Terry Kruger
Northern News Services

Courseulles-sur-Mer, France (Nov 09/05) - When Delilah Misheralak stepped onto the sand of Juno Beach Oct. 30, she walked in the footsteps of Canadian heroes.

Misheralak, 17, of Coral Harbour was one of 14 aboriginal youth from across Canada selected to take part in the Aboriginal Spiritual Journey.

Delilah Misheralak of Coral Harbour walks along Juno Beach at Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, with Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean. Misheralak was one of 14 youth from across Canada selected to participate in the Aboriginal Spiritual Journey. - Terry Kruger/NNSL photo

The two-week event took aboriginal veterans to the battlefields, war cemeteries and monuments to Canadian soldiers who fought and died during the First and Second World Wars.

At Mount Kemmel, Belgium, elders took part in a Calling Home Ceremony to summon the spirits of First Nation, Metis and Inuit who died and never returned home.

In Ottawa this past Friday, Misheralak said while she was tired and ready to get home, she was proud to have taken part in the journey.

"I got to hear the veterans' stories. They joked around a lot and made me laugh," she said.

It was an incredibly moving experience to tour Canadian war cemeteries and monuments, including the trenches and tunnels at Vimy Ridge where Canada won a critical victory during the First World War.

"We were asked to imagine what it was like," she explained. "They were in mud two-inches deep. You could see some of the things (Canadian solders) wrote (on the walls of the tunnels)."

The cemeteries made her stop and think.

"Seeing their ages kind of scared me. They're mostly young people who hadn't started their lives yet."

She said she was moved by the ongoing tribute to the soldiers who died defending Europe, especially during a moving ceremony at Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium.

Since the gate opened in 1927, buglers have played the last post 26,640 times in honour of thousands of soldiers who died in the fields around the city during the First World War.

On Nov. 1, the sound of powwow drums and Inuit throat singing by Pauline Pemik and Lois Suluk-Locke of Arviat could be heard.

During the ceremony, thousands of poppies snowed down from three holes in the top of the gate.

Misheralak also got to meet new Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.

"She treated me like she knew me for years."