Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 21st, 2024

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Thank you so much, Chair.

Thank you all for being here today. I really appreciate the opportunity to interact with you.

Kathy, I have a little quote here that I brought forward, and you really struck a chord with me on this. It's from Hilaire Belloc. His lifetime was from 1870 to 1953, and he said, “To comprehend the history of a thing is to unlock the mysteries of its present, and more, to disclose the profundities of its future.” In other words, we don't study history only to know what happened then. We study history to understand what's happening now and, of course, where it's going to go in the future.

I really appreciated what you shared with us. You talked specifically of the present and how you are seeing more Black young people engaged, with the cadet program as an example. That program is very precious to me.

What ideas do you have as far as encouraging more Black young people to engage in the cadet program?

[Kathy Grant]

It's not only Black. It's everybody.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Absolutely, I agree.

[Kathy Grant]

We find that when we show examples, pictures and images of our stories, and we encourage them to go and visit our website, they're amazed to see how much history is there. I know that yesterday or a couple days ago, we had 100 students come up from Ottawa. We were able to go and share the stories, and they were amazed to know how much of a rich history we have.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Thank you so much for that work. I do hope that it brings about good results.

First of all, welcome from Saskatchewan. It's so good to have you here from my home province. I've been on this committee since 2017. In 2018, this committee travelled up to northern Saskatchewan, to Beauval. Now, I don't know if you consider that north when you look at the province, but it is to us. We also went to Yellowknife, and I had the opportunity to engage a lot more with indigenous veterans.

I just want to take a moment to say that Vimy Ridge would not have happened the way it did for Canada without the incredible mapping abilities and the commitment of our first nations, Inuit and Métis to that whole exercise. Instead of losing 100,000 soldiers, as France and England did, we were able to have victory there. I thank you and your past for that contribution.

You mentioned some of the frustrations that are still there from the past, and I know that, with World War II, promises were made that were not kept. Would you like to just speak briefly on that? Then, I have a quote I would like to have you respond to as well.

[John Belanger]

I will tell you that I do have a stepmother at home who has lived with us since I was a baby, a one-year-old. Unfortunately, my dad went to the Second World War, and when he came home, he was a bush pilot. He had an accident that lost my mother. I never knew her because I was just a young fellow, but this lady I'm speaking about now is alive and well. She took care of us when we were young.

There were lots of issues, when you think about it, on my father's side. We talk about PTSD all the time, and I stand here and tell you that I know he had PTSD, but he'd never admit to it because, back then, our home was so remote. I'm north of Beauval still—not very far north, but there's nothing there. Back then we had one highway, and half the time they walked.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

I was going to say that I have comments from someone who knew Louis Roy—I don't know if you know who that is—who was a World War II veteran, and he told her that they walked for three days to get to Meadow Lake to be able to enlist.

[John Belanger]

Were you at Louis Roy's retirement a few years ago when they gave him that contribution, his payments for the Second World War?

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

I don't believe I was there for that. We were able to see that they had built a monument of sorts there to remember their service.

I did meet him, and he's a remarkable man. His story is real, though, and this is the thing. This is, I think, one that is passed down.

My friend Marj Matchee met him that day, and I think his story should be included in those stories you have mentioned. They came back and were promised land, and that did not come to be. It didn't come to pass. When I talk about history, that was in the past. It has been discussed that this needs to be dealt with, and it still hasn't been dealt with. I know that a lot of them are no longer here anymore, but certainly their families are still here.

There is a submission in the Conservative convention policy manual that indicates that it needs to be dealt with, and I do hope we're able to do that.

[John Belanger]

I didn't quite finish what I was going to tell you guys.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

I'm sorry.

[John Belanger]

I'm going to say that, 30 years ago, when I spoke to my father—I came back to Saskatchewan while I was still in the service—I think the federal government offered him a compensation program of $10,000. This was quite a while ago. My dad said that he would take it, but it wasn't up to him. It ended up that he didn't get it. He told me, he said, “I will never see that money.” I told him I'd spend it for him but, of course, they granted it to my stepmother, which is great. He said that it was going to take too long to get payments, that it was just too much red tape, and it was. I think it was almost 20 years after he passed that he got something for it.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

It was 20 years after he passed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Belanger.

