‘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.

“It’s slowly starting to grow because it is getting more out into the public and people are starting to realise that they don’t have to be a veteran to join the legion,” says Mark Mainprize with the Dundas Legion.

The Legion was formed 99 years ago to support veterans, but it’s now a place for more and more people with non-military backgrounds.

“I think they’re finding something here that we found in the military, the camaraderie,” says Jim Bryon from the Dundas Legion.

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

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

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

“The Legion’s there. If you need help, contact the legion,” says Ron Bolton from the Dundas Legion.

“Veterans, if you need help you’ve got to contact the Legion. We have people in place to help you.”

“What they’ve done for us, for our security and stuff, that’s how we’re living now. What they’ve done is absolutely fantastic and this was part of it,” says Debbie Hannis from the Dundas Legion.

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At the same time, 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.

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

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.