Photo Courtesy EverythingGP Staff

By Tanner Smith

Community

Veterans Memorial Gardens & Interpretive Centre Indigenous war memorial funding approved

Jun 30, 2023 | 1:16 PM

Veterans Affairs Canada has given the Canadian Motorcycle Tourism Association a grant to build an Indigenous war memorial for the Veterans Memorial Gardens & Interpretive Centre.

The piece, titled “Invisible” is being curated by local Indigenous artist Grant Berg.

Renne Charbonneau, Executive Director of the Canada Motorcycle Association, says it means a lot more to have this piece being created by Berg.

“I had given him a lot of the research on our various soldiers from this area, and he’s the one who chose the name “Invisible”, and it’s because of him that we have the description of what invisible really means and how indigenous soldiers were able to blend into their environment and be at one with the animals so that they weren’t triggering where they were. And you know, all of those skills that they had translated to making them very, very good soldiers.”

Berg described the piece in his own words in the release;

“I have chosen glass as a medium for this project. As a translucent medium, glass implies a memory from the past or a spirit. These soldiers protected us then, as their sacrifice and spirit do today. I used glass also because as soldiers in the wars, Indigenous soldiers were highly valued by other soldiers in their troop. Indigenous soldiers knew the land and with animals around them, they could read the enemy and realized the value of being one with the land and that of being invisible was the best asset when in battle.”

Charbonneau, says they take great pride in this piece and hope the community will as well, as there were a lot of Indigenous soldiers from the Peace region serving in World War 2, many giving the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

“According to the federal government, nationally there are 300 killed in action Indigenous soldiers out of the 12,000 that are reported to have served Canada. Our region is 1/10 of the size of the province of Alberta, yet it holds 1/10 of the National killed-in-action number.”

She adds these stories about these soldiers’ sacrifice and courage are a testament to who people in the Peace region are, and she is very proud they can bring this to the community.

“I think personally there is one word that seems to describe the Peace region and its people since time immemorial that goes right back to the very first, First Nations peoples that settled here to all of the immigrants and, Europeans that later settled here and now share this place as home then and now is resilient,” said Charbonneau.

Originally hailing from Manitoba, Charboneau still takes great pride in the military history in the Peace region and hopes when this piece finally gets installed at the Veterans Gardens, residents can feel that same sense of pride and honor.

“Invisible” is still in the creation stage, but a unveiling ceremony is being planned for August.

For more information about the Veterans Memorial Gardens & Interpretive Centre, click here.

For more information regarding the Canadian Motorcycle Tourism Association, click here.