Indigenous veterans in B.C. call for recognition, more support on Aboriginal Veterans Day – CBC

Nov 08, 2021

Residential school trauma and post-war PTSD have multi-generational impact on Indigenous families, expert says

In 1990, 14 years after serving in the Canadian Armed Forces with tours of duty in Egypt and Cyprus, David Ward was living on the streets of Ottawa.

Struggling with alcohol addiction, Ward says he was in a dark place and even attempted suicide after being discharged.

One day, while he was at the National War Memorial reminiscing with other Indigenous veterans, Ward, who is Cree, had an idea.

“There was either a Free France or a liberation of Holland ceremony going on and I’m going, ‘We don’t have a day for us. Why shouldn’t we?'” he said.