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Military and Oral History Conference: Between Memory and History |
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Grace Poulin Trent University Short Biography As a retired R.N. living in Thunder Bay ON, I presently am partnered with the Ontario Native Women’s Association and Veterans Affairs Canada as a volunteer to effect a reunion of the interviewees and any other female Aboriginal veterans in Thunder Bay ON in March 2008. Also, I will be contributing a chapter to the University of Saskatchewan’s digital narrative of Aboriginal military history in the early summer 2008. Paper Abstract Invisible Women: WWII Aboriginal Servicewomen in Canada's Military. While there is anecdotal reporting on Aboriginal involvement, in recent years due to more Indigenous history being written, there is some new research on Aboriginal peoples in WWII, but mainly the Aboriginal male experience. There is practically nothing written about the Aboriginal female experience. Where are their voices? What are their stories? The objective of this research was to record, share, and analyze the stories and experiences of Aboriginal servicewomen in Canada’s WWII. How did their experiences compare to those servicewomen of non-Aboriginal ancestry? Since there was no previous investigation of this topic, there was no foundation upon which to build. Locating the women was the biggest problem since DVA and DND did not keep records of ethnicity and race. From New Brunswick to British Columbia fourteen women were personally interviewed, along with one by telephone and another by written submission as well as the families of two servicewomen, totaling eighteen. This research draws on oral histories to uncover their experiences and recognizes their contribution to Canada’s tapestry Full Text (PDF) Hosted on the University of Victoria Special Collections Website.
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