National Aboriginal Veterans Monument

Last updated
National Aboriginal Veterans Monument
National Aboriginal Veterans Association
Aboriginal War Veterans monument.JPG
National Aboriginal Veterans Monument
For Aboriginal peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) who served with the Canadian forces during armed conflicts
UnveiledJune 21, 2001
Location 45°25′18.04″N075°41′34.66″W / 45.4216778°N 75.6929611°W / 45.4216778; -75.6929611
near 
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Designed byLloyd Pinay
CommemoratedUp to 12,000 [1]

The National Aboriginal Veterans Monument is a war monument in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada that commemorates the contributions of all Aboriginal peoples in war and peacekeeping operations from World War I to the present. [2] The monument was designed by Lloyd Pinay, of the Peepeekisis First Nation in Saskatchewan, whose father took part in the D-Day assault in World War II. [3] It was unveiled in Confederation Park by Adrienne Clarkson, then Governor General of Canada, on National Aboriginal Day, June 21, 2001. [4]

Contents

Creation

The bronze monument sits atop a marble base, which was quarried in Shawinigan, Quebec. The monument itself was created in its entirety during 2000 and 2001 on the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation Urban Reserve in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, part of Treaty Six Territory. Once completed, it was then disassembled for transport and then reassembled again in Ottawa.

Symbolism

The sculptor, Lloyd Pinay, has said that "the major theme was that the reason for war is in all likelihood a desire for peace". [3] The monument depicts a golden eagle as the messenger between the Creator and man. The eagle or Thunderbird also symbolizes the Creator and embodies the spirit of the Aboriginal people. [5] Below the eagle are four human figures, facing the four points of the compass and representing First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Pinay felt it was very important to incorporate female figures in the sculpture to acknowledge the role of women not only as nurses, but as those responsible for maintaining families while the men were away. [3] The human figures hold not only weapons but also spiritual objects: an eagle feather fan and a peace pipe. There are four animal figures, one on each corner to act as spirit guides, each with a special attribute: a wolf (family values), a buffalo (tenacity), an elk (wariness) and a bear (healing powers). [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North-West Rebellion</span> 1885 resistance by the Métis and Cree peoples against Canada

The North-West Rebellion, also known as the North-West Resistance, was an armed resistance movement by the Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by Cree and Assiniboine of the District of Saskatchewan, North-West Territories, against the Canadian government. Many Métis felt that Canada was not protecting their rights, their land, and their survival as a distinct people. Fighting broke out in late March, and the conflict ended in June. About 91 people were killed in the fighting that occurred that spring before the conflict ended with the capture of Batoche in May 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Seymour Allward</span> Canadian sculptor (1874–1955)

Walter Seymour Allward was a Canadian monumental sculptor best known for the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. Featuring expressive classical figures within modern compositions, Allward's monuments evoke themes of memory, sacrifice, and redemption. He has been widely praised for his "original sense of spatial composition, his mastery of the classical form and his brilliant craftsmanship".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War memorial</span> Type of memorial

A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.

The Peace Tower is a focal bell and clock tower sitting on the central axis of the Centre Block of the Canadian parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario. The present incarnation replaced the 55-metre (180 ft) Victoria Tower, after the latter burned down in 1916, along with most of the Centre Block; only the Library of Parliament survived. It serves as a Canadian icon and had been featured prominently on the Canadian twenty-dollar bill, directly adjacent to the depiction of Queen Elizabeth II, until the change to polymer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Nations University of Canada</span> Federated college of the University of Regina

The First Nations University of Canada is a post-secondary institution and federated college of the University of Regina, based in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. FNUniv operates three campuses within the province, in Prince Albert, Regina, and Saskatoon. The university offers academic programs in business, the humanities, social sciences, and sciences; including a number of programs focused around aboriginal practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National War Memorial (Canada)</span> Canadian war memorial

The National War Memorial, titled The Response, is a tall, granite memorial arch with accreted bronze sculptures in Ottawa, Ontario, designed by Vernon March and first dedicated by King George VI in 1939. Originally built to commemorate the Canadians who died in the First World War, it was in 1982 rededicated to also include those killed in the Second World War and Korean War and again in 2014 to add the dead from the Second Boer War and War in Afghanistan, as well as all Canadians killed in all conflicts past and future. It now serves as the pre-eminent war memorial of 76 cenotaphs in Canada. In 2000, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was added in front of the memorial and symbolizes the sacrifices made by all Canadians who have died or may yet die for their country.

The Métis Nation—Saskatchewan is a federally-recognized government that represents Métis people in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is affiliated with the Métis National Council. Glen McCallum was elected as president in 2017 and reelected in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederation Park</span> Historic site in Ontario, Canada

Confederation Park(French: Parc de la Confédération) is a public park and National Historic Site of Canada, located in the downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered on the south by Laurier Avenue and Ottawa City Hall; on the east by the Rideau Canal and National Defence Headquarters; on the north by the Mackenzie King Bridge, the Rideau Centre and the National Arts Centre; and to the west by Elgin Street and the Lord Elgin Hotel.

