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By James Dempsey Reactions from the non-Indian community and
from government offices about the contributions of Indian
recruits were generally very supportive, if at times
paternalistic. The Superintendent General of Indian affairs,
Arthur Meighen, expressed this feeling in his 1917 Annual
Report, when he stated: It is an inspiring fact that these
descendents of the aboriginal inhabitants of a continent so
recently appropriated by our own ancestors should voluntarily
sacrifice their lives on European battlefields, side by side
with men of our own race, for the preservation of the ideals of
our civilization, and their staunch devotion forms an eloque