Whither the Royal Canadian Legion? Or RCL Withers?

[OldSolduer]

The Legion is not "broken" but if something isn't done it soon will be.

The Legion needs to bring its thinking into the 21st Century. A change of culture is needed.  Younger people need to step up and run for branch offices - make a difference.

The meat draws, bingos, darts, snooker etc most likely won't draw many younger vets - but a Call of Duty Tournament might.

 

[Michael OLeary]

I went to the legion a little bit ten years ago, and it was listening to stories about the army of fifty years before from guys who could have been my grandfather. They were sometimes interesting, but more often than not it wasn't a comfortable environment for me, so I stopped.

And there, in a nutshell, is exactly how the RCL is "broken."

They have never realized that what they claimed was providing connections and support for veterans in general was really the groups that found places in the Legion providing connections and support for their own generation of veterans - i.e., the guys with similar experiences with whom they could connect. In not openly welcoming the post-WWII and post-Korea veterans and ex-service members, they skipped the learning curve that would have required institutional change to adjust to the new social norms of each generation.

 

[OldSolduer]

The Legion can be fixed IMO - they have a leadership structure and infrastructure. They have a membership.

It needs the right leaders take them to the 21st Century.

 

[Michael OLeary]

The Legion has a leadership which has devoted itself to maintaining the increasingly unworkable status quo. Whether or not they are even capable of envisioning a future Legion construct that will meet the needs of current and future veterans needs to be examined closely.

The infrastructure (i.e., Legion halls and the resources they consume) are probably one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the whole issue. Legion branches dedicate enormous effort to maintain buildings and bars are are clearly not attractive to the group that should be their primary target audience - the younger veterans who haven't joined.

They have a rapidly aging and diminishing membership, who are also for the most part are disconnected from the issues affecting our newest veterans and the ways in which they choose to congregate and communicate. The Legion needs more than just the right leaders - they need a new vision with the will to walk away from the non-functional elements, no matter how long they've been sitting there.

 

[OldSolduer]

You have put it far more eloquently than I have, and I agree with you.

 

[dapaterson]

Another example of the pre-1960s thinking that lingers in the Legion:  They still have the "Ladies Auxiliary".  So, who here wants to tell Moe and Vern that their role is to beetle off to the kitchen and make sandwiches while the menfolk run the joint?  The CF today is over 20% female - we've had female combat arms soldiers for two decades.  That paternalism doesn't sit well with today's generations (nor yesterdays, nor the one before).

The Legion is much like many of the established churches - too many branches spending too much money on sustaining the status quo, and refusing to look any wider.  Any sense of a broader vision or mission gets subsumed into the need to keep the local branch open. 

The Legion last increased in size in 1989.  Since then, they have lost over 164K members and are down to 348K.  They are in their death throes.  It's not pretty.  But I think this patient needs a DNR.

 

[tree hugger]

I've been following this thread and I have a quick question... Don't Legions have a membership rule where Associate members are only allowed up to a certain percentage of the overall membership??

Either way, how would you change the demographic from less associate members to more ordinary?  Would you not allow associate membership to renew or just not take any more altogether?  I think it's good to try to recruit more ordinary members, but the problem seems to stem from the amount of civi's populating the Legion.

 

[Michael OLeary]

For some perspective on what the Legion is supposed to accomplish:

An Act To Incorporate The Royal Canadian Legion (1981)http://www.legion.ca/_PDF/Manuals/Act_to_Incorporate_E.pdf

4.        The purposes and objects of the legion shall be:

(a) to constitute an association of those persons who have served or are serving in Her Majesty’s armed forces or any auxiliary thereof, and of other persons who support the purposes and objects of the Legion, which association shall be democratic and non-sectarian and not affiliated to or connected directly or indirectly with any political party or organization,

(b) to bring about the unity of all who have so served,

( c) to further among them the spirit of comradeship and mutual help, and the close and kindly ties of active service,

See the pdf for paras (d) through (v).

 

[Journeyman]

So, who here wants to tell Moe and Vern that their role is to beetle off to the kitchen and make sandwiches while the menfolk run the joint?

  op: 
                I'd pay the year's membership just to watch.  ;D

 

[Old Sweat]

I really don't know how typical our local branch is. It has a female president and I think the Ladies' Auxillary laid a wreath at the ceremony. At the end of the ceremony the branch invited the general public to join them for soup and sandwiches. The hall was packed. The membership is definitely senior and I ain't too sure too many of the 15 to 20 folks I saw at the service in uniform are members. So what? Despite quite a bit of outreach the RCL doesn't seem to be connecting with the serving members and recent vets.

However we will attend the monthly breakfast this Saturday and wolf down the best spread in the Valley for five bucks a plate.

 

[PMedMoe]

  op: 
                I'd pay the year's membership just to watch.  ;D

Probably be worth every penny, too.  :nod:

 

[Michael OLeary]

I've been following this thread and I have a quick question... Don't Legions have a membership rule where Associate members are only allowed up to a certain percentage of the overall membership??

The General By-Laws (2010)
http://www.legion.ca/_PDF/Manuals/Bylaws_2010_e.pdf

Doesn't appear to be there. See pages 16-19 for Categories of Membership.


