When you look at the veterans' homes across Canada—and I mean really look at them and walk through them and walk down those halls—how many native veterans do you see in there? None. Why? It's because, more often than not, they're turned down. They're turned away. They're not good enough. They don't have enough money for it. They don't have this, and they don't have that. There is a whole multitude of reasons to not fulfill an obligation that veterans are entitled to.
I went to Normandy for the 80th anniversary. There were three native people: me, a native man from Ontario and a Métis man. We had to hold up a ceremony for a lot of the people because it was culturally inappropriate, for the most part, and we added that native component, a night of spirituality, to the program. I had Brigadier-General Robar come back after a session at the abbey, and he came to me when I sang the Honour Song there and said, “Thank you. You made my trip worthwhile.”
That's the part people fail to see—that we are a viable part of the fabric of veterans but we're excluded. If we are added to that fabric, we make that fabric whole. That's all we ask, to be included in that thing. Cultural appropriation.... For our culture, the only thing it can do is nurture what's out there. Give us a chance to give that gift, and it is a gift that we are willing to give.
Thank you.