Now I'm going to invite Mr. Bryan May for six minutes, please.

Go ahead, Mr. May.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'll be directing my questions to you, Ms. Grant.

First of all, thank you for being here.

One of the reasons I moved this motion to do this study was that I had the honour and privilege to represent the Minister of National Defence last year, almost a year and a half ago now, in Pictou for the commemoration and the remembrance ceremonies for the No. 2 Construction Battalion. I learned about the history, and I met a number of advocates and historians who shared the stories.

I agree with you. I think this comes down to education. I think it comes down to commemoration and filling that gap that exists currently.

I'm wondering if maybe you can speak to the efforts. I know that Minister Petitpas Taylor launched a call for organizations to apply. I think the initial rollout was about $370,000. I think that, as recently as November 7, an additional $500,000 is available for organizations to apply for programming that can really focus on that aspect of education. I'm wondering if you know of any of the organizations that would be applying or have maybe applied and what might come of that.

[Kathy Grant]

I think that last year it was $225,000, and $500,000 is for this year.

With regard to the $225,000, each group or organization was able to apply for up to $25,000. We actually applied, and we got $25,000. We launched our website on No. 2 Construction Battalion on the 7th. We partnered with York Region District School Board and with veterans to produce it, and I'm encouraging everyone to go and visit it.

There are a number of groups that applied. There's a group in British Columbia that applied. One of the members—her name is Door Gibson—is a retired captain.

I was a historian on the No. 2 Construction Battalion apology, and we worked with Library and Archives Canada to ensure that the records were digitized. The records were all digitized and available online prior to the apology, and just yesterday, they announced that it was made a UNESCO history of the world program. Teachers can go and get primary sources to share with their children.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Congratulations on that. That is an exceptional accomplishment.

I will also add, for anybody who is paying attention and watching these proceedings, that I believe it's until the end of January 2025 that applications are still able to go in for that $500,000—

[Kathy Grant]

It's, like, up to $50,000. A group of students from Ottawa came up a couple of days ago, and we encouraged them. We said, “You're a school. You're provincial, so you can apply for up to $50,000.”

The other.... I think it was the Catholic board, York Region in Toronto. It said that it is willing to go and work with other schools.

We're encouraging schools to apply, and we're happy to work with them.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

With regard to a different event, I understand that you were invited by the French embassy in Ottawa to attend the 95th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. I'm wondering if you can share with us your experience and your take-aways from that opportunity.

[Kathy Grant]

We went there.

What many people are not aware of is that there was someone by the name of “Curley” Christian. Curley Christian lost all four of his limbs at the Battle of Vimy Ridge and survived. We happened to have with us his scrapbook from when he went over to Vimy, and we donated it to the Canadian War Museum. We also found out that his granddaughter, Anne Christian-Hansen, actually lives in Ottawa.

It was a great opportunity to go and share that story because many people are not aware that the only person who lost all four of his limbs at Vimy Ridge and survived was from here. That's even for the Commonwealth as well, so it's for both Canada and the Commonwealth.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Can you speak a little bit more about the opportunity to work with the Canadian War Museum?

I know that the 100th anniversary of the No. 2 Construction Battalion was in 2016, and they're working on.... We just had a gentleman from the—

[Kathy Grant]

You mean Michael.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

—Canadian War Museum here.

I'm wondering if you can expand more on that.

[Kathy Grant]

For the 100th anniversary of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, we had a display at the Canadian War Museum. You can actually look it up on CBC. We were able to go and get descendants to share their stories.

I know that there's currently a quilt at the Canadian War Museum that has the members there.

Last week, we were there with Silver Cross Mother Agatha Dyer. She's there helping us, as well, in terms of promoting the story.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

That's excellent.

I'm not sure if I have time for a question and an answer, so I'll just simply say thank you for being here and for the continued work that you're doing to recognize the battalion.