Robin Cote is from Cote First Nation in Saskatchewan, but she served in the United States Navy.

Cote was 26 when she decided to enlist in 2006. She said the decision was a no-brainer.

“When the opportunity presented itself, I took the opportunity and I didn’t at that time realize how important that would be or what my representation of being an Indigenous woman would be at that time,” Cote, who retired from duty as a petty officer third class, said.

She had wanted to be in the military since she was a little girl, knowing she came from a long line of veterans who fought in wars. She said being a woman never dissuaded her.

“I serve just as much as anyone. I was willing to put my life on the line for our country just like all the other men that did the same thing. It wasn’t because I was a woman or not. It was just a decision that I made, and I’m glad that I made it,” Cote said.

Looking back, she said she would do it all again if given the chance.

Robin Cote in a photograph displayed during a Remembrance Day ceremony at the First Nations University of Canada on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Darla Ponace/ CBC)

Cote was allowed to enlist because of the Jay Treaty, an agreement between the U.S. and Great Britain signed in 1794 that allows Canadian First Nations people with Native American heritage to move to the U.S. for employment, studying, retirement, investing or immigration.

“When I think about our ancestors and our relatives that live on the other side of the medicine line or border … you know, our people were here before they were borders,” she said.

“I think it’s important to recognize that.”

Cote said she wanted to honour all the relatives from her Dakota/Sioux heritage.

“I wanted to not only represent myself, but also them in service and protecting the land,” she said.

Cote said it is important to recognize that women bring balance to the military.

“The military is not always about war. It’s not about, ‘I’m going to shoot a gun,’ or, ‘I’m going to go out there and I’m going to hold arms with somebody,'” she said. “It’s actually a very amazing experience, a learning experience, a training experience.”

As a hospital corpsman, she got medical training and now knows how to save lives.

“I think it’s important to have that woman perspective, and that woman energy, in these spaces because we are the balance in family units and in these structures.”

Cote said women have fought for many years for their voices to be heard.

“It’s a very huge honour to be able to speak on behalf of a lot of the other women who served as well.”

‘My mom was fearless’

Kathleen McArthur Robinson, from Pheasant Rump First Nation in Saskatchewan, was the first Indigenous woman in the U.S. Air Force to lead an electrical systems crew. Robinson died in 2011 at the age of 55.

Her daughter Dominga Robinson remembers her mom’s lifelong devotion to military service.

“My mom was fearless,” she said.

Kathleen Robinson had the distinction of being the first Indigenous woman in the U.S. Air Force to lead an electrical systems crew. (Submitted by Dominga Robinson)

Dominga said her mom was originally raised by her grandmother, but was placed with a non-Indigenous family when that grandmother died. This made Robinson struggle with her identity, Dominga said, so going back to her community didn’t feel like an option as a young woman.

Robinson ran away from her foster family when she was 17 or 18, and ended up in the United States, Dominga said.

“The U.S. recognizes the Jay Treaty, and so that’s how she was able to go down there,” Dominga said. “She was able to get work and make a life down there for herself.”

Dominga said Robinson cared deeply for the world and this drove her to serve in the U.S. Air force.

“She was willing to sacrifice her life for the betterment of everybody else,” she said.

Dominga said her mom’s job was maintaining and fixing electrical systems in aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

“They were the ones to check those electrical systems to make sure they were safe before the pilots took off,” she said. “She was a staff sergeant, so she had a crew working underneath her.”

Kathleen Marie McArthur Robinson, from Pheasant Rump First Nation in Saskatchewan, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in her mid 20s. (Submitted by Dominga Robinson)

Dominga said her mother was the first Indigenous woman to hold this position.

“Back in the ’70s, there were not a lot of women in the U.S. military or military in general. It was a very male-dominated industry,” she said.

“So they really had to prove themselves to be able to rise up in the ranks. It wasn’t easy or attainable. So, you know, just being a woman and a woman of colour, there were barriers put up to her that she blasted through.”

When Dominga was four years old, her mother was sent to patrol the border between North Korea and South Korea for a year.

“She had to leave me in Canada. Although there was no gunfire or shooting across the north and south line, she was witness to some of that kind of aggression,” she said.

“It was a big sacrifice for her to leave me for a year to go and serve over there. But it needed to be done.”

Robinson eventually developed a heart condition stemming from rheumatic fever she had when she was a child and medically retired from the Air Force.

Dominga said she is proud of her mother for everything she accomplished in her military career. She said her mom taught her that nothing good comes without sacrifice.

“She would have loved to have helped to protect people her entire life, but unfortunately that was not available for her.”