Description
This 2023 $20 fine silver coin honours the brave men who served in the No. 2 Construction Battalion, and brings to light their often-overlooked contribution in the First World War. Despite racial prejudice, the members of No. 2 Construction Battalion persevered in their determination to serve, and a century later, their legacy remains an inspiration. Mintage is limited to just 5,500. HST/GST exempt.
The Design:
At the centre of the design is a member of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, and an enlarged view of the unit’s official cap badge. Behind the Black soldier and to the right, members of the battalion are shown marching in a parade prior to deployment in March 1917. On the other side, the landscape represents the Jura region of France, where the battalion assisted with logging and lumber operations, and with building a railroad that, on this coin, symbolizes the journey and hardships endured by Black Canadian soldiers more than a century ago.
The obverse features a repeating maple leaf field pattern and the (posthumous) effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt.
No. 2 Construction Battalion:
They served with distinction, and were willing to risk their lives to preserve the very rights and freedoms that weren’t always afforded to them before, during and after the First World War. From the unit’s formation in 1916 until its disbandment in 1920, the members of No. 2 Construction Battalion—the first and only all-Black battalion-sized formation in Canadian military history—persevered in the face of anti-Black racism to provide vital support to Canada’s war effort, by assisting Canadian Forestry Corps (CFC) lumber operations in France, and by building and maintaining the routes that supplied the front.
