What were Indigenous soldiers fighting for?

Throughout the 20th century, many Indigenous people enlisted in military service to fight wars, risk their lives and make monumental sacrifices on Canada's behalf. But during those years, the country wasn't so kind to the peoples who had been here long before Canada's borders were even drawn.

So why did Indigenous people — especially First Nations living under the control of the Indian Act — choose to fight?

It's a question John Moses, a member of the Delaware and Upper Mohawk bands from Six Nations of the Grand River, and a Canadian Armed Forces veteran, has been reflecting on for many years.

Moses comes from a long line of military veterans — members of his family served in the First World War, the Second World War and other operations since. He has also co-authored a book on the history of Indigenous people in the military.

The reasons Indigenous people fought "varied according to the conflict and it varied from Indian reserve community to Indian reserve," Moses told Rosanna Deerchild, host of CBC Radio's Unreserved.

For example, "there were those who volunteered to serve for the perceived material benefits of regular food and clothing and payment."

But for Moses's father, Russ Moses, joining up also served as a kind of escape. The elder Moses was a survivor of the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, Ont., also known as the "Mush Hole."

"He had been at the Mush Hole under exceptionally severe wartime and post-war conditions from 1942 until 1947 … marked by severe discipline, malnutrition, overwork and a lack of proper clothing," Moses said.

"By the time he left the residential school, I think in many ways, both figuratively and literally, he wanted to put as much distance as he could between himself and the Six Nations community and the Mush Hole. And his way up and out of that circumstance was to join the Royal Canadian Navy."

The clothing was better, the food was better and the discipline was less severe than in residential school, Moses explained. Enlisting was also an opportunity for Russ Moses, who served during the Korean War, to see the world.

"In a sense, I think he wanted to replace old memories with new memories, even if that included going to war."
'Second-class citizens'

According to A Commemorative History of Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military, which John Moses co-authored, First Nations peoples were not forced to enlist. Those who served in the First and Second World Wars did so voluntarily.

Veterans Affairs Canada states that more than 4,000 Indigenous people served during the First World War. By the end of the Second World War in 1945, at least 3,000 First Nations people had served in uniform, along with an unknown number of Inuit and Métis people. (Based on self-identification figures taken from the Department of National Defence, approximately 2,700 Indigenous people served in the Canadian Armed Forces in 2019.)

Moses wants Canadians to understand that Indigenous people didn't sign up for military service because they were deferential toward the monarchy.