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Indigenous Olympian killed at Passchendaele remains an inspiration to
Canadians
The Toronto Star

By JIM COYLENews, Insight

Fri., Nov. 10, 2017

Alexander Decoteau, 29 when he died in WWI’s Battle of Passchendaele 100 years ago, was the
first Indigenous cop in Canada. His great-niece and an Edmonton police officer helped keep his
story alive.

By the time Alexander Decoteau enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in 1916
and shipped out for Europe, he was already a local hero in Edmonton and a man of many firsts.

The young Cree had become the first Indigenous police officer in Canada when he joined the
Edmonton Police Service in 1911, and he soon became one of the country’s first motorcycle
policemen.

He was a world-class athlete and had won most major middle-distance or long-distance races
there were to enter in Western Canada. In 1912, he’d represented Canada in the Olympics in
Stockholm, running the 5,000 metres. In Edmonton, they celebrated his return from the Games
with a parade down Jasper Ave.

In October 1917, after landing in Europe, Decoteau was part of the Canadian Corps sent to
Belgium to join the final push to Passchendaele, a battle that would become an archetypal image
of the trench warfare, muck-soaked misery and human carnage of the First World War.

On Oct. 30, 100 years ago, he was shot and killed by a German sniper.

In Decoteau’s story there is both the horror and appalling cost of Passchendaele, and the
sometimes forgotten heroism of Canada’s Indigenous soldiers during the First World War.

When that battle was over and won, more than 4,000 Canadian soldiers had been killed and
almost 12,000 wounded. With 275,000 British and 220,000 German casualties, it was among the
costliest battles of attrition.

Aboriginal soldiers served there and in every major battle in which Canadian troops fought. It’s
estimated that more than 4,000 First Nations men enlisted. Hundreds were killed or wounded and
at least 50 Indigenous soldiers were awarded medals for bravery and heroism.

A century on, the story of Alex Decoteau — buried in Passchendaele’s New British Cemetery
along with hundreds of his compatriots — continues to inspire.

And it turns out his story was in the process of being forgotten until the most unlikely of events
50 years ago.
Alexander Wuttunee Decoteau was born Nov. 19, 1887, one of five siblings, on what is now the
Red Pheasant Cree Nation near North Battleford, Sask.

His father, Peter, a Métis, was one of Chief Poundmaker’s warriors at the Battle of Cut Knife
Hill. His mother, born Marie Wuttunee, was Cree.

When Alex was still a young boy, his father was murdered. His mother couldn’t support the
children. So she asked that three of the boys be placed in a residential school nearby called the
Battleford Industrial School for Indians.

At school, Alex was a good student who excelled at boxing, cricket, soccer and, of course,
running. After leaving, he worked as a farmhand before moving to Edmonton. There, he took a
job in a machine shop owned by his brother-in-law, a former Mountie who had married his sister,
Emily.

For a time, Alex lived with his sister’s family before moving to his own apartment in town. In
1911, he was hired as an Edmonton police constable. He became a motorcycle cop and was
promoted in 1914 to sergeant.

In April 1916, with the slaughter of the First World War raging on, Decoteau decided to enlist
and joined the 202nd Infantry Battalion (Edmonton Sportsmen’s Battalion) of the Canadian
Expeditionary Force.

When the war began, there had been no official policy in Canada on the recruitment of
Aboriginal people, but they were initially discouraged from enlisting, and sometimes turned
away.

High casualty rates and the need for troops soon led to new attitudes. By 1915, restrictions were
relaxed and Indigenous men recruited. They enlisted at roughly the same percentage as non-
Indigenous men, and in some areas in higher numbers.

“They emptied the reserves,” said former Red Pheasant chief Gerald Wuttunee.

Members of Six Nations of the Grand River, near Brantford, Ont., provided more soldiers than
any other Canadian First Nation, with about 300 soldiers fighting on the front. Every man
between 20 and 35 from the Head of the Lake Band in British Columbia signed up.

If anything the number of Indigenous volunteers was likely underestimated as Canadian records
seldom took into account Inuit and Métis.

Indigenous men brought valuable skills, including the well-honed patience, stealth and
marksmanship acquired in hunting. Many became successful snipers and reconnaissance scouts.

For all that, they were treated on their return — as Indigenous people were — as if they “weren’t
even human beings” in Canadian society, said Wuttunee.
When Decoteau enlisted, according to his military records, he was five foot 10, 160 pounds, with
brown hair, brown eyes and a tattoo of unspecified design on his left arm. (His descendants
suspect it was eagle feathers.)

An Edmonton Journal sports editor of the day wrote that Decoteau was still improving as a
runner when he “answered his country’s call.” On Nov. 24, 1916, he sailed from Halifax for
England aboard the SS Mauritania.

While stationed in England, Decoteau won several sports competitions and once — when a
trophy was misplaced — was presented by King George V with his own gold pocket watch as a
prize.

Decoteau reached France in May 1917 to serve with the 49th Battalion of the Canadian infantry.

He was killed in action by a sniper at Passchendaele on Oct. 30, while running a message.

The sniper who killed Decoteau reportedly looted his body and took that prized gold watch. But
the dead soldier’s friends located the sniper, shot him, and retrieved the prize, ensuring it was
mailed back to Decoteau’s mother in Edmonton.

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at-passchendaele-remains-an-inspiration-to-canadians.html.