THUNDER BAY — A Remembrance Day ceremony in Fort William First Nation saw about 150 people gather atop Anemki Wajiw, also known as Mount McKay, on Friday, defying inclement weather to honour the sacrifices of Indigenous veterans.
Catherine Banning, who has helped organize the ceremony for years in honour of her late father, Pte. Frank Banning, said the event’s perseverance through the pandemic and difficult conditions showed its importance.
“That’s really what it’s all about, is to make sure that nobody forgets about our veterans,” she said.
The ceremony incorporates military and Indigenous cultural traditions, with the playing of the Last Post and holding of two minutes of silence, the reading of poems like In Flanders Fields, and the laying of wreaths accompanied by traditional songs and drumming.
Several First Nations from the region were also represented at the ceremony, along with the City of Thunder Bay and numerous local organizations.
More than 4,000 First Nations members served during the First World War and more than 3,000 during the Second World War, along with an unknown number of Metis, Inuit, and other Indigenous recruits, the government says.
Frank Banning initiated the ceremony in Fort William First Nation in 1995 as he grappled with the 50th anniversary of the Second World War, a war in which he served with the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment in France.
“It was to help him deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder, which was being really stirred up with all the media coverage of the 50th anniversary,” said Catherine. “He sunk his teeth into something that would help him memorialize the people he lost — his good friends, many community members. And this really helped him do it.”