BTW Moe, you're in luck: "A female member of the Legion or an ex-servicewoman who is eligible to be a member may also be a member of a ladies auxiliary."  (pp. 56)

And, just to make sure that patriachal supervision is maintained in case things get out of hand in the kitchen: "A ladies auxilairy shall be under the jurisdiction of the branch."    ;D

 

[PMedMoe]

BTW Moe, you're in luck: "A female member of the Legion or an ex-servicewoman who is eligible to be a member may also be a member of a ladies auxiliary."  (pp. 56)

Yes, "may" being the key word.  (But I don't wanna!!!  :crybaby

Sorry, I'm not rushing off to join the Legion anytime soon......if at all.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

I wonder if we should not send a link of this thread to the grand poo-bah of the RCL? Sometimes to realize you are doing something wrong you need to get a harsh lesson in reality.

 

[OldSolduer]

I wonder if we should not send a link of this thread to the grand poo-bah of the RCL? Sometimes to realize you are doing something wrong you need to get a harsh lesson in reality.

I call that a good slap upside the head.....maybe its a good idea.

 

[foresterab]

Was talking about this with the other half this morning...

Noticed two things in and around Alberta/BC in the small towns where we've lived.

1) Legions that are still active and vibrant have done a good job of highlighting all veterns. One branch had a photo of every local resident who had ever joined the forces up until the mid-2000's...in chronological order and with equal respect.  That legion still was a major focal point for the community for all events due to it's prominance within the community.

or
2) Legions that revolve around a generational age group.  The legion in my hometown for example has photos of all WW1, WW2 and Korea vets but when I asked about other veterns got told they didn't have time to track them down...pretty sad excuse when some of the Legion members grandkids were/had served recently.  Needless to say the only "young" blood is associate members and most don't think about them much.

Personally...I haven't served in the military so won't join the RCL as a matter of principal.  Of the last 6 towns I've worked in and the 3 towns the other half worked in we came up with 2 active legions and the rest on life support.  Theres some good that can be done but a winnowing out is needed.

My two cents.

 

[Gronk]

Been reading this thread and the one about use of the poppy symbol, and thought I would weigh in.

  I have been a member of the Whitehorse Legion for 10 yrs now. My first yrs membership was paid for by my folks as a gift while I was still serving. I have been active in the branch since I moved back home after I released in 05. I am currently the 1st Vice President, Service Officer, Bar Manager, Entertainment Director, and Chair of the Support Our Troops Committee. I am running for President in the election later this month. I give a lot of my time to the Legion because firstly, I can (I was medically released and have worked only p/t since I retired), and more importantly, I strongly support the good work my branch does for veterans in my community and throughout the Yukon.

  Some of the things we've done around the Yukon are: We sponsor & run the Whitehorse Remembrance Day Ceremony and Remembrance Week activities as well as suplying wreaths & poppies for communities all over the Yukon, We sponsor & run the Whitehorse Canada Day Celebration, Sponsor the local Army Cadet Corps, Bought medical eqpt for vets at home & in the hospital, Donated to, supported, and brought north the Veterans Transition Program, Made sizable donations to Honour House in Vancouver (kind of a ronaldmacdonald house for vets, servicemembers, and first responders - a lot of our vets travel to Vanc for medical), Through our S.O.T. Campaign, we have spent over $40k on care pkgs for adopted platoons in Afg, and individual Yukoners/relatives of branch members, as well as sizable donations to Wounded Warriors & Soldier On. I could go on and on.

  These things we do are for the benefit of ALL vets and servicemembers in the Yukon, not just senior veterans and Legion members. If you made the commitment to serve, and signed on the bottom line, you are a Veteran in the eyes of VAC and the Legion, and you are welcome in my branch. Several years ago, we passed a bylaw making all currently serving CF and RCMP members in Whitehorse honourary members of our branch. We did this, not as a recruiting tool, but to make them feel welcome here and due to our liquor lic. As long as I am still drawing a breath, ALL Vets & Servicemembers young & old, are welcome here.

more to follow (I have to do some shovelling) 

 

 

[jollyjacktar]

This was an unfortunate story, a 21 year Veteran and his wife were turned away from a Legion Branch in Lethbridge, Alberta on Remembrance Day:

When my Dad come home from overseas in 45 he was told to hit the road and he was not welcome from the # 1 Branch in Calgary.  He was bitter for many years after about the RCL.

 

[AJC]

I was a Legion member for 12 years and played in the Branch pipe band for 20ish, but sent my card back in the mail. The Legions do it to themselves. My reasons:
Dick measuring. Unless you were in the last one you don't count. Even the First War guys shunned the WW11 vets;
I was at my branch in Kelowna with Blackie Lalonge DCM MM, in the uniform of the branch pipe band on Nov 11 after the parade. The dude behind the bar wanted to see Blackies membership card.
The ladies auxillary, the pipe band, and even the execs, regularly wore hats in the branch, but they refused entry to a sikh 8th Army veteran.
I was refused entry to Oromocto branch. Sgt at the CTC with a membership card from another branch. Despite the Bylaws, and I did read them.  Dude  at the door suggested I wait for another member to show up and see if he would sign me in. To the Camelot I went.
The civie associate members don't know us or want to. New veterans and I will count myself in there, like the idea, but choose to socialize in other methods, Facebook /email /whatever being one. The days of drinking at the legions, playing bingo, and yearly reunions are over. Hate to say it but the same is effecting our messes.

 

[tango22a]

What's it take the RCL to realize that what it boils down to is "ADAPT OR PERISH"???

I only retain membership in the local Branch to piss off some (MOST!!!!) of the Associates who run this lash up and who seem to feel it's run only for their benefit.


tango22a