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Breaking Barriers honours No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canada’s first—and only—officially sanctioned all-Black military unit of the First World War, and the determined fight Black Canadians waged for the right to serve. As the war began, qualified volunteers were routinely turned away through so‑called “discretionary” recruiting practices that functioned as racial exclusion. Black community leaders organized, wrote, lobbied, and applied political pressure until the government authorized a compromise in 1916: Black men could enlist, but in a segregated, largely non‑combat construction unit.
Trained in Nova Scotia and deployed overseas in 1917, the battalion was soon reorganized into No. 2 Construction Company and assigned to the Canadian Forestry Corps in France. In the Jura forests, these men carried out skilled, punishing work—cutting and producing timber essential for trenches, infrastructure, and aircraft manufacturing—while being denied the combat roles they repeatedly sought. Many returned home without recognition and faced the same barriers they had challenged by enlisting.
This memorial preserves their story as a cornerstone of Canadian military history and Black Canadian history: service with honour in a system built to exclude, and a legacy that continues to shape how we understand citizenship, equality, and remembrance.
Learn more about the men of the battalion on the 2nd Construction Battalion Memorial page.