The Legion has established the Legion National Foundation, a charity that will show support for veterans and educate the public on remembrance.

The foundation will operate at arm’s length from the Legion. Its purpose is to remember, honour and assist those who have served or are serving in the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It will provide financial support of programs and charities that promote remembrance and support the education of CAF and RCMP families.

“This will give us a chance to open up who we help as well. We want to reach the first responders because they are hurting too,” said Brad White, Dominion Command National Executive Director. “I like to think of it as supporting our heroes.”

Many of the Legion’s education-related programs will become the responsibility of the foundation, including the biennial Pilgrimage of Remembrance, bursaries and scholarships, the Remembrance Teaching Guide and the annual poster and literary contests.

The Legion has been working on establishing a foundation for a number of years. It was established as a corporation in 2016 and the Canada Revenue Agency granted its charitable status in 2017. The program was to be announced at the April meeting of the Dominion Executive Council.

Dominion Past President Tom Eagles of Plaster Rock, N.B., has been named chairman of the foundation with other directors chosen from former Dominion Command officers and the business community. White is executive director of the foundation.

“This will be a way for corporations to make donations to the Legion’s work and get acknowledgements and charitable receipts right away,” said White. “In the past, we have had corporations come to us offering donations and we have had to turn them down because we couldn’t provide receipts. We suggested they donate to the Military Family Fund or some other organization.”

Now the foundation will be open to donations from corporations, individuals and people leaving bequests. “The foundation will work hand-in-hand with the poppy fund,” said White. While poppy funds directly help individual veterans, the foundation reaches out to the public.

An agreement will be signed between the foundation and the Legion mandating the Legion to operate the programs on behalf of the foundation. “As time goes by,
we hope the foundation will become more self-sufficient and will operate these programs itself,” said White.

A distinctive logo was created for the foundation using the poppy’s colours and communicating the foundation’s key pillars of remembrance, honour and assistance.