Visiting Rotarians

Bell Ringer(s)

• The pension system that was created after the First World War was one that largely revolved around the concept of attributability
• And by attributability I mean that in order for veterans to qualify for a pension in Canada, they had to prove, without any reasonable doubt, that their post-war disability was directly connected to an injury sustained on the battlefield
• The size of the pension corresponded to the extent in which that disability impeded a veteran’s ability to participate in the labour market
• In some cases, establishing attributability was quite simple
• A veteran whose leg was amputated due to a gunshot wound, for example, was a clear-cut case of disability
• But what about a soldier who started to experience arthritis pain in 1922? Or neurosis many years after the conflict? How could attributability be established in those cases?
• In addition to the difficulty of establishing attributability, applying for a pension was often a shameful experience for veterans because it at once represented an admission of one’s inability to work at full capacity and support one’s family without assistance
• But unlike their non-Indigenous counterparts, Indigenous veterans had to endure what I call a dual system of surveillance
• In addition to establishing attributability to qualify for a pension, Indigenous veterans also had to prove they were financially responsible and respectable individuals before receiving their pensions directly
• Otherwise, their pensions administered by a third party
• Now this was in direct opposition to what non-Indigenous pensioners experienced in that they had to demonstrate irresponsible behavior before having their pensions administered by a third party
• The answer as to why there was such a clear discrepancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous pensioners was because of the rampant anti-Indigenous racism that existed in Canada at the time
• But how could this be justified? I’d argue that the use of stereotypes among settlers in the post-war period can help us understand those justifications
• In many of the pension records I’ve read, there was a pattern amongst state agents and non-state settlers in describing Indigenous pensioners
• The first way Indigenous pensioners were labelled were as quote “typical” or “average”
• These “average” Indigenous pensioners were described as “lazy”, “indolent” or “drunken”
• The second way they were labelled were as “exceptional” or “better class”
• Those with more positive labels were described as “honest”, “hard working” or “ambitious”
• Here’s where the insidious nature of the Canadian brand of anti-Indigenous racism lies
• “Typical” Indigenous pensioners were irresponsible and therefore required additional surveillance by the state to ensure they were spending their pensions properly, while “exceptional” Indigenous pensioners had to demonstrate responsible behaviour because they were, according to this twisted racist logic, anomalous and difficult to identify
• As a result, most Indigenous pensioners had their pensions automatically administered by a third party, and had to demonstrate responsible behavior and financial competence before receiving their pensions directly
• Indigenous veterans recognized this profoundly discriminatory system that reduced them to the sum of their “Indian” identity and protested
• This is how they became politically active
• In 1933, a Mohawk veteran from the Kahnawa:ke Mohawk Territory wrote to the Department of Indian Affairs: “We have the same rights as any other soldiers regardless of our creed. I didn’t go overseas to fight under the supervision of the Department of Indian Affairs. I maintain that I am under the care of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and request a transfer from the Department of Indian Affairs back to the Department of Veterans Affairs where I originally belong”
• This veteran’s name is Angus Goodleaf and he believed he was, like all of the other Canadian soldiers who served in the war, a veteran first and deserved to be treated as such
• In 1919, George Blaker, a middle-aged Ojibwa man living at the Alderville First Nation in Ontario, wrote a letter directly to the governor general, requesting a pension
• He had lost both of his sons in the span of six months in 1917 to the war and was hoping he could receive a pension
• He wrote, “I willingly gave up my two sons, also I would have gone willingly myself if only for my age and infirmity to help our noble cause of honor, liberty and Right. But now I am in sorely need of help and very humbly beg of your kindly aid”
• Remember that language of patriotism I discussed earlier? Here is a great example of how Indigenous peoples in the post-war period made use of the language the state and the media propagated to previously coerce young men into uniform to demand compensation for their war-related suffering
• They didn’t refer to themselves as exceptional or typical Indians as settlers did when justifying the oversight of their pensions, but instead as victims of war deserving of compensation for their sacrifices
• It’s in these small instances of political activism that we can see how Indigenous peoples viewed themselves in the post-war world

• Why this is important in today’s context?
• I think it’s important for two reasons
• First of all, these ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ stereotypes remain ingrained in the ways settlers talk about Indigenous Peoples
• Take the example of Canadian Senator Lynn Beyak, who made headlines in 2017 for her racist comments about the “good” residential schools did for Indigenous Peoples
• Throughout 2017 and 2018, Beyak uploaded letters of support to her Senate webpage––one of which stating: “These people need to join the commerce world and work for money. The handouts have taken their people nowhere, and their constant backward-looking mentality serves no useful purpose”
• And, from a man named Paul: “I’m no anthropologist, but it seems every opportunistic culture, subsistence hunter/gatherers seek to get what they can for no effort”
• How different do these letters sound from the words of government officials tasked with reporting on the circumstances of Indigenous applicants for pensions?
• Well let’s take a look: One Ontario official wrote in 1919 of a fallen Indigenous soldier: “He supported his father as much as the average Indian does support his parents, which is never, as a rule, very much”
• Or a New Brunswick social worker who said of the father whose son had died: “He was just as the other Indians in the district, and worked whenever he felt inclined to do so”
• The sentiments expressed in the 1920s and 2010s sadly haven’t changed all that much
• So how might we, as both settlers and Indigenous Peoples, move beyond the shackles of the past?
• Well, I think we need to look to the voices of men like George Blaker and Angus Goodleaf for guidance
• For too long, settlers believed––and continue to believe––they know what’s best for Indigenous Peoples
• But if we are to embark on the path of reconciliation, settlers need to cede space to Indigenous Peoples to define who they are and articulate what they want

• What I’ve discussed with you today are the twin legacies of the First World War in Canada for Indigenous communities
• One was the organization of the first pan-Canadian Indigenous political body that sought to improve the condition of First Nations peoples across the country
• And the second was a refusal amongst Indigenous peoples to be identified solely by the identity that settlers had imposed on them—as “Indians” and all of the negative stereotypes attached to it—and instead by the sacrifices they made for the war effort, which, in their minds, should’ve been compensated by the Canadian state
• When talking about political activism, we cannot forget that it includes both the work done by official political bodies and the actions of individual people to effect change in their lives and communities

• The 2015 Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Report and the ninety-four Calls to Action in particular
• The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King
• Indigenous Writes by Chelsea Vowel
• From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle

Closing Remarks & Reminders