Oliver Milton Martin

A teenage bugler from Six Nations of the Grand River rose to become a brigadier in the Canadian Army. Oliver Milton Martin’s journey carried him from the battlefields of the First World War to senior command during the Second World War, and later into one of Ontario’s courtrooms.

Born at Ohsweken, Ontario, on 9 April 1893, Martin was a member of the Kanien’kehá:ka nation. He joined the Haldimand Rifles militia as a bugler in 1909 while still a teenager. When the First World War began, he left his teaching career and entered full-time military service.

Martin served as an officer with the 114th and 107th Battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He spent seven months in France and Belgium, survived a gas attack and later transferred to aviation. In 1917 he qualified as an observer with the Royal Flying Corps, and in 1918 he earned his pilot’s wings.

After returning to Canada, Martin resumed teaching and became a school principal in Toronto. He continued serving with the militia and assumed command of the Haldimand Rifles in 1930. His long militia career was recognized with the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers’ Decoration, awarded for twenty years of commissioned service.

During the Second World War, Martin commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade at Niagara-on-the-Lake before being promoted to brigadier. He later commanded the 14th Infantry Brigade at Nanaimo and the 16th Infantry Brigade at Prince George. His work focused on training and preparing hundreds of Canadian recruits. By reaching brigadier, he attained the highest rank held by an Indigenous soldier in Canada to that point.

Martin’s reconstructed honours include the British War Medal, Victory Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, War Medal 1939-1945 and Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers’ Decoration. His First World War service in a theatre of war qualified him for the British War Medal and Victory Medal, while his extended voluntary Second World War service met the requirements for the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and War Medal 1939-1945. These were campaign, service and long-service awards, so they did not carry individual gallantry citations.

After retiring from active military service in October 1944, Martin entered judicial public service. He was appointed provincial magistrate for Ontario District 6, covering York, Halton and Peel counties. He became the first Indigenous person to hold a judicial post in Ontario and remained a magistrate until his death in 1957.

His legacy continues in East York, where Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 345 was named the Brigadier O. Martin Branch in recognition of his military and civic achievements. Oliver Milton Martin was more than a soldier. He was an aviator, educator, commander and magistrate whose career opened doors for generations of Indigenous Canadians who followed.