Royal Canadian Legion finding success bringing in young veterans

Robert Fisher photo Paul “Trapper” Cane giving an address at the cenotaph in St. Stephen on Remembrance Day last year.

ST. STEPHEN – Volunteerism is something Paul “Trapper” Cane knows about having served in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Upon his retirement, he felt the Royal Canadian Legion, another volunteer service organization, didn’t hold anything for him. However, his mind would be changed.

Motorcycles have long been part of the Canadian military, both within the service and by soldiers past and present in civilian life.

“The way to get people to gather is to have some kind of connection that’s common to them all,” said Cane.

Motorcycles became that common thread.

A long-time rider, in and out of the military, Cane came across a fellow veteran who was in “stress,” as Cane referred to it, and also a rider. Through that connection, he got involved with riding veterans of North America. From there, he created a riding organization called the Canadian Army Veterans (CAV).

There had been a disconnect between the legion and riders. Veteran riding groups would start and end fundraising rides in legion parking lots, albeit outside.

“I didn’t have a lot of respect for the legion in those days,” said Cane.

When his regiment was disbanded, he explained, they were barred from participating in military events and the legion, all resulting from events in Somalia that peaked with the beating death of Somali citizen Shidane Arone in March 1993.

The other hurdle to overcome was the perception that motorcyclists were bad people, that connotation coming from the wearing of leathers and the types of motorcycles many ride – Harley Davidson.

Gordon Moore, the soon-to-be legion national head, approached Cane to bring the CAV into the legion fold. Maj.-Gen. Lewis McKenzie, a friend of Cane’s for many years, told Moore about the “new legion” Cane was running: the riders that attended repatriations of the remains of soldiers, and organized fundraising rides for veterans needing assistance or communities looking to build a monument.

Cane’s response to Moore was, “I can’t because half my membership doesn’t understand you and the other half doesn’t like you.”

What Cane committed to was to meet with leaders of the legion at the national level and begin conversations. Those meetings began in 2006.

Cane gave the legion a copy of the CAV riding manual. Seeing the level of organization and dedication these veterans had led the national organization to open up to ideas of how to incorporate riding veterans into the larger group. They discussed the difference between a riders’ group and the outlaw motorcycle gangs.

It took five years of work by both sides, of the legion learning to understand the work of the riding groups to do outreach in communities and of the CAV learning about the work the legion carries out under the roofs. The CAV became the Legion Riders. Older members of the legion came to realize that these younger veterans had ideas and effort to contribute. The atmosphere inside legion halls began to relax and become less formal, less militaristic.

The Courier published a story on Dec. 20, 2022, about the struggles the Kiwanis club specifically, but service organizations generally, is having attracting and keeping new, younger members.

Kiwanis Lt.-Gov. for New Brunswick Mike Ross spoke then about some of the traditions and protocols that go on in service clubs and said, “My kids would look at that and say, ‘I don’t want to be here for this.’”

Cane said that, in his case, with the Legion Riders the key was finding something that the legion could do that appealed to the younger generations, and being open to the idea of making change within the organization to allow those younger people to feel they had a place and could contribute to the organization.

Part of the evolution at the legion was that the older members began to adapt to the idea of outreach outside the four walls of the legion hall. Conversely, the younger members began to understand that stepping through the door wasn’t a bad experience as it may have been in the past.

Cane referenced his son-in-law, also a veteran, who had not been a member of the legion and was looking for a way to make his mark as a veteran. He spoke of the impatience some of the younger contingent display and the desire to effect change immediately.

Cane explains to the young veterans that the instant gratification they want doesn’t work.

“I tell them, ‘here’s an organization that’s been around,’” and that the ideas and support have been passed down from generation to generation of veterans. That history and realization of a common bond opens they eyes of the new generation and they give the legion a second look. He explains that if people look for a reason, they can find something that will cause them to say, ‘no this isn’t for me.’ He turns that around to suggest that looking for the reason they’re there in the first place is what’s more important. He referred to it as the difference between persona and character.

“Their persona is what we see and how the present themselves to us. Character is the way they really are,” he said. He prefers to concentrate on why they’re in the legion, or the Lions or Kiwanis. They want to contribute and help. The key, for Cane, is finding the way to make that happen and being open to new ideas and new ways of thinking.

“If you can look at the big picture, not get caught in the minutiae,” there’s a path to success, he said.

robertfisher@stcroixcourier.ca

Robert Fisher

Fisher is a writer/author, photographer and filmmaker. Itinerant observer of life. His dog, Lincoln, is a travel companion and has been coast-to-coast with him four times.