2nd Construction Battalion

Breaking Barriers honours the men of No. 2 Construction Battalion—Canada’s only officially authorized all‑Black military unit of the First World War—and the communities who fought to make their service possible. In 1914–1915, Black Canadians volunteered in large numbers and were repeatedly turned away through “discretionary” recruiting decisions that enforced racial exclusion without ever putting it in writing. Community leaders organized, wrote, and applied political pressure until the government approved a segregated construction unit in 1916—permission to serve, but only on unequal terms.

Trained in Nova Scotia and deployed overseas in 1917, the battalion was reorganized as No. 2 Construction Company and assigned to the Canadian Forestry Corps in France. In the Jura forests, they carried out skilled, punishing work—producing timber essential for trenches, military infrastructure, and aircraft manufacturing—while being denied the combat roles they repeatedly requested. Many returned home without recognition and faced the same barriers they had challenged by enlisting.

This memorial preserves their sevice, sacrifices, labour, and their insistence on dignity. It stands as a public acknowledgement that their contribution was real, measurable, and long overlooked—and that the right to serve was not granted freely, but won.