The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), founded in 1971, is a national Canadian aboriginal organization that represents Aboriginal peoples who live off Indian reserves in either urban or rural areas across Canada. As of 2011 more than 70% of Aboriginal people live off-reserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Tribute to Human Rights</span> Monument in Ottawa, Canada

The Canadian Tribute to Human Rights, also known as the Human Rights Monument, is a monumental sculpture located at the corner of Lisgar and Elgin streets in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was designed by Montreal artist and architect Melvin Charney and unveiled by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, on September 30, 1990.

Vern Harper Vernon Harper born on June 17, 1936 in Regent Park Toronto, Ontario – May 12, 2018) was a Canadian First Nations Cree Elder, medicine man, and Aboriginal rights activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Belmore</span> Canadian Anishinaabekwe artist (born 1960)

Rebecca Belmore is a Canadian interdisciplinary Anishinaabekwe artist who is notable for politically conscious and socially aware performance and installation work. She is Ojibwe and a member of Obishikokaang. Belmore currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominion of Canada Rifle Association</span> Organization founded to promote and encourage marksmanship training throughout Canada

The Dominion of Canada Rifle Association is a Canadian shooting sports organization governing Fullbore target rifle disciplines. The Association was founded in 1868 and incorporated by an Act of Parliament 63-64 Victoria Chapter 99, assented to July 7, 1900, to promote and encourage the training of marksmanship throughout Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Commanda</span>

William Commanda OC was an Algonquin elder, spiritual leader, and promoter of environmental stewardship. Commanda served as Band Chief of the Kitigàn-zìbì Anishinàbeg First Nation near Maniwaki, Quebec, from 1951 to 1970. In his life, he worked as a guide, a trapper and woodsman, and was a skilled craftsman and artisan who excelled at constructing birch bark canoes. He was Keeper of several Algonquin wampum shell belts, which held records of prophecies, history, treaties and agreements. In 2008, Commanda was appointed to the rank of officer of the Order of Canada.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), formerly known as the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, is a Saskatchewan-based First Nations organization. It represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan and is committed to honouring the spirit and intent of the Numbered Treaties, as well as the promotion, protection and implementation of these promises made over a century ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christi Belcourt</span> Métis artist, Canada

Christi Marlene Belcourt is a Canadian visual artist and author. She is best known for her acrylic paintings which depict floral patterns inspired by Métis and First Nations historical beadwork art. Belcourt's work often focuses on questions around identity, culture, place and divisions within communities.

Beverley K. Jacobs CM is a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) community representative from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Bear Clan. An attorney, she became president of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), serving 2004-2009, and is best known for her work in advocating for the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and seeking changes to policing and the justice system to better serve Indigenous peoples. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor.

The Iron Confederacy or Iron Confederation was a political and military alliance of Plains Indians of what is now Western Canada and the northern United States. This confederacy included various individual bands that formed political, hunting and military alliances in defense against common enemies. The ethnic groups that made up the Confederacy were the branches of the Cree that moved onto the Great Plains around 1740, the Saulteaux, the Nakoda or Stoney people also called Pwat or Assiniboine, and the Métis and Haudenosaunee. The Confederacy rose to predominance on the northern Plains during the height of the North American fur trade when they operated as middlemen controlling the flow of European goods, particularly guns and ammunition, to other Indigenous nations, and the flow of furs to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and North West Company (NWC) trading posts. Its peoples later also played a major part in the bison (buffalo) hunt, and the pemmican trade. The decline of the fur trade and the collapse of the bison herds sapped the power of the Confederacy after the 1860s, and it could no longer act as a barrier to U.S. and Canadian expansion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animals in War Memorial, Ottawa</span>

The Animals in War Memorial is a memorial sculpture located at Confederation Park in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It commemorates animals used by the Canadian military in conflicts since the Second Boer War.

Claudette Commanda is a Canadian university professor, cultural advisor, indigenous rights activist, and an Algonquin Elder who was appointed the 15th Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, becoming the first indigenous person and fifth woman to serve in the role.

References

  1. "National Aboriginal Veterans Monument". Veterans Affairs Canada . Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  2. "National Aboriginal Veterans Association Monument". Virtual Museum of Canada. Archived from the original on 2011-07-03. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Pohanna Pyne Feinberg. "Lloyd Pinay and the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument". Canadian Heritage Information Network. Archived from the original on 2011-07-03. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  4. "National Aboriginal Veterans Association Monument". National Inventory of Canadian Military Memorials. Canadian Department of National Defence. 2008-04-16. Archived from the original on 2014-05-20. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  5. "War Monument Project". National Aboriginal Vererans Association. Retrieved 2012-01-10.