November 8 is Indigenous Veterans Day, recognizing First Nations, Inuit, and Metis contributions to Canada’s military.

Despite their services, it’s not until 1995 that Indigenous Peoples were permitted to lay Remembrance Day wreaths at the National War Memorial to remember and honour their dead comrades.

Recently, Gunargie O’Sullivan spoke to Carolyn Orazietti, one of the organizers of this year's ceremony at the Victory square cenotaph, a small private event this year, due to covid concerns.

Orazietti is a Mi’kmaq elder who joined the 22 Service Battalion, part of the Canadian Army Reserve, spending three years there.

She speaks about how important it is “to be able to honor the lineage of veterans and all those who served.” A frequent question Orazietti gets is why did the Indigenous people go to bat for. “We, our people, we’re natural-born fighters. So our warriors excelled in every way. We were schooling the troops….And our veterans laid down their lives so that we could have a happy and prosperous life,” she says. That’s why she thinks that this year “it’ll be nice to have people to celebrate.”