By Sarah Kennedy
Despite a long and rocky road of uncertainty, the Montgomery branch of the Royal Canadian Legion won’t be closing its doors any time soon.
After five years of financial turmoil, the Kent Street legion is finally experiencing some relief.
On Sept. 26, city council threw all 13 Ottawa legions a lifeline, by granting a 10-year property-tax exemption, retroactive from Jan. 1, 2001. This spared each branch a $9,000 annual fee.
“The alternative would have been to seize property and put it up for sale and that wasn’t an option for us,” says Baseline ward Coun. Rick Chiarelli.
“These are our vets and now is the time to send a strong signal of support.”
Many of the Second World War and Korean War veterans who form the core of the branch’s membership and funding have died.
“The branch was in desperate trouble financially,” says Bruce Kane, a veteran and manager of the Montgomery branch.
“The World War Two and Korean vets are up in their nineties and most just send their membership fees,” he says, explaining that the legion makes a lot of their profit from the bar, and many of the older legioners no longer use the facilities.
Ed Kilmartin, a veteran of the Second World War, has been an active member of the Montgomery legion for 30 years and feared the branch was closing for good.
“I would end up joining another branch. But after being in the same branch for 30 years, I’d like to stay.”
With talk of closure looming, the legion, with the help of liberal MP Mac Harb, held an auction last February.
Businesses in the community donated items for the auction that raised over $10,000, allowing the branch to pay off a substantial portion of their debt.
“We’re not out of debt,” says Kane. “But we will be in the very near future.”
Harb got involved with the auction because he felt it was an important cause.
“They (the legion) represent a community who gave their life for freedom. It was the least I could do.”
All legions have also passed regulations allowing membership to become open to the public for a $40 fee. In the past, memberships were reserved for veterans alone.
Kane says the affiliate members use the facilities more than the veterans and organize charity campaigns that some of the older vets are not able to do.
“If members use the facilities, they spend money,” he says.
During his time with the branch, Kilmartin has seen the membership plummet from about 1,600 to a little more than 800.
He attributes some of the legion’s problems to a lack of public knowledge on its charitable causes, such as the Poppy Fund that has donated $16,000 to the Heart Institute since Christmas.
Kane hopes to alter the public perceptions of the legion.
“I think the public looks at legioners as a bunch of drunkards. Once that perception changes, the public will get more involved.”
After 30 years of belonging to the Montgomery branch, Kilmartin hopes the changes will allow it to remain open.
“I’m just hoping I’ll be around for it. I’m going into my 76th year and there aren’t many of us left,” he says.
“I’m hoping I’ll live as long as the legion does.”