The Royal Canadian Legion’s annual poppy campaign kicked off Oct. 30, and Legion branches on the Sunshine Coast are preparing for a different kind of Remembrance Day.
Both Branch 140 in Sechelt and Branch 109 in Gibsons said they’ll likely have fewer members out in public with poppy trays, but poppies and donation boxes will be in most of the local businesses that usually participate.
“We have reached out to our local businesses and had an excellent response and where possible we will have poppy sellers on site,” Branch 109 president Wilma Jones told Coast Reporter.
Poppy fund donations can also be made at the branches during opening hours or by mailing a cheque to any Legion branch.
Restrictions on public gatherings during the ongoing pandemic and directions from the Legion’s national headquarters mean local branches are planning scaled-back ceremonies on November 11.
In Sechelt, site of what is usually the largest Remembrance Day event on the Coast, there will be no parade this year and no ceremony at the main cenotaph on Cowrie Street. Instead there will be a smaller service at the cenotaph in front of the Legion on Wharf Avenue.
Some wreaths will be laid in advance and about 20 participants will lay their wreaths during the ceremony, which, like all events in the province, is being limited to 50 people.
Coast TV, channels 10 and 610 on the Eastlink system, will carry the Sechelt Remembrance Day ceremony live on November 11 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. with a repeat at 5:30 p.m.
“We are encouraging people to stay home and watch our service live on Coast TV or Facebook,” said branch president Bill McLean.
The Sechelt Legion has also placed crosses on the lawn at the Cowrie Street cenotaph as a tribute to those from Wilson Creek, Sechelt and Halfmoon Bay who sacrificed their lives in past conflicts from the First World War to Afghanistan.
In Gibsons, Branch 109 is holding an invitation-only ceremony on November 11. Jones said the Legion has been contacting the local veterans who usually attend and who will get first priority to be one of the 50 people invited to attend.
The Gibsons Legion also plans to serve lunch for the invited guests in the lounge, which is also limited to a capacity of 50, but will not be holding presentations in the hall as it has in past years.
Jones said people wishing to lay a personal wreath at the cenotaph can contact the Legion before November 11 to make arrangements and will be allowed to lay their wreaths after the ceremony ends and the invited guests have moved into the lounge.
Branch 219 in Roberts Creek, which typically has a large crowd on November 11, said it will hold a small ceremony with a bugler and colour party but are requesting the public not attend.
“We shall lay three ceremonial wreaths in commemoration of those who served and sacrificed on land, at sea, and in the air,” the branch executive said in a message to Coast Reporter. “We respectfully request that all members of the community pause at 11 a.m. to observe two minutes of silence in memory of the fallen.”
The Roberts Creek Legion is also hoping to be able to live stream the ceremony, and will share details on its Facebook page prior to Remembrance Day.
The Madeira Park Legion, Branch 112, is also asking the general public to mark Remembrance Day privately with a minute of silence at 11 a.m. to honour our veterans and first responders.
"The Legion is planning a very small, restricted ceremony at the cenotaph due to COVID,” Bill Charlton of Branch 112 told Coast Reporter. “[There will be] no parade, and the Legion itself will be closed.”
The Madeira Park Legion’s ceremony will be live-streamed on the Pender Harbour Residents Association Facebook page.
More information on the poppy campaign and contact details for the four Sunshine Coast Legions can be found at: www.legion.ca/remembrance/the-poppy-campaign
