Topic: Aboriginals in War

Date: 12/14/2018
Subject/Grade: Social Studies – Grade 9
Time Frame: 62 minutes
Teacher Candidate: Miss Paige Kynock

Curriculum Outcomes:
 9.4.1: Take age-appropriate actions that demonstrate the rights and responsibilities of citizenship
(local, national and global)
 9.4.2: Demonstrate an understanding of how citizenship has evolved over time

Diverse Learning (PLPs):

 Students who require laptops to take notes may use their computers
 Information will be presented orally and visually

List of Materials/Technology Required:

 Power Point & Projector
 The Aboriginal Soldier (poem) – Available on creativespirits.info
 Video: The Best Sniper of World War 1- Francis Pegahmagabow (On Youtube)

Anticipatory Set (Opening Hook): (7 minutes)

 Read “The Aboriginal Soldier”
o Give students a moment to reflect on the poem
o Ask students how the poem made them feel and what they think that it is about.

Body/Methodology:
Aboriginals in World War 1 (15 minutes): During this portion of the class students will be
required to take notes. Students can add comments, ask questions, or get clarification at whatever
point they would like but they must do so by raising their hands. During this portion of the class
the teacher will teach students the roles of Aboriginal Peoples in World War I.

 Thousands of Aboriginal peoples served in the Canadian military forces in both of the world
wars.
 On the home front most Aboriginal communities participated in the national war effort in
diverse ways
 Despite their contributions and sacrifices Aboriginal Peoples were still marginalized
 When conscription was imposed during WWI it included Status Indians which made members of
the Aboriginal communities outraged.
o Question: What are some reasons why Aboriginal Peoples may have been more
outraged about Conscription than their European counterparts?
  Aboriginal Peoples were mainly integrated into the regular units rather than creating Aboriginal
only units.
o This caused for there to be higher levels of interactions between Aboriginal and Non-
Aboriginals than ever before.
o Discussion Questions:
 Why might these interactions be important?
 What do we already know about the relationship between Aboriginal and
Non-Aboriginal soldiers during the war?
 Most war stories from Aboriginal Veterans speak about how they were treated respectfully by
their fellow soldiers, but many of them dealt with discrimination once they returned home
 Pause: Ask students to come up with ways they think the Aboriginal people may have helped the
war effort from home. Give them a minute or so to think of reasons before asking for them to
share their thoughts with the class.
o On the home front Aboriginal Peoples expanded the production on their crop fields in
order to offer up more food for the military. Many of them also took jobs in factories to
help produce things needed for the war effort.
 Many First Nations felt mixed, indifferent or even hostile to contributing to the war, some
because of a difficult past relationship with the government and some because they felt as
though it was not their war to fight
 Question: Can anyone name an Aboriginal Soldier from World War I?

Video (10 minutes): During this portion of class students will be required to watch a video.
While the video is playing students should write down things that they find interesting or
surprising about the video. After the video the teacher will lead a brief discussion about what the
students watched.
 Watch “The Best Sniper of World War 1- Francis Pegahmagabow”
o Before you turn on the clip tell students to write down things that they find
interesting
o After the video, ask students if they found anything interesting. Ask them why they
think that Francis Pegahmagabow is not talked about often.

Aboriginals in World War 2 (10 minutes): During this portion of the class students will be
required to take notes. Students can add comments, ask questions, or get clarification at whatever
point they would like but they must do so by raising their hands. During this portion of the class
the teacher will teach students the roles of Aboriginal Peoples in World War II.

 In World War II the Aboriginal people were once again rightfully extremely angry when
conscription was put into effect
o Aboriginal people were being forced to go overseas which was in direct violation of
several of the numbered treaties
o These men were being forced to fight for a country that had not given them full citizen
rights
 Question: After many veterans from World War I were mistreated, why do you think that
some Aboriginal men still chose to fight in World War II?
  Aboriginal Peoples donated their time and effort to help the war efforts, as well as donating
what they could
o As a result of this, World War 2 was one of the better times finically for many Aboriginal
families because due to many soldiers going off to war there were more job
opportunities
 After World War 2, many Aboriginal Veterans were once again not given benefits that they had
been promised
 When Aboriginals returned from war they also had a harder time re-establishing themselves
into civilian life. Many of them turned to drinking and drugs to cope with what they had seen
and how they were being treated afterwards
 Question: What do you know about how Aboriginal Peoples were treated after the Second
World War?

Aboriginals Post World War 2 (5 minutes): During this portion of the class students will be
required to take notes. Students can add comments, ask questions, or get clarification at whatever
point they would like but they must do so by raising their hands. During this portion of the class
the teacher will teach students the roles of Aboriginal Peoples after The Wars.

 After World War 2, Canadians started to look at how Aboriginal people were being treated by
the country and for the first time people were incredibly angry
 The general public felt as though these veterans fought for our country and that they deserved
the same rewards as other soldiers
 This anger lead to social change and many revisions to the Indian Act
 Aboriginal Veterans were largely ignored until organized campaigns started in the 1970s and
went until the 2000s.
 Since 2001 efforts have been made so that Aboriginal Veterans are no longer forgotten about,
including a Memorial in Ottawa.
 As Reconciliation continues in this country, more Aboriginal voices are being heard.

Closure:
 Reflection (10 minutes):
o Ask students to decide what information from today’s class they feel is the most
important for people to know about.
o Give them a couple of minutes to look over their notes and decide what they
might want to know more about or what they feel that more people should know
about.
o Once students have had a chance to reflect on the information then have a
group discussion.
 Summary (5 minutes):
o Thousands of Aboriginals fought in the Canadian army during both World War I
and World War II.
o Conscription included Aboriginal Peoples, which angered many people
o Even though Aboriginals made sacrifices during the war, they were still
marginalized and still dealt with discrimination
o Even Aboriginal People participated when Canada was in a state of total war
 o Many Aboriginal Peoples felt that WW1 and WW2 were not their wars to fight
o After WW2 changes slowly started to happen that gave Aboriginal Peoples the
recognition they deserve

Assessment:
 Discussion: The discussions at various points of this lesson will demonstrate the
students’ knowledge.

Reflections: