed on the inquiry to their capital offices in Victoria and Ottawa,” said Wolfevillage. “They said they had never received this question before, but they wanted to take their part in truth and reconciliation and identify their Indigenous veterans.

“They’re now going to build a whole committee dedicated to this new mission to figure out who our Indigenous veterans are, and they’re going to reach out to different First Nations and friendship centres to see who’s willing to share their story.”

Wolfevillage said he hopes the committee will be able to create a detailed database of Indigenous veterans with their First Nations backgrounds so that other schools may be able to reach them through similar initiatives, for National Indigenous Veterans Day as well as throughout the year.

“Reconciliation doesn’t just happen within a timeframe,” he said, noting students are encouraged to write thoughtful letters to veterans at any time. “Unfortunately, a lot of them have passed away, but some are still alive, and I’m hoping to reach them so they can have a little moment to shine because they deserve it.”

To see all the letters written by Lena Shaw Elementary students, click here.