(Click the pictures to be taken to transcripts of each memo.  Thankfully, these very uninformed officials were proven wrong many, many times over.)

A Veteran Affairs Canada (VAC) quote which pretty much sums up a very sad situation:

“Black military heritage in Canada is generally unknown and unwritten.

However, black Canadians have a long and honourable tradition of patriotism, sacrifice and heroism in the British, Canadian and American armed forces.”

I do my best to dig up what i can find but it’s always a struggle to find historically accurate information.  Here’s what i could find this year:

My post from Remembrance Day 2007: A Moment of Silence please…

VAC features:

Canada’s Black Contribution and The Second Construction Battalion

Honour Before Glory

Conscription notice

Montreal Gazette (1992): Remembering the other forgotten soldier

Toronto Telegram, 1918: Colored Men are Barred (from enlisting)

Montreal Star, 1975, feature on Black Veteran Seymour who fought in both world wars: Wounded he went back for more

More from LearnQuebec.ca (awesome reference site!): Short summaries of several Black Canadian WWII veterans

We’re not the only community struggling to have our veterans’ past service recognized:

British West Indies Regiment, September 1916

Wikipedia (Caribbean & Africa): British West Indies Regiment

BBC News, 2004 (UK): Black Veterans War Role Highlighted

Channel 4 feature (UK):  British West Indian Regiment (BWIR) Veterans

The Gaurdian, 2002 (UK): There Were No Parades for Us

VAC feature: Chinese-Canadian Veterans

From the Flickr group 20th Century Black History: Black Veterans image search results

NPR from 2004 (US): Black WWII Veterans Reunite in Normandy

NPR from 2007 (US): Oral History Captures Black Veterans’ Experiences

Colorado College (US): African Americans in Early American Military History

Magazine excerpt (US): The Black Corps of Engineers and the Construction of the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway