This photo of Mary Greyeyes has travelled the world. It’s a beautiful photograph that’s meant to be a proud moment for Canadians. We see an Indigenous woman in uniform, kneeling before a man in regalia, in a prairie field of long grass. It feels like a special moment, a private moment that we’ve been made privy to; a young woman is receiving the blessing of her community before going off to war. This photo hangs in the Canadian War Museum and for a very long time it bore the caption “Unidentified Indian Princess getting blessing from her chief and father to go fight in the war.”

Of course, that’s all a lie.

Mary Greyeyes (Reid is her married name) was not a princess, but she was remarkable. Born on November 14, 1920, she grew up in Maskêko-Sâkahikanihk (Muskeg Lake Cree Nation), north of Saskatoon.  At age five she left home to attend St. Michael’s Residential School at Duck Lake, about 100 km from her home. There she would have learned “cooking, laundry work, needlework, general housewifery and dairy work” as well as religion (Catholic) and English.[1] Her education ended after Grade 8, but she continued to take lessons from a nun at night while cooking and cleaning for the school by day. Despite the fact that students were only allowed to return home for one month out of every year, Mary seemed to maintain close ties to her family.

When Canada declared war on Germany, Mary’s favourite brother, David Greyeyes-Steele, enlisted in the army to support the family. Once the army began to recruit women, Mary decided to follow in his footsteps and travelled to Regina in 1942 to enlist. The Navy and the Air Force had each opened women’s divisions, but they were both only open to those “of white race.” The Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC), on the other hand, accepted all women, so that is where she went.  New recruits were required, however, to pass a written test in order to be accepted. Mary was nervous that she wouldn’t pass because of her limited education. According to her daughter-in-law, Melanie Reid, Mary watched as the four women who took the test before her, all of whom were white and had more years of education than she did, were rejected. But when Mary took the test, she passed. She thus became the first Indigenous woman in the CWAC.

Though the CWAC was part of the Canadian Army, women were not actually trained for combat. They were instead trained in and assigned to various tasks that would support the war effort. Mary was first sent to Aldershot, England where she worked as a laundress at the military base. She quickly realized that she hated her job there and requested a transfer to another service. Her supervisor tried to sabotage the transfer, writing “Does not speak English” on her papers.

The transfer went through despite this lie and Mary went to cook at the Canadian Military Headquarters in London. She enjoyed her position there and even called this time some of the best years of her life. She was well known because of her photograph and was ordered to numerous events where she was known as “the Indian.” She received love letters from strangers, met royals and was photographed with public figures. She remained in London and continued working until she was discharged in 1946.

After discharge she returned to Muskeg Lake to visit family and then met her future husband, Alexander Reid, in Winnipeg. They had two children together and settled in British Columbia. She worked as a cook in Victoria and an industrial seamstress in Vancouver.

Right: A picture of Mary Greyeyes published in the Saskatchewan newspapers The Leader-Post on August 19, 1943.