Members of the Legion’s Dominion Executive Council and headquarter’s staff pose for a group photo during their April meeting. [Richard Foot/LM]
For the first time in 13 years, The Royal Canadian Legion has more than 300,000 members, a milestone it reached at the end of April following the addition of a record 81,600 new members in the first four months of its current centenary year.
“Growing membership in any volunteer organization is a major challenge,” said Dominion Command Grand President Larry Murray as he opened the Legion’s Dominion Executive Council (DEC) spring meeting in Ottawa on April 25. “The recent growth of the Legion after 30 years of decline is a truly remarkable achievement.”
The promising membership news and other signs of growth captured much of the DEC’s attention as its members gathered at National Headquarters in Ottawa for their two-day meeting on April 25-26.
Twenty-five council members participated in discussions at Legion House, including Murray, Dominion President Berkley Lawrence, other Dominion executive members and regional Command leaders from across the country. Senior Dominion and Command staff also attended.
They heard a story of remarkable turnaround for the Legion in recent years, including:
•new members added in the first four months of 2026 represented a more than 250 per cent increase from the same time last year (by comparison, between 2000-2020, the Legion averaged no more than 25,000 new members per year);
•about half of new members are 60 or younger;
•more than 40 per cent of new members have joined online thanks to a multi-year Legion initiative to modernize its systems;
•more than 2.5-million emails have been sent to new members, as part of an effort to not only recruit but retain new members;
•and new members are purchasing a record amount of Legion merchandise, with sales of $4.1 million in 2025 and expected to top $5 million this year—double the revenue of years prior to 2023.
“The recent growth of the Legion after 30 years of decline is a truly remarkable achievement.”
“We’re adding numbers like we’ve never seen before,” National Executive Director Randy Hayley told DEC. “By the end of 2026, one in every three Legion members will be new to the organization. Think about that. Aside from 1926 when we launched, this has never happened.
“A 100-year-old organization attracting this many people in a short period of time,” he continued, “that’s unheard of.”
Hayley indicated the growth is a result of efforts to modernize business practices—such as providing online registration and digital membership cards—and the centenary marketing campaign. It’s also, in large measure, due to the free memberships available to new members during the anniversary year.
Hayley noted that initiative should result in higher revenues in years to come, as tens of thousands of new members pay to renew. He said this year’s goal is to recruit 100,000 people—a target he expects to surpass—and to retain at least half of them in future years. If that occurs, an additional 50,000 or more members would renew starting in 2027.
Hayley also said the growth is being recorded across the country, with every Legion Command setting new membership records so far in 2026.
However, the free membership policy has also come with some hiccups. DEC heard that some local branches, particularly in Quebec and Ontario, have been charging new members fees to join or requesting donations from them to raise money for branches. The executive pledged to review the matter.
In 2025, the Legion’s paid membership revenue was $6.6 million, an increase of $400,000 over 2024. In the coming years, rising revenues from higher membership and merchandise sales are expected to reduce the organization’s current dependence on its investment funds to pay for operational costs.
“We continue to draw down on our funds,” Dominion Treasurer Jill Carleton reported. “We depend on our investment income to operate. As our revenue grows, that should change.”
The Legion’s net operating surplus—accounting for total income from all sources—was almost $415,000 in 2025, down from $897,000 the previous year.
One notable new revenue source is the Legion’s partnership with Amazon. In 2024, the online retail giant began selling and distributing Legion poppies. The partnership generated $647,000 in revenue in 2025.
“Amazon is taking no cut of the sales,” noted Hayley. “And it’s not just about revenue. It’s about distributing poppies in areas that we’re not. In 2025, over 80 per cent of poppies delivered [by Amazon] were in areas where there are no Legions. So, this is spreading our remembrance message in areas we haven’t been able to reach in the past.”
