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Grand Chief of the First Nations Veterans Association of Sask. reflects on his time in the service

Nov 11, 2016 | 7:00 AM

For Remembrance Day, Canadians will gather at cenotaphs, armouries and other locations honouring veterans for their service and sacrifices.

The term veteran had some stigmas associated to the word for Steven Ross, the Grand Chief of the Saskatchewan First Nations Veterans Association.

“I was always aware there was an association for Saskatchewan First Nations veterans,” Ross said. “But when you’re a young person, you don’t want to associate with the veterans, indicating that they might be older aged persons, so that’s what held me back.”  

Despite his perceived stigmas, as he aged Ross has realized what it means to be a veteran and has taken it upon himself to provide First Nations veterans a voice in Saskatchewan.

“The association that I belong to now, it’s thriving,” he said. “We’re discovering newer, younger people that have not signed up yet. We want to include them in our association; we just have to make them feel welcome, call them up, and sign them up.”

With recent recognition for First Nations veterans, Ross said First Nations have finally found a way to honour their culture as well as their service by using drums, smudging, and Elders in remembrance ceremonies.

Originally enlisting in Saskatoon, he was sent to Winnipeg for a week to complete his health checks and was then shipped out to Calgary, where he completed a 13 week basic training program.

He spent six months of 1967 in Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean just smaller than Cape Breton, NS. It was thrown into turmoil after achieving independence in the 1960’s.

A peacekeeping campaign lasting nearly three decades began in 1964 when the United Nations deployed 25,000 soldiers to Cypus, according to Veterans Affairs Canada.

Ross called the experience enjoyable, even though it wasn’t a safe place to be and said it broadened his horizons in ways staying in Canada may not have.

“It was a good experience to travel, and meet other people, see other people. If I didn’t join the armed forces I may have still been on the reserve, growing up and living with it. Which is okay, if you’re okay with it,” he said.

Ross said First Nations people were not subject to conscription. He called the show of volunteerism of First Nations peoples in all of the wars a testament to the warrior spirit of indigenous peoples.

“You have to recognize their courage (and) the valour it takes to walk into the line of fire,” he said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen when you’re in battle. You don’t know what’s ahead of you.”

He encouraged youth to join the armed forces because it provides a career, education, and an opportunity to see new places.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” he said.

The Saskatchewan First Nations Veterans Association is working on a number of projects right now, according to Ross.

Tracking down unnamed First Nations soldiers who have fallen in combat and not been identified is one initiative. Ross said it’s meant to bring closure and sometimes even pride to family members.

“You have to honor those men and women who went off to the First World War, the Second World War, (and) Korea. You can’t forget them. I think the worst thing we can do is forget them,” Ross said.

Bryan.eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas