Serendipity: First Nations Cenotaph

​This summer I visited Thunder Bay in northern Ontario. On a clear day I went to the picturesque Mt. McKay Scenic Lookout, on a massive hill on the land of the Fort William First Nation. While overlooking the city I was pleasantly surprised to see a small chapel and a war memorial off to the left. 
 
As you can see from the images, the memorial records the service of dozens of soldiers from Fort William First Nation who fought in the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War. Note that some served in the US armed forces.
 
It was a good reminder of how many individuals in Canada’s First Nations supported the war efforts of Canada and empire.[1]
 
It was also a poignant example of how the past is remembered and memorialized among Canada’s various communities.


[1] For further reading on the involvement of Canada’s First Nations and war, see Gordon L. Heath, ed., Empire from the Margins: Religious Minorities in Canada and the South African War, 1899-1902 (Pickwick, 2017); Fred Gaffen, Forgotten Soldiers (Penticton, 1985); Duncan Campbell Scott, “The Indians and World War I,” Alberta History 31 (1983); Evan J. Habkirk, “Militarism, Sovereignty and Nationalism: Six Nations and the First World War,” MA thesis, Trent University, 2010; Evan J. Habkirk, “Canada’s First Nations in the Anglo-Boer War,” in Empire from the Margins: Religious Minorities in Canada and the South African War, 1899-1902, edited by Gordon L. Heath  (Pickwick, 2017); Evan J. Habkirk, “First Nations and the Home Front: Case Study of the Grand River Six Nations.” In Behind the Lines: Canada’s Home Front during the First and Second World War, edited by Catherine Elliot Shaw (McIntosh Art Gallery, 2017). Co-authored with Helen Gregory; Evan J. Habkirk, “From Indian Boys to Canadian Men? The Use of Cadet Drill in the Canadian Indian Residential School System.” British Journal of Canadian Studies 30, 2 (2017): 227-248.