Editorial

Royal Canadian Legion members and their families can benefit from an exclusive discount on home and car insurance from the Legion’s newest partner in the Member Benefits Package (MBP), belairdirect. These discounts are on top of any other discounts, savings and benefits customers are already eligible for from belairdirect. In addition, members also receive enhanced coverage on residential insurance at no additional cost. Besides saving money, members purchasing insurance from belairdirect will be supporting The Royal Canadian Legion, which in turn supports services and programs for veterans. The program is available now to members residing in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. To get started, call 1-833-294-2911. For members residing in other regions, there will be a speci...

The Legionary debuted on May 15, 1926, establishing a publishing tradition that has tracked the successes and challenges facing Canada’s veterans—and kept readers informed through war and peace and turbulent times.  Early covers featured portraits of military dignitaries. Inside, dense text delivered news of policies and progress on improved support for veterans, commemorative events and stories about military history. In the Roaring Twenties, the magazine reflected readers’ widening interests and lighter mood. Fiction found a place next to history. Covers were more colourful and pages were spiced with humour, including cartoons about a war braggart and the between-wars generation. A sombre look and tone prevailed during the Great Depression. The Christmas editorial in 1930 urged rea...

Remembrance Day looks different this year, but it is no less meaningful. Pandemic restrictions have had an enormous impact on The Royal Canadian Legion nationwide. Since closing their doors in March, branch social activities—darts, trivia nights, award presentations, wedding receptions—have stopped. By September, however, some tentative and firmly restricted branch reopenings were underway. The halls may have been empty but the Legion’s core work of supporting veterans, their families and communities continued. In many cases, inspiring COVID-19 workarounds were found so as to keep up the good works. Two of the most visible, important and symbolic Legion activities—nationally and locally—are the poppy campaign and Remembrance Day ceremonies. Both are different this time. Just how diffe...

It has been 20 years since an unknown soldier who died in the fighting at Vimy Ridge in France during the First World War was reinterred in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa. There are previous examples of other countries paying such tribute: Great Britain has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey in London; France has one beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris; the United States has theirs in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Canada’s began as a millennium project proposed by The Royal Canadian Legion. Once the federal government agreed to the plan first suggested in 1996, a massive effort got underway that included the departments of Veterans Affairs, Public Works and Government Services, Canadian Heritage, National Defence, the RCMP, the Canadian War Muse...

Speaking to representatives of veterans’ groups in November, Veterans Ombudsman Craig Dalton admitted his office has had a low profile since his appointment in November 2018. That was partly his getting to know the job, but also because there was an election; he had to hold off until there was a new government in place. While he has a number of reports in draft stages, which will be released in the coming year, he spoke in general terms of the complexity of forms and paperwork veterans or their representatives have to sift through in order to get the veterans the benefits to which they are entitled. Veterans Affairs Canada serves thousands of older veterans under the Pension Act, while those who applied for benefits after 2006 are served under the New Veterans Charter, which has evolve...