Vanguard Magazine

6 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com s sIt REP Black History Month: Black Canadians at Vimy Ridge Sajjan's meeting with US defence chief When the four divisions of the Canadian Corps began their assault on Vimy Ridge on the morning of April 9, 1917, it was a cosmopolitan affair, with men of black, Chinese, Japanese and Sikh origin serving in the battle. Conventional wisdom has it that black Canadi- ans were unable to enlist in the Canadian Expe- ditionary Force before the formation of No. 2 Con- struction Battalion in July 1916, yet they had been "Great meeting with #SecDef Mattis today," Ca- nadian Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan tweeted shortly after his tête-à-tête at the Penta- gon on February 7 with his American counterpart, Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis. The meeting between the two former soldiers has been described as friendly and productive, but little details were released to the media, lead- ing to some questions as to how the Canadian gov- ernment will be interacting with the new Trump administration on issues such as NATO, peace- keeping missions, and the fighter jet procurement program. This was the first ever meeting between members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's and United States President Donald Trump's cabinet. "The warm, cordial tone of the discussion re- flects the long-standing, close partnership be- tween Canada and the United States, particularly when it comes to defence and security," a state- ment from Sajjan said. "The close defence rela- tionship between our two nations provides both countries with greater security in North America and contributes to peace and stability in the world in increasingly complex and uncertain times." Sajjan said he and Mattis also discussed multi- lateral issues such as the two countries' pledges to lead battle groups that will enhance NATO's presence in Eastern Europe, the U.S. and Canada's commitments to the United Nations, and the Sum- enlisting since September 1914 and were even killed in Canada's first major battle — the Second Battle of Ypres — in April-May 1915. At least 135 black men had enlisted in the infan- try by the end of 1916. At the time of Vimy Ridge, at least 80 of these black soldiers were unavail- able, having been released for medical reasons, wounded or killed in prior battles. At least 16 were in England awaiting transfer to the front, and 15 had transferred to No. 2 Construction Battalion. Black soldiers could be found in all four divisions of the Canadian Corps, primarily in the infantry, but also in artillery, engineers and signals. Three were veterans who had enlisted in September 1914. Most went over the top in the initial wave and through the machine gun fire and shelling, while Private Frank Bollen of the 107th Pioneer Battalion followed up laying cable behind the advancing troops. The majority of the black soldiers survived physically unscathed; however, there were casu- alties. Of those serving with The Royal Canadian Regiment, two were wounded. Private Jeremiah Jones (pictured) was hit by shrapnel in his left forearm so badly that he was invalided back to Canada. Private Percy Martin suffered a gunshot wound to his left arm but returned to the regi- ment. Private Curley Christian of the 78th Battal- ion was buried in a shell explosion, and remained buried for several days. He later lost the extremi- ties of all four limbs to gangrene. The black soldier who most distinguished himself at Vimy Ridge was Lieutenant Lancelot Joseph Bertrand. He would end up leading No. 4 Company, 7th Battalion on to their objective after the company commander and then other officers fell in combat. For this, he was awarded the Mili- tary Cross. In the 100 years since Vimy Ridge, black Cana- dians have gone on to serve in every branch of the military, at every level, at home and in opera- tions around the world, during the Cold War and in international peacekeeping operations, sharing the sacrifices and achievements of today's Cana- dian Armed Forces. mit of Defence Ministers which Canada will host later this year. As characteristic of Sajjan, a lot of details were left out. He said he also discussed training missions in Ukraine and Iraq and the coalition efforts to de- stroy the terrorist group, Daesh. "We discussed Canada's decision to launch an open and transparent competition to replace our legacy fleet of CF-18 fighter aircraft, and to ex- plore the immediate acquisition of 18 new Super Hornet fighter aircraft as an interim capability," Sajjan said. "I expressed my appreciation to the Secretary for the support and cooperation of the U.S. Government in these processes." While Mattis and Sajjan were talking with each other about enhancing NATO's presence in East- ern Europe, U.S. President Donald Trump was speaking to American soldiers in MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. On several occasions during his campaign, Trump had dismissed NATO as being "obsolete." He has repeatedly ranted against countries that did not adequately contribute to running NATO. Recently, Trump has said would decide whether or not to protect alliance members against Rus- sian aggression based in whether those countries "have fulfilled their obligation to us." However, during his talk with the troops in Flor- ida yesterday, the U.S. President appears to have dialed down the rhetoric, saying instead that "we support NATO." In an interview with the Canadian Press, an American military analyst said he hoped the is- sue of NATO and protecting Eastern Europe from Russian aggression would be discussed during the Sajjan-Mattis meeting. Steve Saideman, an international relations scholar at Carleton University in Ottawa, said that the particular NATO issues discussed in the meet- ing would provide Canada with "some guidance on what's going on in this administration."

• Cover