To listen to the full interview, please visit CBC.

“Indigenous Veterans Day gives us the opportunity to honour the courage, sacrifice, and service of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis veterans who defended this country and contributed to peace around the world. By gathering, we ensure their legacies are remembered, their stories are shared, and our commitment to truth, respect, and Reconciliation continues to grow.” – Christina Courcelles, Engagement Lead, Indigenous Engagement and Communications.

This week, the UM community gathered to mark Indigenous Veterans Day, a significant date to honour the courage, sacrifice and lasting contributions of Indigenous Peoples in Canada’s history.

We’re honoured to welcome Indigenous Veteran William (Bill) Shead, a Cree member of Peguis First Nation and Indigenous Veteran. Bill served in the Royal Canadian Navy for 35 years, first in the Regular Force and later in the Reserve Force. Beyond his military service, he has held leadership roles as Mayor of Selkirk, Prairie Regional Director of Veterans Affairs Canada and CEO of the Neeginan Centre (formerly known as the Aboriginal Centre of Winnipeg).

Indigenous Veteran William (Bill) Shead at the Indigenous Veterans Day event 2025.

In his presentation, Bill reminded us of the profound contributions of Indigenous Veterans to Canada’s history, their influence on the Indigenous renaissance and ongoing Indigenization efforts. Drawing from his lived experience, he invited attendees to reflect on the resilience, leadership and legacy of Indigenous service members, past and present. “I would not have been as fortunate without a veteran”  Bill Shead.

Through gatherings like this, the UM community continues to honour the stories and sacrifices of Indigenous Veterans, ensuring their courage guide and inspire future generations.

Remembrance Day, November 11

There are many ways to make Remembrance Day meaningful. The Royal Canadian Legion invites Canadians to attend Remembrance Day Ceremonies across the country. Find your local Remembrance Day Ceremony on the Legion’s website. 

If you are not attending a ceremony, consider finding ways to remember on your own. Take two minutes of silence to pause and reflect on what this day means – to recognize the sacrifices of Canadian veterans, to honour the memory of those who have fallen, and to commemorate the courage of Canadians who are still serving.

Veteran Affairs Canada also suggests other ways to remember and show gratitude on Remembrance Day and beyond.

We honour and acknowledge those among the UM campus community who have and continue to serve. And if you are interested in learning more about the memorials on campus, you can read this story on our UM Today page Remembering the Forgotten written by Wayne Chan.

Reflecting on war and conflict can be difficult. If you are struggling during this time, reach out for help at the links below. The solemn nature of this day doesn’t mean that you can’t take care of yourself – it’s even more important to show yourself kindness and patience as you navigate a topic that may be difficult for you.

• Student Counselling Centre
• Spiritual Care

The University of Manitoba will be closed on Tuesday, November 11.

Shauna Mulligan is a Métis PhD student in Indigenous Studies and Army Reserve Veteran, having served from 1995 to 2002 as a Medical Assistant. In the above video, she shares her family’s rich history of military service. A legacy, she says, runs to the very core of who she is as a person.

Enlisting in the armed forces right after high school was not just a career choice for Mulligan; it was a tribute to her ancestors and their unwavering commitment to protecting people’s rights and freedom.

Mulligan wants to honour the significance of Indigenous Veterans Day and Remembrance Day, by urging us all to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice while highlighting the importance of supporting veterans and those who continue to serve all year round.

After a 20-year career in health care, Mulligan is currently working with Indigenous Veterans by attending ceremonies including commemoration events, sweat lodges, veteran ceremonies, and namings. 

Indigenous Veterans Day Event

On November 8, 2024, the UM community attended an observance of Indigenous Veterans Day, a time to recognize and honour the significant contributions of Indigenous Soldiers in Canada’s military history. 

“Honouring Indigenous Veterans Day means recognizing the courage and resilience of Indigenous people who served this land, often without equal rights,” says Gabrielle Desrochers, Events and Conference Supervisor, Indigenous Engagement and Communications at UM. “By lifting their stories, we ensure their sacrifices are never forgotten.”

The Office of the Vice-President (Indigenous) was privileged to welcome Elder and Indigenous Veteran Michael Monias, who shared personal and poignant insights from his life and military service. Michael led a discussion on the enduring significance of the iconic poem In Flanders Fields, and asked audience members to reflect on its meaning more than 100 years after the end of World War I. This powerful piece, written more than a century ago by Canadian poet, soldier and physician John McCrae, continues to serve as a touching reminder of the sacrifices made by countless soldiers.

