Sure. Again, I can only speak to the 11 and what I learned from those interviews. I think everybody's experience is different.
A common theme that emerged amongst Black veterans was certainly the idea of service as a path for social mobility. One veteran spoke of coming home—perhaps this is not so much about social mobility as it is about social change—and as a result of what he perceived to be greater levels of equity inside the armed service, he was motivated to push against unofficial segregation and some of the discrimination in his own community in Nova Scotia.
Another common theme that emerged was this idea of veteranhood as a path to social mobility. Veterans, including family members, in interviews would point to the service of perhaps an ancestor who fought in the First World War. I'm thinking of two Black interviewees. If your grandfather or great-grandfather served in the First World War, or in this case fought at Vimy Ridge, that's kind of your ticket to belonging here. It shouldn't be, but when your identity as a Canadian is questioned, you have this tool to push back: This is what my family has done. We've been here since after the American Revolution. We've served here, here and here. We served at Vimy Ridge, for goodness' sake. This is a talisman—proof that we belong here.
That was a common theme. There's a third one I would point to. Again, different people have different experiences. I'm not suggesting that the armed forces was painted as an idyllic, racism-less place, where racism was absent, but there was this shift of being in Canadian society and then in the military society, and feeling one could thrive more based on their own merits in the military. That would then lead to some of the perhaps uncomfortable transitions that, when you leave the military, you're back in Canadian society and that greater equity is gone. I mentioned the veteran who called it a culture shock.