The closure of the Lynn Valley Legion has “separated Lynn Valley tremendously” and is set to break a longtime tradition in the community.
There won’t be a Remembrance Day ceremony in Lynn Valley this year, as far as former legion Branch 114 president Bill Calder knows.
“Well, I’m disappointed,” says Calder. “I think it’s another blow to our relationship with the seniors and veterans in the valley.”
About a decade ago, Calder was approached by a group of seniors who asked if the legion could host a Remembrance Day event in the heart of Lynn Valley, because it was getting too difficult for them to make it to Victoria Park where North Vancouver’s main Nov. 11 event is held.
That first year there was a humble ceremony with 40 attendees in Pioneer Park at the corner of Mountain Highway and Lynn Valley Road. As interest grew, the event was relocated to Veterans Community Plaza, and then to the public square at Lynn Valley Village.
Calder says the annual event is a “community-focused ceremony” put on by the local legion. Chairs are set out for seniors from the neighbouring retirement homes.
A commemorative plaque and special stand were placed in the centre of the square last Nov. 11. There was the traditional two minutes of silence at 11 a.m., followed by a march by the Legion Colour Party wearing full dress and carrying flags.
“The fly past that was arranged came right at 11 a.m.,” recalls Calder.
Sitting in the crowd was Second World War veteran Gord Larsen, who looks forward to the Lynn Valley ceremony every year.
“It was beautiful, just perfect,” says the 93 year old, who served as a Bomber Command pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in England.
Larsen recalls people watching the ceremony from the balcony above the plaza and says it’s a shame there won’t be an event this year.
“Lynn Valley itself is losing,” says Larsen, “because Lynn Valley is a special little district inside North Vancouver.”
Calder said the cancellation of this year’s ceremony rests with B.C./Yukon Command, the Royal Canadian Legion’s oversight body, which placed Branch 114 under trusteeship in February.
The Lynn Valley Legion on Lynn Valley Road has been under investigation for what Command calls “financial irregularities.” A mouse infestation and mould in the kitchen and bar area, meanwhile, led a Vancouver Coastal Health food inspector in February to order the club to be shut down.
The legion’s longtime bartender and sergeant-at-arms Jamie McLaughlin was awarded $32,000 after being unfairly fired earlier this year, according to an arbitrator’s report.
That same report noted that while the state of the bar “repulsed” B.C./Yukon Command, their handling of the issue “virtually ensured extended closure and a public blemish on the branch’s reputation.”
The Lynn Valley Legion’s philanthropy work has taken a hit since the shutdown, says Calder.
The branch is still putting on a Poppy Campaign, with volunteers set to canvass for donations outside North Vancouver district businesses. The Lonsdale legion covers off the city’s poppy campaign.
“How successful (Lynn Valley’s poppy campaign) will be relative to past years is going to be the big challenge of course,” says Calder.
The Lynn Valley Legion’s most recent poppy campaigns raised in excess of $50,000 – “and that’s just not likely this year,” adds Calder.
Beneficiaries of the local poppy campaign include Lions Gate Hospital and Argyle secondary. The Lynn Valley Legion also supplies Christmas hampers to 100 families on the North Shore every year.
“Everything is up in the air now,” says Calder.
For the first time in 27 years, Lynn Valley Legion member Alice Bradbury will not be volunteering for the poppy campaign.
“I don’t particularly like what the Command have done at the legion. It’s separated Lynn Valley tremendously,” says Bradbury. “I’ll make my donation, but I won’t go out and tag. I feel very sad, actually.”
Bradbury, whose father fought in the Second World War and husband served in Britain’s Royal Air Force, has felt strongly about supporting the legion, but now feels disenfranchised.
Should the Lynn Valley Legion reopen, Bradbury said she will most likely not go back.
Larsen feels the same way.
“I don’t need it anymore,” says Larsen, who would hang out at the legion every weekend.
Larsen is fed up with the politics and says Branch Command are dragging their feet with the investigation.
“I thought, how stupid. It just makes me so frustrated.”
One of the few remaining Second World War vets, Larsen enjoyed regaling Lynn Valley Legion members with stories from his service.
Since the closure, Larsen and a couple of his legion buddies now meet up at Browns Socialhouse in Lynn Valley.
“The only problem there is the place is so noisy and I’ve got hearing aids,” says Larsen. “But at least we’re staying together – a group of us.”
A special general meeting scheduled for Sept. 21 at the Lynn Valley Legion was cancelled because a large volume of members turned up and couldn’t all fit in the room, according to Calder.
No date for a new meeting has been set.
“We don’t hear anything,” said Calder. “I’m hoping that they (Branch Command) can get their act together and decide what they are going to do with Branch 114, because they (members) are caught in the middle of this and at huge expense to the community.”
Numerous calls and emails to B.C./Yukon Command by the North Shore News were not returned.
