The accountant who spent 20 years finding Canada’s forgotten Indigenous veterans

An item from the Legion Magazine.

Kanyen’kehà:ka (Mohawk) Corporal Huron Brant (left) of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment receives the Military Medal from Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery on Sept. 23, 1943, in Catanzaro, Italy. [DND/LAC/PA-130065]

19,000 and counting: How an amateur historian maintains the memory of Indigenous veterans in Canada

STORY BY RICHARD FOOT

The names spill forth from Yann Castelnot’s seemingly endless list, like a rollcall of courage.

Alongside those listed are their Indigenous nations—Mi’kmaq, Mohawk (Kanyen’kehà:ka) and Ojibwe. Anishinaabe, Cree and Saulteaux (Nahkawininiwak). Coast Salish, Shuswap (Secwepemc), Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) and on and on.

Some survived the wars they fought, others died from disease or wounds, while others went missing or were killed in action. But what is most striking about this list is the sheer number of entries—19,152—all Indigenous soldiers who fought for Canada from colonial times to the present day.

If looks could kill: Arthur Currie, Pete Hegseth and the meaning of military toughness

General Arthur Currie was no matinee idol. Portly and jowly, he had neither the face nor the form of the dashing, broad-shouldered Hollywood stereotype.

No Mercy

The Canadian Corps engaged in its second major action at the bloody Battle of Flers-Courcelette

Rideau Redux

The Rideau Canal was initially built as a defence against American invasion, a recurring theme in Canadian history

A promo screen for Dale Morrisey’s documentary film. [Wandering Journalist Productions]

Canadian filmmaker Dale Morrisey highlights women of WW II in doc series

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

“Time and money are the enemy of Canadian history documentaries,” remarked filmmaker Dale Morrisey, the founder of Wandering Journalist Productions. “You’re fighting to find that money, and you’re up against a loudly ticking clock.”

More than 80 years after the end of the Second World War, the urgency he describes has never been more apparent: “People you want to include in your stories are dying before you can get to them.”

Few doubt the increasing difficulty of preserving such voices, but in focusing on the fast-fading number of women who navigated the period—military veteran or otherwise—Morrisey confronted a struggle. Nevertheless, the Ontario-based producer has since overcome that hurdle with the release of his latest documentary, Heroines in the Storm.