Robin Cote is from Cote First Nation in Saskatchewan, nonetheless she served in the United States Navy.
Cote was 26 when she decided to enlist in 2006. She talked about the selection was a no brainer.
“When the opportunity presented itself, I took the opportunity and I didn’t at that time realize how important that would be or what my representation of being an Indigenous woman would be at that time,” Cote, who retired from obligation as a petty officer third class, talked about.
She had wanted to be inside the military since she was a bit bit girl, understanding she acquired right here from a protracted line of veterans who fought in wars. She talked about being a woman not at all dissuaded her.
“I serve just as much as anyone. I was willing to put my life on the line for our country just like all the other men that did the same thing. It wasn’t because I was a woman or not. It was just a decision that I made, and I’m glad that I made it,” Cote talked about.
Looking once more, she talked about she would do all of it as soon as extra if given the prospect.
Robin Cote in {{a photograph}} displayed all through a Remembrance Day ceremony on the First Nations University of Canada on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Darla Ponace/ CBC)
Cote was allowed to enlist because of the Jay Treaty, an settlement between the U.S. and Great Britain signed in 1794 that allows Canadian First Nations people with Native American heritage to maneuver to the U.S. for employment, discovering out, retirement, investing or immigration.
“When I think about our ancestors and our relatives that live on the other side of the medicine line or border … you know, our people were here before they were borders,” she talked about.
“I think it’s important to recognize that.”
Cote talked about she wanted to honour all the relations from her Dakota/Sioux heritage.
“I wanted to not only represent myself, but also them in service and protecting the land,” she talked about.
Cote talked about you will have to acknowledge that women convey steadiness to the military.
“The military is not always about war. It’s not about, ‘I’m going to shoot a gun,’ or, ‘I’m going to go out there and I’m going to hold arms with somebody,’” she talked about. “It’s actually a very amazing experience, a learning experience, a training experience.”
As a hospital corpsman, she acquired medical teaching and now’s conscious of save lives.
“I think it’s important to have that woman perspective, and that woman energy, in these spaces because we are the balance in family units and in these structures.”
Cote talked about women have fought for just a few years for his or her voices to be heard.
“It’s a very huge honour to be able to speak on behalf of a lot of the other women who served as well.”
‘My mother was fearless’
Kathleen McArthur Robinson, from Pheasant Rump First Nation in Saskatchewan, was the first Indigenous lady inside the U.S. Air Force to information {{an electrical}} strategies crew. Robinson died in 2011 on the age of 55.
Her daughter Dominga Robinson remembers her mom’s lifelong devotion to military service.
“My mom was fearless,” she talked about.
Kathleen Robinson had the excellence of being the first Indigenous lady inside the U.S. Air Force to information {{an electrical}} strategies crew. (Submitted by Dominga Robinson)
Dominga talked about her mom was initially raised by her grandmother, nonetheless was positioned with a non-Indigenous family when that grandmother died. This made Robinson wrestle collectively along with her id, Dominga talked about, so going once more to her group didn’t actually really feel like an selection as a youthful lady.
Robinson ran away from her foster family when she was 17 or 18, and ended up inside the United States, Dominga talked about.
“The U.S. recognizes the Jay Treaty, and so that’s how she was able to go down there,” Dominga talked about. “She was able to get work and make a life down there for herself.”
Dominga talked about Robinson cared deeply for the world and this drove her to serve inside the U.S. Air drive.
“She was willing to sacrifice her life for the betterment of everybody else,” she talked about.
Dominga talked about her mom’s job was sustaining and fixing electrical strategies in aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
“They were the ones to check those electrical systems to make sure they were safe before the pilots took off,” she talked about. “She was a staff sergeant, so she had a crew working underneath her.”
Kathleen Marie McArthur Robinson, from Pheasant Rump First Nation in Saskatchewan, enlisted inside the U.S. Air Force in her mid 20s. (Submitted by Dominga Robinson)
Dominga talked about her mother was the first Indigenous lady to hold this place.
“Back in the ’70s, there were not a lot of women in the U.S. military or military in general. It was a very male-dominated industry,” she talked about.
“So they really had to prove themselves to be able to rise up in the ranks. It wasn’t easy or attainable. So, you know, just being a woman and a woman of colour, there were barriers put up to her that she blasted through.”
When Dominga was 4 years outdated, her mother was despatched to patrol the border between North Korea and South Korea for a yr.
“She had to leave me in Canada. Although there was no gunfire or shooting across the north and south line, she was witness to some of that kind of aggression,” she talked about.
“It was a big sacrifice for her to leave me for a year to go and serve over there. But it needed to be done.”
Robinson in the end developed a coronary coronary heart state of affairs stemming from rheumatic fever she had when she was a child and medically retired from the Air Force.
Dominga talked about she is joyful along with her mother for all of the issues she achieved in her military occupation. She talked about her mom taught her that nothing good comes with out sacrifice.
“She would have loved to have helped to protect people her entire life, but unfortunately that was not available for her.”
