Dutch couple helps honour Canadian Indigenous soldiers who helped liberate the Netherlands

Stanford Solace a member of the Willis tuway first nation was 22 years old when he enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces and 28 when he died no Uncle Sanford did not come home sadly he had sustained a according to what the military uh Records say a brain hemorrhage from a

Fall he had experienced buried among hundreds of other soldiers at the Holton War Cemetery in the Netherlands Solace has long been recognized for his Service as a Canadian service member but not as an indigenous Soldier until now it’s important to be able to recognize the indigenous contribution because a lot of

People don’t know and understand what they have done throughout our Canadian history a history where generations of indigenous people have been mistreated and oppressed after learning about the horrors of residential schools a Dutch couple felt compelled to help we thought well we we give them what more attention

Here and how can we do that uh we do that through uh the soldiers Ivonne and Barry swarov operate the only Canadian Legion Branch in the Netherlands working with Veterans Affairs Canada they created the indigenous Legacy project earlier this year you can imagine hton has 1394 Graves and then you have to

Search finally we found 17 of them but maybe there are more but 17 at the moment who were First Nations in September 13 of those soldiers were honored when a delegation of family and community members traveled to the grave sites this was was really a First Nation

Ceremony and we get goosebumps yeah yeah yeah Ottawa has committed to more trips as the project expands to identify indigenous graves in military cemeteries across Europe I took afraid of sweet grass from my home and I left it there at the foot of his headstone a special opportunity to honor indigenous veterans

While connecting them back to their culture and their home Heather urix West Global News

Near the end of the Second World War, Canadian soldiers helped liberate the people of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation.

More than 7,000 of them lost their lives in the eight-month campaign – and are now resting in military cemeteries across the country.

When the tragic history of Canada’s residential school system made international headlines a few years ago, a Dutch couple felt compelled to do something to honour those Indigenous soldiers who fought and died helping alongside their fellow Canadians.

And in September, a delegation of family and community members travelled to the Netherlands to honour 13 of those soldiers.

Heather Yourex-West reports.

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