"I'm On Home Ground Now. I'm Safe": Saskatchewan Aboriginal Veterans in the Immediate Postwar Years, 1945 1946

In 1945 the Saskatchewan Aboriginal veterans from World War II returned to a rapidly changing world. The economy was improving dramatically as expanding industries encouraged unprecedented consumerism. In addition, new social values reflected an optimism for the elimination of the social inequality epitomized by Nazi Germany. The new social consciousness culminated with the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. In Canada the postwar years saw the federal government begin to investigate Indian policy reforms. In Saskatchewan the postwar years ushered in a new optimism epitomized by a new provincial government. In 1944 the people of the province of Saskatchewan elected the first socialist government in North America, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The CCF, elected on the slogan "humanity first," began examining the possibility of implementing an Aboriginal policy. The change of economic, social, and political environment in Canada immediately after the war added to the excitement brought on by the ending of hostilities. Saskatchewan Aboriginal veterans' active participation in the immediate postwar changes was minimal.

It has been accepted in the historical literature that a direct link existed between the participation of Aboriginal people in the Second World War and the emergence of a new political consciousness among Aboriginal people. The assumption is that Indian political organizations that came into existence in Canada generally, and in Saskatchewan specifically, during and after the war were due to the returning Aboriginal veterans. For example, Janet Davison states "during or immediately after the war there was a tremendous upsurge in Indian political activity, resulting in the formation of many new or reorganized associations. The years 1940–1949 saw 14 new Indian organizations recorded; of these 5 were in Saskatchewan alone."¹ The claim that the Indian leaderships emerged after the war ignores their efforts to advance Aboriginal rights prior to the war. Upon closer consideration, it is evident that very few of these organizations owe their formation to returning Aboriginal veterans. Rather, Aboriginal veterans had no direct influence in the creation of the new Indian organizations in Saskatchewan.

Between 1945 and 1960 Saskatchewan Aboriginal veterans' social and political activism was in a transitional phase. Aboriginal veterans in the immediate postwar years can be characterized as passive participants in the social and political changes. Passive participation means that the veterans did not guide the changes that occurred but were a powerful image of the "progressive Indian" portrayed by the media. The image of the "Indian warrior" popular before and during the war was transformed into "progressive Indians" after the war. Although in the immediate postwar years Aboriginal veterans concentrated their efforts on readjusting to civilian life, their symbolic stature as "progressive Indians" brought public awareness about Indian rights, which in turn helped to shift the public's attitude about Indians. The existing Indian leadership took advantage of the shifting attitudes to build support for their agenda of Indian rights, which they had been pursuing for a number of years. As a result, even though the veterans were passive in the social and political arena, their existence as a group was crucial in the social and political change of Aboriginal people in Canada in the immediate postwar years.²

This article is divided into four sections. The first section provides an overview of the Aboriginal participation in the Second World War. The number of and reasons for Aboriginal enlistment and Aboriginal protest to compulsory conscription will be discussed briefly. An analysis of Aboriginal veterans' experiences in the immediate postwar period in Saskatchewan will be conducted in the second section. Employment opportunities in the postwar period are contrasted with those in the prewar period, and the impacts of CCF Aboriginal policies on Aboriginal veterans and community response to Aboriginal veterans are all included in this section. The next section will scrutinize how the image...