Minister of veteran affairs Lawrence MacAulay was in Regina Tuesday morning to recognize pre- and post- Second World War Metis veterans.
$30 million in federal funding was announced for Metis veterans. $20,000 each will go directly to the veterans or their estate, while the leftover funds will be put into a fund to pay for memorials and other programming.
MacAulay said they brought forward an apology and a commitment no other government has been able to do in the last 75 years.
“As the leader, the Prime Minister indicated it would be an issue that would be addressed and we started when we formed the government to address this,” MacAulay said. “It’s not an issue that’s easy to address; to find all of the issues that have been neglected, now hopefully they have all been found.
“We have allocated the money, and that’s what’s so important.”
President of the Manitoba Metis Federation David Chartrand said there was very little progress under the Harper government on this file.
“This is not only for the Metis veterans, (it’s for) every veteran of today and of yesterday that this country needs and should never forget our veterans,” Chartrand said. “I think that’s a message that’s been given by minister MacAulay and the Prime Minister (Tuesday); our veterans mean something.”
John Goodon’s father Norman is one of the veterans who received $20,000. John said the discrimination over the years didn’t play a serious role in his father’s life compared to other veterans.
“I think Dad is a strong enough person that he didn’t let it bother him too much, he just kind of dusted it off of his shoulder and wnet on with what he was doing, he was a very proud man.”
It is not known exactly how many Metis veterans there were in the wars, as those going to war were told to identify as French or English.
