Responding to the Needs of Canadian Communities REMEMBRANCE - A Challenge for all Canadians Supporting Veterans of the Commonwealth Preparing Today's Youth for Tomorrow's Challenges Keeping Pace With The Times Youth Athletic Program Going to Bat for Veterans and Ex-Service Members Legion Programs for Seniors The POPPY Campaign

RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF CANADIAN COMMUNITIES

The Royal Canadian Legion is Canada's foremost veterans support organization. It is also Canada's largest community service club with programs touching the lives of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Canadians every year within their communities. The legion members have been working since 1926 to improve the quality of life for all Canadians, particularly youth and seniors.

Here are some of the programs that the Legion sponsors on a full-time basis:

• Veterans' Services - support to veterans, ex-service members and their families.
• Seniors' services - health care, housing, social activities, medical support, and information.
• Youth Activities - support to cadet corps, Scouts Canada, sports organizations, and financial assistance in the form of scholarships and bursaries.
• Remembrance - poppy campaign, organizing and conducting national regional and local Remembrance Day ceremonies, youth poster and essay contests school programs and pilgrimages to historic war-time locations.
• Community Service - financial and volunteer assistance to a wide range of charities.

REMEMBRANCE - A Challenge for all Canadians

Honoring the memory of Canada's war dead is central to the Legions mission and purpose and maintaining the tradition of "remembrance" is the Legions' most important role and a matter of sacred trust.

The Legion's remembrance programs commemorate the sacrifice of the men and women who served and died in military service in two world wars, Korea and peacekeeping missions. Thousands of dollars and voluntary hours each year are dedicated to carrying out the following remembrance programs and activities:

THE POPPY REMEMBRANCE CAMPAIGN
This two-week long event takes place every November just prior to Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the armistice of World War I. It aims to ensure that Canadians are aware of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance, and understand its significance. The poppy has become one of the most widely recognized symbols in Canada. Proceeds from this campaign support veterans, ex-service members and their families.

MEMORIAL SERVICES
Ever Remembrance Day, on November 11, the Legion holds memorial services in communities across the country in honor of Canada's fallen soldiers.

NATIONAL POSTER AND ESSAY CONTESTS
Every year, the legion invites high school students to enter national poster and essay contests, with a view to instilling in them an understanding of the debt Canadians owe to the more than 114,000 men and women who died in battle.

ANNUAL PILGRIMAGES AND WAR MUSEUMS
Each summer the legion organizes a pilgrimage for youth leaders to Canadian memorials in Europe. Ongoing support to the Canadian War Museum and other military museums in Canada is another way the Legion perpetuates "remembrance".

The legion believes that simply remembering the dead, however, is not enough; it must be combined with a concern for the present and the future peace of the world.

In spite of Canada's involvement in the recent Gulf War, and in peacekeeping operations, most Canadians have no first-hand experiences of war and therefore no appreciation of its horror. The challenge facing the Legion today will be to convince young people and future generations of the need to remember those fallen soldiers. Otherwise their sacrifice will become meaningless.

"They died for us, for their homes and families and friends; for traditions they cherished and a future they believed in; they died for Canada. The meaning of their sacrifice rests with our collective consciousness; our future is their monument." ~Heather Robertson, "A terrible Beauty: The Art of Canada at War"

SUPPORTING VETEREANS OF THE COMMONWEALTH

As a member of the British Commonwealth Ex-services League (BCEL), The Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) helps to support the veterans and ex-service members of Commonwealth countries. Formed in 1921 the BCEL is a union of fifty ex-service organizations, modeled on and grouped around the British Legion. The league promotes the welfare of Commonwealth veterans and their dependents and helps member countries meet their charitable objectives.

In 1966 the Legion accepted a commitment to co-ordinate and assist organizations in the Caribbean area and established, with contributions from RCL branches, the BCEL Welfare Fund. The fund assists veterans and member organizations in fifteen Caribbean countries. Assistance is available for needy ex-service personnel and their families; the education needs of dependents; and building and renovation projects. The fund also provides materials for self-help projects such as the making of lapel pins and wreaths to generate funds locally and for clothing, office equipment and other projects.

Because of the frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes in the area and the devastation they can cause, the legion donates emergency relief funds as needed. In 1996, RCL grants to Caribbean countries totaled approximately $200,000.

The Legion works in co-operation with the Canadian International Development Agency on specific projects, and advocates for veterans in the Caribbean, frequently expediting action on initiatives taken by local executives.

PREPARING TODAY'S YOUTH FOR TOMORROW'S CHALLENGES

Altogether, the Legion spends $7.9 million on activities for youth every year. It may be sponsoring a local hockey team, cadet corps, scout troop, or leadership training.

REMEMBRANCE
The Legion aims to instill in youth appreciation for the freedoms that they enjoy as Canadians. Yearly "remembrance" essay, poster and poetry contests are held nation-wide to challenge you to thing about the sacrifices made by those who gave their lives to preserve our freedom. Annual pilgrimages to WWI and WWII battlefields and cemeteries for youth leaders also perpetuate Remembrance. Additional information on this theme will soon reach hundreds of thousands of school children and youth through the Legion's web site on the Internet.

EDUCATION
The Legion supports the Terry Fox Center, "Encounters with Canada", that brings together students from across the country for a week of activities and Canadian studies. More than 3000 young people benefit each year from this six-month program, which the Legion helps to finance.

Legion commands and branches offer bursaries and scholarships to high school and university students and donate funds to schools to purchase learning aids for disabled children.

LEADERSHIP
To promote leadership, fitness and a spirit of patriotism in youth, the Legion supports sea, army and air cadets. Dominion Command has introduced a single Legion Medal of Excellence which many provincial commands and branches now offer to outstanding cadets.

A number of Cadet corps have adopted the legion's Biathlon Program, the sport where cross-country skiing and shooting are combined. Competitions are organized in conjunction with both Biathlon Canada and the Cadets at all levels.

SPORT
Over 500 Legion branches co-ordinate a National Track and Field Program for 13 - 17 year olds. Winners move up from local to provincial competitions and qualify for the National Track and Field Camp where, every year, 330 elite young athletes train for national competitions. Many Camp alumni go on to compete at the Olympic Games.