Audience members participated in thoughtful dialogue in response to Michael’s questions, which helped inspire a deeper understanding of the profound impact of Indigenous veterans on both history and contemporary society. As the group reflected on the enduring significance of the poem, they also explored its relevance today, and considered how the lessons of courage, resilience and remembrance continue to resonate in our lives.

Together, let us remember and celebrate the legacy of Indigenous veterans, ensuring their stories and sacrifices are never forgotten.

Remembrance Day, November 11

There are many ways to make Remembrance Day meaningful. The Royal Canadian Legion invites Canadians to attend Remembrance Day Ceremonies across the country. Find your local Remembrance Day Ceremony on the Legion’s website. 

If you are not attending a ceremony, consider finding ways to remember on your own. Take two minutes of silence to pause and reflect on what this day means – to recognize the sacrifices of Canadian veterans, to honour the memory of those who have fallen, and to commemorate the courage of Canadians who are still serving.

Veteran Affairs Canada also suggests other ways to remember and show gratitude on Remembrance Day and beyond.

Reflecting on war and conflict can be difficult. If you are struggling during this time, reach out for help at the links below. The solemn nature of this day doesn’t mean that you can’t take care of yourself – it’s even more important to show yourself kindness and patience as you navigate a topic that may be difficult for you.

• Student Counselling Centre
• Spiritual Care

The University of Manitoba will be closed on Monday, November 11.

The names on the sides of the memorial are weathered and faded now, as are the memories of the men behind them, and even awareness of the monument itself. The Manitoban published articles about it in 1949, 1951 and 1963, and it was featured in a 1994 UM Alumni Journal article about WWI memorials on campus. But little has been written since then to remind the UM community of what it represents.

Before University Centre was built in 1970, the monument had a more prominent location across from the Administration Building. Although it has not moved far from its earlier location, the area has built up around it and it is now in an isolated spot that sees very little traffic.

The 11th Field Ambulance supported the 4th Canadian Division and was at many of the major battles in the First World War. Its role was to evacuate the wounded to medical stations away from the front lines. It was dangerous work, and many were killed in action as they tried to aid the wounded.

Diary of the Eleventh, held in the Elizabeth Dafoe Library, details the unit’s mobilization and active service in France and Belgium. It was written during and after the war by members of the unit at the suggestion of their commanding officer, Lt.-Col. Heber Moshier, who was killed in action in 1918. It was donated to the library in 1955 by Christopher T. Best, who had designed the memorial and was a member of the 11th.

Photos of the officers of the 11th Field Ambulance are held in the Faculty of Medicine Archives  and Archives & Special Collections holds issues of the unit’s trench newspaper, called M & D (Medicine & Duty), which was published by the soldiers during the war . The Archives also has two artifacts from the 11th that were donated by Dr. Thomas A. Pincock on behalf of Dr. James M. Brown, who became a professor of agriculture at UM. Both had been members of the unit. The first artifact is a circular Red Cross badge that would have been worn by the soldiers on their sleeves. The second item is a strip of cloth with pointed ends and a Red Cross in the centre. A note with the item refers to it as an ‘epaulette,’ however, several WWI experts that were consulted suggest that it may be an armband.

In honour of Remembrance Day, and to rekindle the memory of the fallen, visit the digital presentation about the memorial and the lives of the men it commemorates. They were, and are, more than just faded names carved in stone. They had friends and families and hopes and dreams for the future – a future that was cut short for them.

Lest we forget.

Wayne Chan [BSc/93, BA/00] is a research computer analyst for the Centre for Earth Observation Science. He is an avid researcher who loves history and contributes stories discovered from his research.

When the First World War began, Armes joined the 196th Universities Battalion and attained the rank of captain in UM’s Canadian Officers’ Training Corps (COTC), which was formed to prepare students for active service.

Soon after its arrival in England, the 196th was disbanded to reinforce units in France. Wishing to get to the front faster, Armes accepted a temporary reduction in rank to lieutenant and in June 1917, he joined the 46th Infantry Battalion in France.

At the start of October 1917, the 46th Battalion was among 20,000 Canadian troops sent to Flanders to relieve Australian and New Zealand forces that had tried and failed to capture the Passchendaele Ridge. The fighting conditions were appalling—the constant shelling and torrential rains had reduced the area to a quagmire of mud, shell craters, and corpses.

The Canadian offensive against Passchendaele began at 5:40 a.m. on October 26. Infantry advanced behind a curtain of artillery shelling into withering German machine gun fire. The 46th Battalion suffered horrendous casualties on the first day, earning it the nickname, “The Suicide Battalion.”

