Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Nov 09/01) - Some veterans of the Armed Forces may not be receiving all their benefits.

Bill Laferte wants to ensure they receive what they deserve. Laferte is NWT interim chair for the National Metis Veterans' Association, which was formed last year to advocate for Metis veterans' rights.

Bill Laferte is the NWT representative for the National Metis Veterans' Association. - Derek Neary/NNSL photo

Since June, he has been doing research and conducting interviews with Metis veterans and their family members. Laferte makes veterans aware of the association and informs them of their rights to a pension, assistance with chores such as housekeeping and snow shovelling, if they live in their own home, and education benefits for their children.

"They're pushed out. They're not represented," Laferte said of some Metis veterans. "There's a lot more than we know."

He has already visited Yellowknife and Hay River and, with a modest travel budget, will attempt to contact others by telephone.

He became acquainted with the association through the northern Alberta representative, who invited him to attend a Metis veterans' gathering at Batoche, Sask. this past summer. During the opening ceremony, Laferte was one of 28 veterans to march to the grave sites of Metis militia men who were killed in 1885; warriors such as Gabriel Dumont and others.

"For some reason this was special. I felt in tune with the Metis people as a whole across the country," he recalled. "Not proud, but rather humble."

From Batoche, he went on to Saskatoon where he met with association president Bruce Flamont. After hearing about the group's purpose and objectives, Laferte agreed to be the NWT interim chair.

"It's something I came to see as a worthwhile thing," he said. "I know what these guys are up against, and it's not easy."

A veteran himself, in six years of service with the Royal Canadian Corps of Engineers, he attained the rank of sergeant.

"It opened my eyes to a world of people ... there's a comradeship there that's unbreakable. It's a bonding for life," he said of his military experience. "There's equality among men, and that you believe in ... first I am a Canadian soldier, second I am a Metis."