Salt Spring Island’s little-known connection to the No. 2 Construction Battalion — Canada’s first and only all-Black Battalion during the First World War — will be illuminated in a special talk on at the library on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.
The Salt Spring Island Historical Society, in partnership with the Salt Spring Island Public Library, will welcome Capt. (Ret.) D.L. (Door) Gibson to speak about the No. 2 Construction Battalion, a Canadian Expeditionary Force, which was formed as a direct response to the systematic exclusion of Black Canadians from military service.
As explained in a press release about the event, “Black volunteers were repeatedly denied the opportunity to enlist. They were determined to serve, arguing that their loyalty to the Crown should not be thwarted by racism. Authorized in 1916, the No.2 Construction Battalion served as a segregated, non-combat labour unit attached to the Canadian Forestry Corps. Its members conducted essential work in France supporting the war effort, often within the range of enemy fire and facing the same dangers as front-line troops.”
Three Salt Spring men served with the Batallion: Private James Douglas Whims was born on Salt Spring Island at the turn of the last century and died in France in 1918; he is buried in a segregated plot at the military cemetery in Etaples, France. His brother, Private Robert Clark Whims, also born on Salt Spring, served alongside him and returned home alone. The brothers were descendants of Hiram Whims, one of Salt Spring’s earliest Black settlers who arrived in 1859. Sapper James Edward Wintworth, a mechanic living in Ganges at the time of his enlistment, also served with the Battalion; he is buried at Central Cemetery.
Gibson served over four decades in the Canadian Armed Forces (1973–2017) and has been a lifelong advocate for equity and inclusion. She was instrumental in establishing the Defence Visible Minority Advisory Group for Maritime Pacific and served as regional, later national, civilian co-chair from 2002 to 2008.
In 2005, as Chief Warrant Officer, she received the Member of Military Merit during the 56th Order of Military Merit Investiture from Her Excellency Governor General Michaëlle Jean for her leadership in diversity initiatives.
In 2020, Gibson was appointed to the Minister’s Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination with a focus on Anti-Indigenous and Anti-Black Racism, LGBTQ2+ Prejudice, Gender Bias and White Supremacy.
As vice-president of the BC Black History Awareness Society, project manager for No. 2 Construction Battalion Legacy in BC and Beyond, and vice-president of the Last Post Fund BC/Yukon Branch, Gibson’s work ensures that veterans like James Wintworth and the Whims brothers are not forgotten to history.