Monument to honour military service to be unveiled in Pheasant Rump Nakota Nation

On Remembrance Day, Pheasant Rump Nakota Nation in Saskatchewan will unveil its new monument honouring members of the community who have served in the military.

"It was always the kind of a wish that we could in some way publicly display our pride and our respect for those who served in the various armed conflicts throughout the world and in the past," said Pheasant Rump Chief Ira McArthur.

McArthur said the project was a few years in the making and required some fundraising. The statue atop the monument resembles Ira's grandfather Daniel McArthur, who was killed in action on March 3, 1945, during the Second World War.

Four of Ira's relatives served in the Second World War; two died overseas, including Daniel.

"I think that this monument is a reminder of what our ancestors had to go through to ensure that we were able to celebrate the freedoms that we are today," said Ira.

"The horrific realities of war are so far removed from us that we don't realize that it was a real thing that happened just two or three generations ago for many Canadians."

The small community about 165 kilometres southeast of Regina identified 14 members who served in the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, in the U.S. Air Force and the Canadian Armed Forces reserves.

Ira said his father James McArthur, who is now 90, begged for his mother's permission to join the Canadian army at 17. He would serve in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Ira said he couldn't imagine what parents and grandparents went through sending their sons and daughters to war. His son is 17, the same age his father was when he joined the army.

"That is the strength that we really have to remember as Indigenous people — because it was a choice. They weren't forced to go, they volunteered," said Ira.

The community hired Joseph Bear from Indigenous Stoneworks and Everlasting Memorials in St. Paul, Man., to make the monument and he collaborated with Elder Peter McArthur from Pheasant Rump.

The statue arrived in Pheasant Rump Nakota Nation last Thursday with ceremony and songs to welcome it into their community, honouring of the Nakoda agicidas, (pronounced ahh-kee-chee-tah), which means Nakota warriors.

Vanessa BigEagle, Pheasant Rump's language and culture administrative assistant, said it is important to them to have the Nakoda language included in Monday's event. An elder from a neighbouring community will say a prayer and a young learner will do a recital.

The event will also have a trumpeter and a drum group.