DEC members also heard and addressed complications arising from a short 2025 poppy campaign season. Traditionally, poppy distribution runs from the last Friday in October until Nov. 11, resulting in varied campaign durations of 12-18 days depending on the year. Last year’s 12-day campaign “may have impacted fundraising capacity and operational effectiveness,” noted Dominion Command’s Poppy and Remembrance Committee report. DEC passed the committee’s recommendation to institute an annual 19-day campaign, from Oct. 24 to Nov. 11, starting this fall.
DEC also turned its attention to the challenging national and global security environment. In January, Grand President Murray (a former acting defence chief) and President Lawrence signed a letter on behalf of the Legion to Prime Minister Mark Carney, thanking him for the widely acclaimed speech he delivered earlier that month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In his address, Carney condemned the U.S. trade war and the Trump administration’s verbal attacks on allies, and defended the international rules-based order.
“It is not the norm for us to comment on speeches by national leaders, however the Legion shares the values you have articulated, and we believe it is critical that we show our clear support at this time,” wrote Murray and Lawrence.
In the letter, they also strongly objected to U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments trivializing the contribution of NATO allies, such as Canada, in the war in Afghanistan.
Carney responded to the Legion in writing in March, thanking the organization for its “deep commitment” and “service to our nation.”
Murray highlighted the letter at the DEC meeting and said the Legion has a vital role to play at this moment in history as a vocal advocate on national security and defence issues.
“We’re living in particularly difficult times,” he said.
In that spirit, DEC heard a comprehensive update on the current security environment from Andrea Siew, chair of the Dominion Command Defence and Security Committee.
DEC swiftly passed the committee’s recommendation to call on Ottawa to develop a new, public-facing national security strategy. The move calls for a plan that, among other aims: defines Canada’s national security interests and threat priorities; aligns with future defence investments; and recognizes the well-being of armed forces and RCMP members as core elements of security readiness.
“There has not been a national security strategy since 2004,” said Siew, noting how dramatically international dynamics have changed since then.
“The 2004 strategy does not mention Russia, China or the Arctic. Coming after 9/11, it focuses on the terrorist threat and counter-insurgency operations. In budget 2024, the government committed to publishing a national security strategy every four years,” she continued, “and we have not seen the updated version or any progress toward it.”
Siew said that in the wake of the government’s recent increases in defence spending, “there is no strategic plan on how that money is going to be spent. It is a concern, and I think this is a very important foundation piece—having a security strategy.”
The Legion, meanwhile, has its own grand strategy for the remainder of its centenary year. This includes a series of commemorations in Ottawa and across the country on July 17, the organization’s 100th birthday—themed as a “national day of reflection, recognition and engagement.”
Branches throughout the country are being encouraged to host open houses that day, where Canadians can gather and create personal, handwritten messages about what remembrance means to them, writing down a few words or sentences on sticky notes. Notes from each branch will be collected and arranged in large artistic mosaics. The resulting images will be showcased at locations around the country.
Other centenary events include the release of a Canada Post “Legion 100” stamp, the launch of a Legion-themed toonie and Remembrance Week in November. The year’s most highly anticipated event, however, is the national convention from Aug. 22-26 in Winnipeg, where the Legion was founded in 1926.
“That’s going to be a convention people are not going to want to miss,” said Hayley.
Special guests—from the governor-general and the prime minister to the defence chief and RCMP commissioner—have been invited. And delegates will elect a new Dominion executive.
“I was thinking about running for president again and see what the [delegates on] the convention floor would say: ‘That fool, he’s not supposed to do that!’” joked Lawrence, president since 2024.
He closed DEC by thanking all the attending staff and council members for their contributions to the Legion during his past two years in office. He had special praise for Grand President Murray.
“The right-hand man next to me here fills in for me on so many important occasions,” said Lawrence. “I’ve gotten over the habit of calling him ‘sir’ all the time. Now it’s just ‘Larry,’ and we have a great relationship.
“I’ll have more to say at the Dominion convention, but thanks for everything,” he added. “I’ll see you in Winnipeg.”
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