The following morning, Lt. Armes led a group of 25 men forward to bury the dead. After he returned, a report came in that there were still wounded on the battlefield, so he and two battalion runners went forward to investigate. On their way back, they were hit by a high explosive shell and all three men were seriously injured.

Armes was evacuated to the No. 3 Australian Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) near Poperinge, Belgium. The CCSs received casualties from field ambulance units and were the medical facilities closest to the front lines that could perform major surgery. They faced constant danger from aerial and artillery bombardment.

Lt. Armes received shell wounds to both legs, with his left limb badly shattered. After two days at the CCS, his left leg developed gas gangrene, due to anaerobic bacteria from the heavily manured farmlands where the battles were fought. The infection caused rapid tissue death and produced gas bubbles that swelled the flesh terribly. Doctors were forced to amputate Armes’ leg above the knee.

From the CCSs, the seriously wounded were evacuated to base hospitals in France, and then to England. Following six weeks in Abbeville, France, Armes had hospital stays in London, Buxton and Derbyshire. Towards the end of his nearly year-long recovery, he was fitted with a prosthetic limb at the IODE Hospital in London.

Armes was invalided out and returned to Canada in October 1918 aboard HMHS Neuralia. He resumed his teaching duties at the University of Manitoba, where the students and faculty warmly welcomed him back. In 1922, Armes married Clare Simpson and they made a home together on McMillan Avenue in Winnipeg. He retired in 1949, after forty years of service to the university. Henry P. Armes passed away two years later at the age of 66. Classes were cancelled for the afternoon of his funeral, so that the entire UM community could attend.

The University of Manitoba Libraries, Archives & Special Collections has many collections related to WWI:

• View our collections and their finding aids related to World Wars.
• Interested in digitized material? We have some of the COTC collection digitized, as well as Walter Eggertson’s transcribed diaries of his war experience.
• During WWI students, staff, and faculty from the Manitoba Agricultural College (M.A.C) sent letters back to the college throughout the war. These letters were then bound, and titled Letters from the front [from] M.A.C. Students, 1915-18 and it is now in the rare book room at the archives.
• A UM M.A.C. student, A.E. Blake (A2013-144) was involved in the battle of Passchendaele and you can view his small collection at the archives.
• View the From the Somewhere blog about Frederick D. Baragar’s experience in WWI. The blog provides more information about the COTC in a blog post and there is a scan from the Manitoban about the COTC.

Contact the Archives for any questions about WWI records in the archives.

Building a career and earning an education in a country with endless opportunities, without constant threat and destruction due military conflict, is not how the story unfolds for many people in the world.

For many people in this day and age, an understanding of war largely comes from classroom teachings, stories from those who have experienced it, and sometimes even from videos or photographs. Although, the privilege of not having lived through war and violence comes with being disconnected from this time. It can be easy to forget.

There are many ways to make Remembrance Day meaningful. The Royal Canadian Legion invites Canadians to attend Remembrance Day Ceremonies across the country. Find your local Remembrance Day Ceremony on the Legion’s website. With COVID-19 limitations in mind, the Legion has also organized the Virtual Wall of Honour to help Canadians gather for this day in a virtual environment. The flag at the University of Manitoba will also be lowered on Remembrance Day. 

If you are not attending a ceremony, consider finding ways to remember on your own. Take two minutes of silence to pause and reflect on what this day means – to recognize the sacrifices of Canadian veterans, to honour the memory of those who have fallen, and to commemorate the courage of Canadians who are still serving.

Veteran Affairs Canada also suggests other ways to remember and show gratitude on Remembrance Day and beyond.

Reflecting on war and conflict can be difficult. If you are struggling during this time, reach out for help at the links below. The solemn nature of this day doesn’t mean that you can’t take care of yourself – it’s even more important to show yourself kindness and patience as you navigate a topic that may be difficult for you.

• Student Counselling Centre
• Spiritual Care

The poppy has been associated with war remembrance in a variety of ways. But as many who attended elementary school in Canada may remember, the poppy’s iconic popularity is often attributed to the poem by Canadian physician and poet, John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields.”

I would like to submit for consideration a different poem as a more suitable and ultimately more resonant poem to guide our reflections this Remembrance Day: Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est.”

‘In Flanders Fields’

“In Flanders Fields” begins with a haunting evocation of poppies growing between marked graves of the war dead in Belgium, a description delivered by those very dead. In Canada and beyond, the poem has become a mainstream literary representation of all the wars and casualties remembered on Remembrance Day.

