Military launches Indigenous culture program at Valcartier
Aim is to make military more representative of First Nations
Grant Greyeyes was 13 years into his military service when he began to question his faith. As a child, he’d been taken from his home in Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and sent to residential school in Saskatchewan. Just as they had done to his parents, the priests who watched over Greyeyes denied him his language, his culture and indoctrinated him into the Christian faith. He survived his stint in residential school, joined the military and started a family with the understanding that he was a Christian like the majority of Canadians. But then one day, he felt something pull him back toward his roots. “It was confusing. You’re brought up as a Christian, you’re told you’re a Christian then all of a sudden you realize, ‘That’s not who I am,’ ” said Greyeyes, a master warrant officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. “And now you have to find yourself. It sort of tears you up.” Over time, Greyeyes rediscovered the spirituality that comes with being a Cree; he sought the council of elders, found peace in ceremony and became who he feels he was meant to be. This was all done outside his job as a soldier. Now, after having had to wall off those two worlds, Greyeyes is helping the Forces use that culture and practice to engage Indigenous recruits. On Wednesday, Master Warrant Officer Greyeyes announced the Carcajou Program, a six-week summer course that combines military training with cultural practices of the First Nations inside Quebec. By the end, recruits are paid $3,500 for their training and offered service in the Primary Reserve force of the CAF. The goal is to make the military more welcoming to and representative of the 1.4 million Indigenous people who live in Canada. The Forces have similar courses in place in Alberta, British Columbia and New Brunswick but Carcajou will be the first offered in French. “It is a little bit ironic but we’re turning to the past to create a better military for the future,” said Cpl. Napiohkitopii Zachariah White Elk, who will help lead the program on CFB Valcartier. With two long braids, White Elk doesn’t fit the stereotype of a Canadian soldier. His hair means he belongs to a Blackfoot warrior society. The green jacket is standard issue Canadian Armed Forces. “You’re fulfilling the traditional role of what young men (in Blackfoot
New France couldn’t have been New France without the thousands of Algonquin, Abénakis and Atikamekw allies.
society) used to do,” says White Elk, of the Siksika Nation in Alberta. “Young men are out exploring, they’re getting their stories, they’re experiencing different things and you bring that back home.” White Elk, 26, is seeking knowledge keepers to speak to recruits, learning the history of Indigenous involvement with settler armies in North America and preparing to lead a culture camp. “We will build longhouses to represent the Iroquois Confederacy, war lodges — just to have those symbols there it’s a huge component to bringing an Indigenous identity into the armed forces,” he said. Greyeyes says he sees more and more young Indigenous people discovering their identity through programs like Carcajou. “It’s weird to say that we want to be a part of (the CAF) because we always have been,” said White Elk. “New France couldn’t have been New France without the thousands of Algonquin, Abénakis and Atikamekw allies. Same with the British.” There are 2,294 Indigenous people in the Canadian Armed Forces, about 2.5 per cent, according to the National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces. Indigenous soldiers have played a key role in Canada’s foreign wars. Francis Pegahmagabow, an Ojibwe hunter, earned a reputation in the Canadian Infantry Battalion as one of the deadliest snipers in the First World War. Mohawk code talkers used the Kanien’kéha language to deliver encrypted messages in the South Pacific during the Second World War. But many returned home to Canada only to find that discrimination was still rampant and the government still ran roughshod over basic treaty rights. Moogly Tétrault-Hamel, an Abénakis soldier who led a ceremony to acknowledge Wednesday’s event took place on unceded territory, says it’s up to the forces to aid reconciliation between the country and Indigenous people. “Today is like coming home,” said Tétrault-Hamel, a warrant officer and 18-year veteran. “Many years ago, I left for the West Coast and I saw so many Indigenous communities out there. “And now to come here and to have both our military brothers and sisters and our Indigenous brothers together, it’s truly a moment of truth and reconciliation. We’re all together, sharing stories, sharing this circle as one people. It’s a great honour.”