WESTBANK — A new veteran’s monument was unveiled by the Westbank First Nation Tuesday.
Artist, Smoker Marchand, says it’s about celebrating First Nation veterans and their contributions in past wars – an effort he says is not always recognized.
The monument was unveiled outside the Westbank First Nation Health and Wellness Building at 1900 Quail Lane.
Marchand says while the monument is to honour First Nation contributions in our history’s wars, he says it also celebrates all efforts.
“I wanted to show a strong Indian man, I wanted to show a strong Indian woman, and I wanted to show a soldier who could be any soldier – he could be Native, he could be any soldier – because I think it’s important to represent all our people. Like my uncle said, when they got in the trenches, they were banded brothers. There was no colour,” says Marchand.
Several people gathered to watch the unveiling of the monument, from school children to community leaders.
Marchand was also joined by community members to help unveil the monument that took him three months to create.
Mike Watts – a member of the Westbank First Nations and a war veteran himself – says he’s happy to see a monument acknowledging all efforts in past wars.
“I served in Vietnam and my brother served in Korea. So it’s really an honour to be here with the monument and as I said before, it honours both sides – our cousins to the south and brothers to the south. So it’s a real honour.”
Westbank First Nation say they will also be hosting a Remembrance Day ceremony at the new Veteran’s Monument on Monday, November 10th at 10:30am.
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