When looking at the themes of Nationalism and War, we synonymously equate these words to both soldiers and death, where they battle on the front-lines to protect the nationhood of Canada. Taking up arms and the act of being patriotic go hand in hand, especially in the context of war. “It was the soldiers’ experience, and notably their death, that was privileged in memory.”[1] However, patriotism was not just a word used for those serving in the battlefield, but also those on the home front. In Expanding the Narrative: A First World War with Women, Children, and Grief, “The willingness of soldiers to put themselves in harm’s way for an intangible good, such as freedom and democracy or some more religious goal, is and has been a key aspect of wartime rhetoric.”[2] When historians look at wartime they tend to focus on the actions of soldiers and neglect the happenings in the home front. In Chapter one of A Sisterhood of Suffering, the author Alison Norman discusses the patriotic work of Six Nations women, who knitted socks and provided other goods for the men at war overseas.[3] Getting these goods to military men was an act of patriotism that is usually not acknowledged or discussed by most historians. While completing tasks, these women were defying the clear discrimination towards their gender and status of being Indigenous, even though they were being patriotic to Canada. In That There Be Peace, Mennonites were given other tasks in wartime instead of taking up arms due to their religious beliefs of pacifism. These Mennonite men, called contentious objectors, due to their objection to be on the battleground fighting, were sent to camps in British Columbia to fight fires and provide labour for tree cutting and road-building during a time when labour was in high demand. Even though these Mennonite men were ridiculed by the other Canadians for their non-action in the war, their actions and work on these other jobs can be seen as acts of patriotism.[4] They were willing to aid the country in other ways without having to take up arms, so they contributed their labour in order to benefit and help the country in a time of need. The acts of the Mennonites and the Indigenous women are not the prototypical patriotic acts, however they were just as important creating a nationalist atmosphere in Canada, without being on the front lines. Both groups overcame clear discrimination and delivered a different kind of patriotic acts that are often overseen.
[1] Shaw, Amy. “Expanding the Narrative: A First World War with Women, Children, and Grief.” Canadian Historical Review 95, no. 3 (September 2014): 400.
[2] Ibid,. 402
[3]Norman, Allison. “In Defense of the Empire: The Six Nations of the Grand River and the Great War.” In A Sisterhood of Suffering and Service, edited by Sarah Glassford and Amy Shaw. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2012: 29, 37-38
[4] Klippenstein, Lawrence, ed. That There Be Peace: Mennonites in Canada and World War II. Winnipeg, Manitoba: The Manitoba CO Reunion Committee, 1979: 46, 92-93
