Wing marks International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Two guest speakers at 14 Wing Greenwood’s March 21 event to recognize the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination did their best to create a comfortable conversation around their life experiences and the change they see.
“We’re going in the right direction,” said Wing Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Proulx, as he thanked 14 Air Maintenance Squadron Lieutenant-Colonel Aleem Sajan and Annapolis Valley First Nation Elder Sarah McDonald for sharing their stories at the wing’s Defence Visible Minority Group event, co-hosted with the Defence Indigenous Advisory Group.
Proulx is an advocate of life-long learning, and credits the early work his own parents did to expose and encourage him to “step out of my comfort zone” growing up in a distinctly white Southern Ontario community.
“I’m grateful for that every day, and it’s never too late to learn. In the post-Rwanda Canadian Armed Forces, the importance of cultural awareness as we left the country grew; it has only been more recently we need that here in Canada. We’re not where we need to be.”
Proulx said the privilege to attend last year’s apology to members of the segregated No. 2 Construction Battalion and the AVFN’s strawberry pow wow – even joining a dancing circle – was an opportunity to see community, find out about their strengths and assets, and meet people.
“I was very uncomfortable dancing – but that pushes me. I love having the opportunity to share experiences.”
Sajan said the type of experience Proulx described as uncomfortable is a sign of change, and that there are efforts by individuals and institutions to “create that environment.
“Aspiration matters to me, personally,” Sajan said. “Change is going to come in different ways, and grassroots change is more lasting. It may take a bit longer. We also need institutional change. The two put together are very powerful.”
Sajan grew up in Tanzania, and described hearing Nelson Mandela speaking from inside a large stadium over loudspeakers in 1990, upon his release from South African jail under apartheid rules. Mandela was visiting Tanzania, where he and the African National Congress had deep roots.
“I was 10. I recall school being off – it was a big celebration him visiting. The kids were all still in their school uniforms. I remember Mandela was thanking Tanzania for its support and also urging reconciliation.
“And, that’s the journey of today: we recognize racism exists. In talking, we learn, we do better and we change the outlook of the future.”
Sajan was 13 in 1993 when his family moved to Canada and, the day he was accepted as a Canadian citizen, at 18, he went to a CAF recruiting office and signed his service papers. He failed his basic training, “not equipped culturally or from a family background of military service. I felt I had to adapt to the CAF, but MREs (field meals) were dependent on pork products, and I’m a Muslim. The interaction in the Messes was different for me, too.”
He re-coursed, passed and is now in command of a Royal Canadian Air Force Squadron and, this summer, will take command of 5 Wing Goose Bay.
“I acknowledge what the CAF has done for me along the way – the opportunities to command, serve my country and follow my aviation dream. On my first deployment to the Sudan, someone asked me, ‘What makes Canada work?’ I couldn’t straight forward answer that – and I don’t know if I ever can; but, it may be a willingness of Canadians to listen and learn.
“And, not all experiences are universal. Listening and learning helps us reconcile, and that’s what Nelson Mandela spoke of.”
McDonald is an elder and knowledge keeper for her Mi’kma’ki community and, since her high school years, has been active in sports, civics and advocacy, particularly around the rights of First Nations women and children.
“My mother met my father here at the Greenwood social centre in 1951. This was his first posting. When he married mom in 1952, she lost her rights. She was not an Indian anymore but, travelling across Canada and stopping at a restaurant or somewhere, they were often told, ‘We don’t serve those people.’”
She described the sadness in her community for many years after the First and Second world wars, when First Nations veterans came home without recognition or access to services other Canadian veterans had. While she went to high school and “no one paid attention I was Native, my cousins stopped school in grade 7 or 9: they didn’t want to do school with non-Natives.” At a school leadership conference in Wolfville, McDonald remembers a participant who’d talked and hung out with her for the entire first week dropped her when he found out she was First Nations.
“It was hard for him to realize I was the same as him,” McDonald says.
In the 1970s, McDonald attended Dalhousie University, started her involvement with the Native Council of Nova Scotia and other groups and helped First Nations women get their status back. She gathers history and stories from her community to ensure everyone – including her 18 grandchildren – “have that knowledge.
“Things have changed, and it won’t stop. Some things today may look all good, but there are underlying things.”
The legacy of residential school experiences remains a struggle, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women work “is the worst of anything,” and health issues, from long-standing diabetes to the newer COVID-19, have disproportionate impacts in First Nations communities.
“The best thing is people asking me to do workshops. I’m working to find people to help.”
Master Corporal Matt MacKenzie is the military co-chair of the DVMG, and he thanked Sajan and McDonald for their time and perspective, and those who attended for their contributions.
“I know from my army background, we were always told to learn from experience – and to learn from those with experience. As times are changing, things are changing, and we’re lucky enough now in the military to be able to create these groups to listen and share.”
