Far From Home is the latest exhibition of the Canadian War Museum, which aims to highlight the diversity of soldiers that fought in World War One. The exhibition opened earlier this month as part of the museum’s commemoration of the centenary of the First World War.
Being a student of mixed race, I have always wondered throughout my academic life: did Black soldiers fight in these old wars? Black soldiers were never mentioned in high school, and I hadn’t seen soldiers of Black descent in government commercials until recently.
On your way to the exhibition, you’ll first pass a variety of other First World War exhibitions. The first is a series of paintings done by artist Mary Riter Hamilton, nicknamed “Canada’s First Woman Artist” and widowed by the war at 25 years old.
The paintings shed light on the brutal battles of Passchendaele, the symbolism of poppies in regions of Belgium, and the courageous, but costly victory at Vimy Ridge.
The Hundred Days Campaign follows, a Canadian blueprint of the last 100 days of the First World War.
The keys to victory mentioned all the women sacrificing their lives in factories to mass produce the artillery needed to succeed over our enemies.
But, no paintings of my ancestors—yet.
I reach Far From Home, the newest exhibition in the museum that highlights racialized soldiers from around the world who helped the Allies fight crucial battles in Europe. To name a few, some of these soldiers included the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; the Chinese soldiers of Asia; the Sikhs of the Indian Army praying and taking baths at camp; the soldiers of the West Indies; the Madagascarians; the Indigenous Elders of Saskatchewan; the Spahis of Algeria; the Fijians; New Zealand soldiers; and Senegalese and Congo soldiers of Africa.
Inuit sniper John Shiwak was among those featured in the exhibition. An experienced trapper and hunter from Labrador, he posed in full Scottish regalia in a photographer’s studio before the war. In 1915, Shiwak enlisted in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. He died on the battlefield on Nov. 20, 1917.
The pictures were provided to the museum by the Embassy of Belgium in Ottawa.
It is important to remember in history that certain truths are not always told—and these untold truths diminish our education. When I imagined the Allied forces of the First World War, I thought about the British—and the British only.
Not the Madasgascarians, the Sikhs, or the Senegalese. This exhibition challenges assumptions about who fought for the Allied effort in Belgium and France during the First World War.
Although Black soldiers were featured, the extent of other non-European fighters and workers was immense and reassuring.
To think about these soldiers in some of Canada’s defying battles makes one want to go back into the museum and think differently about the wars, with a fresh perspective. You know—that’s what I might do.
Far From Home will be on view until Dec. 3 in the Display Corridor.
Provided photo from the Saskatchewan Provincial Archives Collection