I have always found McCrae’s poem unsuitable to commemorate the war or Remembrance Day. Its appeal may be attributed to its melancholy focus on the makeshift graves of the dead and its earnest attempt to create an empathetic connection with the reader:

“ … Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields.”

What follows from this poignant memory of being alive, however, is a command to “Take up our quarrel with the foe,” and a warning that these dead will not sleep until we, the readers, avenge their death on the battlefield.

The directive to continue the war until the foe is vanquished is antithetical to the spirit of Remembrance Day as I conceive of it. It’s similarly antithetical to the finest British poetry of the First World War, including that penned by Wilfrid Owen.

Poetry & shell-shock

Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” has an unambiguous anti-war message, and it works skillfully to immerse the reader in a subsuming, visceral representation of the lived experience of the frontline soldier.

Unlike McCrae, Owen never identifies the “foe” as the German soldiers in their trenches, but rather directs his ire at those at the home front who perpetuate, or simply believe in, the propaganda glorifying the war. The same can be said for Owen’s compatriot writer and friend, Siegfried Sassoon.

Both Sassoon and Owen — who met in 1916 while they were both recovering from shell shock at the Craiglockhart Medical Hospital in Edinburgh — felt that young men like themselves had been betrayed as objects of hero worship by their country.

The title “Dulce et Decorum Est,” is from Horace’s epigrammatic line “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” (it is sweet and proper to die for one’s country), which is still inscribed on many war memorials. At the end, the poem excoriates this motto as “the old Lie.”

Angry rebuke

Owen’s poem is an angry rebuke to jingoistic poets of his time, such as Jessie Pope, whose wartime poems aimed to rally and entice new recruits and lift up “war girls.”

In 28 lines, Owen strives to convey, as accurately and brutally as possible, the daily horror experienced by front-line soldiers. At once, his poem is conventional — adhering to iambic pentameter and a strict rhyme scheme — and highly innovative. His language is designed to provoke emotion in the reader, as we see from the opening four lines:

“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.”

The similes comparing the soldiers to “beggars” and “hags” are striking, but so too is the use of the first-person plural to describe the soldiers.

The words “sludge” and “trudge” stand out in this stanza for being distinctly vulgar in their context, while exemplifying the onomatopoeic language that Owen uses to help us experience the soldiers’ fatigue. The elongated vowel sound — “uh” — perfectly mimics the weary drag of the soldiers’ feet as they “trudge” through the muck.

The lethargic pace of the first lines swiftly accelerates when the soldiers are subjected to a gas attack:

“Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time.”

The reader must accelerate their reading pace and perhaps even experience a quickening heart rate alongside the soldiers.

‘I saw him drowning’

The rest of the poem is focused on the lone man who didn’t secure his helmet in time, and who the narrator is forced to watch entering his death throes:

“But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.”
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.“

These lines are thick with active verbs; the suffix “ing” dominates the description of the gas attack, and the lines that follow conclude the poem:

“If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face …
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory …”

No peace for the dying

In these final twelve lines of the poem the “we” shifts to “you,” when Owen attacks the notion of glorifying war without any direct experience. The “you” may be both a direct reference to Pope and the kind of audience she sought to capture: Owen originally dedicated the poem in his original manuscript “To Jessie Pope, etc.,” and then in another version “To a Certain Poetess.”

The biggest shock produced by “Dulce et Decorum Est,” though, is when we realize the victim is still alive at the poem’s end — or, still dying.

Owen does not allow this man to slip off into the ruminative afterlife experienced by McCrae’s war dead. He keeps his victim suspended in the act of dying as a way of preserving the poem’s fraught message. There is no peace for this man, until “you,” the reader, reject the “old Lie” and fight to end the war.

Owen was killed in action a week before the war’s end, on Nov. 4, 1918.

Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a meticulously crafted poem of shock and haunting. It might do us good to feel such haunting, such shock, every Nov. 11.

This article is written by Mark Libin, Associate Professor, Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media, University of Manitoba and first appeared on The Conversation.

When WWI took hold of the globe, engineering students at the University of Manitoba put down their pencils, packed their bags, and headed overseas to serve their country in a fight for freedom and peace. On November 11^th, 1918, 4 years, 3 months and 2 weeks after it began, WWI came to an end, bringing to a close what at the time was described as “the war to end all wars”.

Soon after, troops began to return back to their homes. The Price Faulty of Engineering lost 20 undergraduate students and 3 Faculty graduates who perished in battle and would never return. This, of course, does not include the number of who died in the years to come from disease and illness which they contracted during their time serving overseas.

Two restored plaques and two photos are permanently drilled into the south brick wall of the Engineering Information & Technology Complex atrium. Those that served will forever be honoured as engineers who gave their lives so others could become what they never had the opportunity to achieve.

