About AVA

The Covenant Chain Wampum Belt records the political agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and the British Crown for harmonious relations during peace and military alliance during war.

Major exploration and discovery expeditions of the 18th and 19th centuries were dependent for their successful outcomes on the traditional skills and knowledge of Aboriginal scouts and guides.

The military support given to the British Crown by allied First Nations was an important factor in the successful defence of British North America against American invasion during the War of 1812.

First Nations military support for Crown government in Upper and Lower Canada during the Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 aided the preservation of the parliamentary system in British North America.

From the time of the American Civil War to the present, many Aboriginal persons from Canada have served in the U.S. military.

Units of Métis riflemen using tactics adapted from the buffalo hunt were organized in anticipation of Fenian raids into Manitoba in 1870. In other situations these same tactics posed a serious challenge to conventional Dominion militias during the Red River and Northwest Resistances.

Mohawk and Ojibwa boatmen served with distinction during the Nile Expedition of 1884–1885.

By the time of the South African War, Aboriginal persons in some areas of Canada had become active in local militia units. Walter White of the Anderdon Band of Wyandot was killed in action at the Battle of Paardeberg while serving with the Royal Canadian Regiment.

Over 4,000 status Indians from across Canada served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. Nursing Sister Edith Anderson Monture of the Six Nations served with the U.S. Army Medical Corps in France.

Approximately 3,000 status Indians served during the Second World War, including Military Medal and U.S. Silver Star recipient Sergeant Tommy Prince of the 1st Special Service Force.

The Korean War saw the return to service of numerous Aboriginal Veterans of the Second World War, as well as the emergence of a new generation of Aboriginal servicemen and women.

Military service has remained an important rite of passage for Aboriginal persons throughout the era of the Cold War, Peacekeeping and now Southwest Asia and elsewhere.

Aboriginal persons, especially Inuit, form a significant portion of the Canadian Rangers, reservists charged with surveillance and reconnaissance across vast areas of Canada's Arctic, coastal and inland territories.