‘You don’t need to be a veteran to be a member’: Royal Canadian Legion

As Canada prepares for its solemn Remembrance Day ceremonies, the Royal Canadian Legion is seeing a marked growth in its membership.

And it says more and more people who don’t have a military background are joining up to be part of what the legion has to offer.

For years membership in the legion was dropping off as the number of military veterans declined.

But the national legion says that’s turning around. And that turnaround is evident right here in Hamilton in places like Dundas.

At the Valley City Legion Branch Branch on 36 King St. W in Dundas their ranks have been growing by about 20 to 30 members a year to more than 650.

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That reflects national figures, showing 20,000 new members over the past three years across the country for a total of 270,000.
Mark Mainprize with the Dundas Legion says membership is beginning to grow because many realise that you don’t have to be a veteran to join the legion .

“It’s now a place for more and more people with non-military backgrounds,” Mainprize said.

Jim Bryan, Dundas Legion member says people seem to be gravitating to the camaraderie – something veterans found in the military.

“It’s a good bunch of people doing a good job and we have fun here too,” Bryan said.

Membership growth allows the Legion to carry out its role of supporting local communities such as youth and disabled programs but also largely help veterans who wore the country’s uniform and keep the memory of sacrifice alive.

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“We support all our veterans,” Byan said. “We keep the view of the public so they remember all our fallen soldiers.”

Meanwhile, along with the annual Poppy Campaign, Legions across the country are reaching out for new sources of revenue. One Legion in Calgary rents out its space for wrestling matches and heavy metal music groups.

Aunt Debbie “I call it the head-banging music, the raves I guess you’d call them. They can be quite interesting.”

Here in Dundas, a big fundraiser is the weekly Chase the Ace lottery with prizes every week and a grand prize expected to be around $415,000 this week.

The national legion tells us it’s important to have a mix of members. They bring new perspectives and ideas to the work the legion does.