Canadian delegation ‘overwhelmed’ by visit to Great War battlefields

It’s been a trip to cherish for a group of Canadians visiting Belgium this week to honour the legacy of Indigenous soldiers.

A delegation of close to 20 people from coast-to-coast have visited battlefields and cemeteries and attended ceremonies for ancestors who fought and died in the First World War.

On Saturday, the first stop was a memorial at Passcehdaele near Ypres, Belgium, where 4,000 Canadians were killed and close to 12,000 more were wounded in the fall of 1917.

Over 66,000 Canadians were killed in the Great War which took place from 1914 to 1918.

Many of them buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium.

Denise John from the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax said one of the things that impacted her the most was the amount of unmarked graves she saw at the Commonwealth cemeteries.

Wreaths are laid at the Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium. (CTV/Derek Haggett)“There are a lot of soldiers that didn’t have proper ceremonies, especially our Indigenous veterans which to me, being Mi’kmaw, being very connected to my culture that was the right way to do it, to honour those Indigenous veterans,” said John.

She had a hard time putting the experience into words.

“I hope and I wish that we can see more of our students, especially where I’m from, I’m from Newfoundland, to make a trip here. To come because it is so powerful and I’m just so honoured and I feel very humble to be able to be here,” said John.

A large monument is seen at Langemark-Poelkapelle in Belgium. (CTV/Derek Haggett)Jeff Purdy, a councillor at Wasoqopa’q, Acadia First Nation, made the trip to walk in the footsteps of his great grandfather Sam Glode, a decorated Mi’kmaw soldier from Nova Scotia.

A new display recognizing Canada’s Indigenous people in the First World War stands at the entrance to Tyne Cot Cemetery where nearly 12,000 Commonwealth soldiers rest in peace.

“It’s honouring to see my great grandfather’s photo and how they’re remembering him which for the family is really nice, but when you see the sacrifice here in a grave like this it really hits home,” said Purdy.

Debbie Eisan, the honorary captain of the delegation and an elder at the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, was in awe of all the cemeteries the delegation visited in Flanders Fields.

Guide and historian Erwin Ureel tells the group some history. (CTV/Derek Haggett)“I am overwhelmed with the passion that this country has for the soldiers that died during the First World War and how much respect and dignity they’re being given even after all these years,” said Eisan.

After visiting the Passchendaele Museum in Zonnebeke, Regional Chief Andrea Paul said she may have taken for granted what the veterans sacrificed during the Great War.

“Just to be able to be in that space and then to experience what a bunker would look like or what the trench would have been like it just really puts into perspective the life they had to live,” said Paul

On Friday, the group participated in the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres to celebrate National Indigenous Veterans Day.

Last Post is held daily at 8 p.m. to remember all of the soldiers who died during fierce fighting in the Ypres area.

A cutout of a soldier is seen at Passchendaele Memorial in the Ypres Salient in Belgium. (CTV/Derek Haggett)“Our drumming, our prayer, our dance to be in the centre of Menin Gate was a truly an experience,” said Paul. “And then to lay the wreaths, I think that’s something that I will cherish for a long time.”

“I really got emotional and I think it’s because I thought about my grandparents,” said John. “I think I felt a responsibility for my family.”

“It was amazing. Very, very powerful. Being there and being able to lay a wreath with Rick (Decoteau). It was very nice,” said Purdy.

“It was surreal. It was surreal there was so many children there,” said Eisan.

Elder Debbie Eisan and the other Indigenous women in the delegation gladly posed for photos with many of the children when the ceremony finished.

The group will be back at Menin Gate on Monday to participate in the Remembrance Day ceremony.