Aboriginal veterans honoured with sealskin and suede poppies
Katie Chase says she thought of her great-grandfather, a Korean War vet, while cutting sealskin
Aboriginal students at Cole Harbour District High School are honouring the country's Indigenous soldiers this week by stitching hundreds of poppies onto a leather canvas.
The students and their advisor spent the past year on the project — cutting out hundreds of poppies from leather, suede and sealskin — all in memory of the 12,000 Indigenous soldiers who fought in both world wars and Korea.
"Seeing them all come together and work for a common purpose was very rewarding," school Mi'kmaq Aboriginal support worker Patricia Voisey said Tuesday.
Voisey visits the school twice a week, and part of her job, she said, is to instill pride among the Mi'kmaq, Métis and Inuit students.
The project has helped introduce Indigenous students to each other, she said, and taught them about their history, something that may not have happened otherwise.
"I asked them, 'If we weren't working on this project, would you have been aware that there was over 12,000 First Nations soldiers that fought in Canada's three wars?' And they said, 'No, we wouldn't have.'"
Student Cole Pilgrim said it was an eye opener for him to learn about the sacrifices his community made.
"I didn't have a clue of how many volunteered but now I respect it a lot more," he said.
This year student Katie Chase lost her great-grandfather, who was Aboriginal and veteran of the Korean War.
She said she thought of him every day while she and her friends cut out sealskin and suede poppies, and stitched them onto the massive leather canvas.
Chase only recently started to embrace her Indigenous heritage — and appreciate her great grandfather's sacrifice.
"If you did enroll in the military you would completely lose your status, which is a big sacrifice," she said, referring to the federal Indian Act.
"That's like losing who you are — and they gave that up to fight for your country and that's one of the biggest sacrifices you can make."
Voisey said it's a lesson not just for her students, but for everyone.
"To give up your status in order to fight for a country that wouldn't fight for yours, I think that's something that we need to have a greater discussion about."
Once it's completed, the poppy project will hang permanently in the school's cafeteria and auditorium room.
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