Checker Tomkins

{{Short description|Canadian Métis code talker}}

Charles "Checker" Tomkins (8 January 1918 – 2003) was a Canadian Métis code talker.{{cite web|url=https://www.readersdigest.ca/travel/canada/cree-code-talkers/|work=Reader's Digest|title=How Cree Code Talkers From Alberta Helped Win the Second World War|author=Shirley Anderson|accessdate=30 September 2021|date=10 November 2020}}{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|title=Charles Tomkins|author=Heather Conn|date=25 June 2018|accessdate=30 September 2021|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/charles-tomkins}}

Born in Grouard, Alberta, Tomkins was a fluent speaker of the Cree language. Shortly after marrying Lena Anderson, he enlisted in the armed forces and was shipped overseas during the Second World War. He helped develop a Cree-language code to report aircraft sightings. After the war he re-enlisted and served in a number of different regiments for 25 years, eventually being promoted to corporal.

For his wartime service he was awarded the Defence Medal, the 1939–1945 Star, the France and Germany Star, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, and the War Medal 1939–1945. He was also the subject of a short documentary produced by directed by Cowboy Smithx.{{cite news|url=https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/documentary-honours-secret-cree-code-talkers-of-second-world-war|work=Edmonton Journal|title=Documentary honours secret Cree code talkers of Second World War|date=30 July 2015|accessdate=30 September 2021}}