Charles “Checker” Marvin Tomkins
1918-2003
The Cree speaker who helped win WWII
As a member of a classified project that involved encrypting sensitive information during the Second World War, Tomkins was accustomed to keeping secrets. He was so good at it, in fact, that it wasn't until when documentary filmmakers came calling shortly before his death in 2003 that Tomkins's family first learned that he had served as a Cree code talker-a member of a unique military intelligence unit made up of Indigenous servicemen.
A Métis Cree speaker, Tomkins grew up in a large family in Grouard, Alberta. Stationed in England in 1940, he was tasked with encrypting messages into Cree. These would then be sent elsewhere in the field, where another Cree code talker would translate the information back into English. Tomkins and his fellow Indigenous encryption officers played an integral role in transmitting intelligence and protecting the troops.
Portia White
1911-1968
The singer who broke barriers
As a Black artist, White was one of the first to shatter colour barriers in Canada. Born in Truro, N.S., she trained as a contralto at the Halifax Conservatory of Music. In the 1940s, she entranced audiences worldwide with her powerful renditions of Think on Me and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.” Despite the international acclaim, White faced constant racism and was often barred from restaurants and hotels in the cities she toured. But she never gave up. “Nobody ever told me to sing,” White once said. “I was born singing.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2022 من Reader's Digest Canada.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2022 من Reader's Digest Canada.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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