RobinJoy

On this day in 1885, Metis leader Louis Riel was put to death in Regina. Riel led his people in two resistance movements to protect their culture and defend Metis rights. Let's learn more (a condensed version) about The Father of Manitoba. 🧵1/20

While American Navajo code talkers have received recognition like the Congressional Gold Medal, Canada's Cree code talkers have received little in the way of recognition. Charles Tomkins was a Cree code talker who kept his secret for decades. This is his story. Charles "Checker" Tomkins was born on Jan. 8, 1918 in Grouard, Alberta. After marrying his wife Lena Anderson, he enlisted to serve in the Second World War. During the war, the Canadian High Command in London sent a secret summons to Charles. He was not told the purpose of the meeting but when he arrived he found himself in a room with 100 other Indigenous soldiers. Paired with a Cree man from Saskatchewan, they were tested for their fluency in Cree. Once that was established, Charles became a code talker. For the next nine months, Charles translated coded messages for the Allies about airfields, battlefield plans and more. He and others had to find words for certain war machines. To Spitfire aircraft was called iskotew (fire) in Cree. The Mustang aircraft was called pakwatastim (wild horse). After his time as a code talker, Charles served in France, Germany and Holland during the war. Charles took his oath of secrecy as a code talker very seriously. His family did not even know about his service as a code talker until the 1990s. It was not until the early-2000s that Charles did a news interview about his service. Charles died on Aug. 20, 2003 in Calgary. For his invaluable service during the Second World War, the only recognition Charles received from the government was a letter of commendation from Veterans Affairs shortly before his death. The commendation was simply for his service, not for code talking. Before he died, he said of the lack of recognition for Canadian code talkers: “It doesn’t surprise me. It is just like everything else.” If you would like to learn more about his story, listen/read my episode about him here canadaehx.com/2023/04/11/cha… If you enjoy my Canadian history work, you can support me through a donation at buymeacoffee.com/craigU