Engineering Undergraduates who gallantly gave their lives in the Great War

R.W. Bellhouse, K.C. Blair, A.A. Bishop, G. Cooper, F.A.G. Forbes, V.E. Jackson, R.S. Lane (M.M.), J.C. Mitchell, O.J. Marchbank, H.I. Morris, B.C. Martin, O.F. McKnight, J.F. Norton (D.C.M.), F.M. Pulfordm J.J.A. Ross, W.W. Sharman, R.W. Summerscales

Engineering Graduates who gallantly gave their lives in the Great War

Charles Bruce Duxbury, died from wounds near Arras, France, April 11^th, 1918

Robert Inglis Lothian, killed in action near Ypres, Belgium, April 4^th, 1916

Richard Hamilton O’Reilly, killed in action near Doullens, France, September 29^th, 1918

There are several services taking place in Winnipeg on November 11 for members of the public to pay respects and remember all who gave and continue to give for our country. Full listings can be found by visiting veterans.gc.ca/eng/events

Vaughan David Watt was born in Birtle, Manitoba, in 1892. His father was a farmer and a manager for United Grain Growers. His mother was the first Secretary of the Federated Women’s Institute in 1910 and was later its national president from 1923 to 1925.

In 1916, Watt enlisted as part of the 28th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan Regiment) and was promoted to Lance-Corporal in May 1918.

In 2003, Watt’s niece Gwen Snow Zingle donated a collection of war memorabilia to Archives and Special Collections of the University of Manitoba. They include a transportation warrant, correspondence between Watt and his family during his time serving in the First World War, letters of condolence upon his death, reports on his memorial service and burial, a letter of tribute to Watt, and some photographs.

In a letter dated May 27, 1918, Watt wrote his parents from the front lines in France. He started out describing what he was doing on his birthday and wishing he was with them:

Dear Mother & Dad,

I know you would like to wish me many happy returns of the day and I would like to be at home and hear you, but not so. You will no doubt be thinking what your old son is doing on his birthday… well I’m in the guard room, Corporal of the guard, overseeing the prisoners. Not much to do; just see that they don’t get away. I have this job for twenty four hours. It is a lovely day and they have all the prisoners out working so I thought it would be a good time to write you a note and let you know I’m still well and hope you at home are the same…

And then, jarringly, he noted:

My chum got killed Saturday morning. He and I have been together ever since coming to France. Saturday morning he got up and went down to the cook’s house for his breakfast and a shell came and blew him and the cook’s house and three others, killing them all. Mother, it’s terrible the things we see over here. Life is nothing. But hope the good Lord will spare me to get home. If not, we will meet in the other world where there is no war…

He ended his short letter with the simple salutation:

I am your loving son, Vaughan.

He died on August 9, 1918, just a little more than two months later.

It was only three months before Armistice Day and the end of the war.

As an indication of the outstanding service displayed by U of M community members, many of whom were first- and second-year students, the document notes that:

The Roll of the Fallen contains a high percentage of the general service roll, one hundred and forty names in all, and includes those who died as a direct consequence of war as well as those killed in action.

Of military honours, two hundred and sixty-seven were awarded… distributed as follows: Victoria Cross, one; Companion of the Bath, one; Companion of St. Michael and St. George, five; Commander of the British Empire, two; Officer of the British Empire, four; Distinguished Service Order and Bars, seventeen; Military Cross and bars, ninety-two; Distinguished Flying Cross, two; Distinguished Conduct Medal, five; Military Medal and bars, thirty-five; Meritorious Service Medal, three; Foreign Decorations, sixteen; Mentioned in Despatches, sixty-six; and Brought to the notice of the Secretary of State, eighteen.

First World War battlefield.

The memorial document concludes:

For the students who knew not war, as well as for those who survived, this volume has been compiled, in memoriam absentium in honorem praesentium, that they may treasure it and by so doing develop a sense of kinship with their seniors whose age and outlook gave them an opportunity to do their duty and in so doing to win renown. Had the war been five years earlier or five years later the names in such a volume would have been different but the spirit would have been the same, and it is the spirit that we would emphasize rather than the glory.

The closing statement of the Roll of the Fallen encapsulates the reasons why Remembrance Day is a time to recognize those who came before us and who paid the price for our freedom:

To defend the weak, to fight for liberty, justice and truth, to subordinate oneself to the great purpose of the race, to give one’s best even unto life itself, this is the priceless gift which they have made or bequeathed to us. It is ours only to cherish that we may pass it on.