Research project honours First Nation veterans in final resting place

Two gravestones installed with the Thunderbird symbol for Second World War veterans at Deshkan Ziiibing (Chippewa of the Thames First Nation) by the Last Post organization. The agency is looking to find and honour the unmarked graves, or graves in need of markers, belonging to First Nation veterans in Ontario. – Photos supplied

By Colin Graf

MONTREAL — More than 70 First Nation veterans across Canada have been honoured in the last two years with new grave markers after many of their resting places sat unmarked for many years.

The gravestones have been put in place with the help of the Last Post Fund, an organization that works across the country to ensure all vets have proper burials and markers.

The Last Post’s Indigenous Veterans Initiative began after the organization’s director saw an article about a list of Indigenous veterans from Canada and the United States compiled by a French researcher that revealed over 18,000 First Nation members had served in the military.

With numbers that large, it seemed likely many of these veterans who returned home after the conflicts they served in may have unmarked graves. Since the program began in 2019, staff, working with 23 community researchers, have managed to arrange placement of 74 tombstones with another 175 pending approval, and have researched over 2,500 veterans’ names, says project coordinator Maria Trujillo.

When their initial research shows a nation has had a high number of veterans, Trujillo reaches out to the Band Office for help in finding a researcher, someone who could take on the paid work of using internet records and speaking with Elders to try and find if there are graves in need of proper recognition, she explains.

Researcher Bobbi Foulds of Alberta, a Canadian Legion member, remembers how she got involved in the project “tromping through a lot of snow” in northern Alberta in November to put poppies on veterans’ graves.

“Looking for their stones meant finding a lot of empty spaces,” she recalls.

Two gravestones installed with the Thunderbird symbol for Second World War veterans at Deshkan Ziiibing (Chippewa of the Thames First Nation) by the Last Post organization. – Photo supplied

After she began working with the Last Post, Foulds ended up discovering 29 unmarked veterans’ graves in her area and is still finding more in a town of only 9,000 people, she says. She cried when she found the first one, thinking, “this man’s been lying here for 100 years without a proper marker.”

“I cried and then I got this feeling of urgency. I have to make sure there are no others in my cemetery,” she thought. “What began as a hobby has become the greatest treasure hunt in the world, and then a personal crusade,” she says.

Researchers such as Foulds are more than the title suggests, according to Trujillo. One of the problems Last Post faces in helping mark veterans’ graves is the paperwork involved.

“The researchers are the key people, they know their families and they know their veterans really well,” she says, adding that they can help the families fill out the forms and get them sent.

Researchers ensure that First Nation administrators give their permission to place the stone and that the families are happy with it, she explains.

“Just getting the paperwork to families can be a chore, with many First Nations already lacking resources. It’s definitely something they (administrators or councils) agree with and feel strongly about,” she says, noting that they may be busy with other priorities.

The Last Post will work with researchers and families to inscribe gravestones with a soldier’s traditional name, which was usually omitted in past decades, and traditional symbols are also being included or added to markers at the request of families, Trujillo says. Inscriptions have so far been made in six languages including Inuktitut, Algonquin, Interior Salishan, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, and Cree.

The question of why so many First Nation veterans lie in unmarked graves is difficult to answer, Trujillo and Foulds both agree.

“We (Last Post) asked ourselves that too,” Trujillo offers, saying it seems that insufficient resources with families or friends of veterans in years past. “Veterans can lose touch with their families over time… Back then, connections were easier to lose.”

Many veterans were buried with wooden markers; a board, cross, or slab, and “time takes care of those,” says researcher Foulds.

“Time is the greatest issue.”

Many seemed to have moved away from their homes for work and weren’t buried close to their families, she explains. Some First World War veterans died “coming out of the Depression, and didn’t have two pennies to rub together,” Foulds says.

Some probably had traditional burials that were not in recognized cemeteries.

The details learned from her research trouble Foulds sometimes. Some of the veterans would work hard, go across to war in Europe and come back “to become incredible leaders; Chiefs and politicians,”  she says, but the saddest part is that so many came home and died in their 20s or 30s. Many may have had “invisible injuries” such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), she says, and would have had serious trouble adjusting to civilian life.

One side-effect of the project may be to draw the attention of Canadians of settler ancestry to the huge military contributions of First Nation people. Canadians are often surprised when Trujillo speaks about her work.

“It’s not mainstream knowledge”, even though there has been a movement to put decorated veterans Tommy Prince, Onondeyoh (Frederick Ogilvie Loft), and Binaaswi (Francis Pegahmagabow) on the Canadian five-dollar bill.

Out of 600 candidates suggested by the public to the Bank of Canada, Binaaswi made it to the shortlist of eight, along with other famous Canadians including Terry Fox. The WWI veteran was the most highly-decorated Indigenous soldier in Canadian history, according to information on the Bank’s website. He later assumed leadership positions with Wasauksing First Nation and participated in regional and national advocacy movements to promote First Nation’s rights in Canada. The final decision on whose image will be on the new bills has not been made yet.

The Last Post’s outreach to First Nation’s is a two-way street, and Trujillo says she loves to hear directly from families who are searching for information or a grave marker for a deceased veteran ancestor.

“We love working with the families and researchers. Even if a family has a doubt whether the person was a veteran or they think, ‘Oh we don’t have a service number,’ just contact us anyway cause you never know– we’re there to help,” she says.

Her researchers can often find some information with just a date of birth and a full name. She can be reached via e-mail: info@last post.ca, or toll-free telephone: 1-(800)-465-7113. For additional information, visit the Last Post Fund website.