Among the thousands gathered at Canada’s National War Memorial in Ottawa for Remembrance Day November 11 was a Cree family who had travelled from Waswanipi to cheer on Officer Cadet Zakia Gull. Gull was part of a delegation enrolled in the Indigenous Leadership Opportunity Year at Kingston’s Royal Military College (RMC).
“It felt like I was actually fully part of the armed forces,” Gull told the Nation. “It’s been inspiring, motivating me to keep going and put all my effort into the training.”
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has offered the one-year course since 2008, providing individual, group and cultural instruction to help build leadership and life skills. With free tuition and a cadet’s salary, participants experience military life and its opportunities.
Gull joined 17 other Indigenous youth from across Canada in August. Alongside a range of first-year university courses, participants receive military training in field and classroom exercises. Gull credits his work with a personal trainer before joining the program with helping him meet its steep physical demands.
“I was not expecting how much it would take a toll on me physically,” admitted Gull. “An orientation period introduces you to waking up before 5, to be outside the building within five minutes. The staff would start yelling at you to wake up – it was very stressful.”
Gull’s first field exercise involved rifle training, then a 2.4 km “ruck march” carrying 40 pounds of gear before setting up a tent and building defences. As cadets took turns guarding the patrol base through the night, staff would simulate attacks with blank rounds.
“Nights were hell,” said Gull. “Everyone sleeping has to get up and go to their defence post within 10 seconds, grabbing their rifle, helmet, vest and gas mask. It was fun looking back at it.”
Another early highlight from the program was touring a battleship to learn about potential careers as a naval warfare officer or weapons engineer. After completing this program, Gull will choose between several trades and degree programs to pursue.
Graduates have the opportunity to become infantry or other non-commissioned members of the CAF or continue at RMC under the Regular Officer Training Plan in a fully funded four-year bachelor’s degree in arts, engineering or science. There’s also the option to return to civilian life.
Canada is increasingly celebrating the long history of Indigenous peoples in the military. On this year’s Indigenous Veterans Day on November 8, Belgium honoured the country’s 4,000 Indigenous soldiers who fought in the First World War with a national ceremony. A plaque commemorating Alex Decoteau of Saskatchewan’s Red Pheasant Cree Nation was installed in Flanders Fields, where he was killed in action.
Decoteau was an Olympic runner and Canada’s first Indigenous police officer, who commanded his own station in Edmonton before joining the army. The Canadian delegation paid tribute to Decoteau and Mi’kmaw soldier Sam Glode with an emotional performance of the Mi’kmaq Honour Song.
Back in Ottawa, CAF commander-in-chief Governor General Mary Simon was the first to lay a wreath at the National War Memorial and a special flypast of vintage military aircraft marked the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The idea of becoming an air force pilot is what first drew Zakia Gull to the military, inspired by his older sister Karen-Lee Gull’s aviation ambitions.
“I just wanted to cry, I was so proud of him,” shared Karen-Lee. “He got accepted to the same school as me but changed his mind. I took him to an air show and he even tried the flight simulator at my school. I want to work for Air Creebec.”
Spending most of her days in the bush, she remembers lying in her blind about five years ago when a jet flew by overhead. Thinking to herself, “I wish I were the one flying that aircraft,” Karen-Lee decided to leave the income security program and go back to school. After saving money at the Windfall mine for a year, she enrolled in Dawson College’s one-year Journeys program and started looking into flight schools.
“I had a mentorship project at Dawson, so I interviewed Rita Rabbitskin, a pilot for Air Creebec,” Karen-Lee explained. “She gave me insights about being a pilot, the hardships and everything in between. It was supposed to be a 15-to-30-minute meeting, but we ended up talking for over three hours.”
Karen-Lee faced her share of turbulence chasing her dream, denied admission to one school and struggling to raise tuition funds from the Cree School Board and other sources. Eventually she was accepted into Select Aviation College’s Integrated ATPL Commercial Air Transport Pilot License program in Gatineau, which she called “the most prestigious pilot license in Canada.”
“Despite facing a lot of financial hardships, I still try to remain positive because I receive a lot of support from people in the Cree Nation, which helps me to keep going and I constantly remind myself that all my struggles will someday pay off,” she said. “Having a classroom in the sky is something else.”
While Karen-Lee will soon begin the commercial pilot phase of her program and Zakia is looking forward to the Blizzard Nordique field exercise after Christmas, the family was all together for Remembrance Day in Ottawa. Their father, Jerry Gull, couldn’t be prouder of his children.
“I’d drive him to school every day and talk about his future,” Jerry reminisced. “I told him I wished I had that opportunity when I was young. My parents were always in the bush, so I pushed him to a higher level. We’re really happy with what they’ve dedicated their lives to.”