Remembrance (and relief) at LaSalle Legion
Looming tax bill off the table in time for 100th anniversary of First World War’s end
Ray Cormie has been sleeping far better than he has for the last few years, now that there is no longer the threat of foreclosure hanging over the Royal Canadian Legion in LaSalle.
Cormie, president of the LaSalle Legion, is delighted to report that annual Remembrance Day ceremonies will take place as usual at the branch on Sunday. This year’s event will have particularly special significance for the LaSalle Legion as well as all the others in the land, as it marks the 100-year anniversary of the end of the First World War.
“It would have been unthinkable had we not been able to hold Remembrance Day ceremonies at our legion hall this year,” says Cormie, who expects a few hundred veterans, their families and friends to attend.
Until two weeks ago, it looked like it was going to be lights out at the LaSalle Legion. Having lost its tax-exempt charitable status, the legion saw its annual city taxes soar from $3,000 to $30,000 a year and was faced with a whopping bill of nearly $57,000 for 2017 and 2018. It had until Nov. 4 to pay the 2017 portion of about $27,000.
But that has now been taken care of, thanks to a recent deal with the LaSalle borough — in which the legion will be rented out half the week to community groups — as well as private donations and such fundraisers as Joey Elias’s comedy soirée and a concert by the Clahanes.
“We went down to the borough hall Tuesday and paid our 2017 taxes and were about as happy as we could be in paying and getting this off our backs,” Cormie says.
The legion is now about $12,000 short on its 2018 tax bill of $30,000.
It was due to a clerical error that the legion branch lost its tax-exempt charity status. Pretty much most other legions in the country do have this status and pay a pittance in taxes.
Regardless, Cormie is reapplying to the Commission municipale du Québec, the provincial body which rules on this, and remains optimistic that the legion will have its status returned in time for its 2019 tax bill.
“There has been such incredible support from the public over this,” Cormie says. “We have been just so overwhelmed and touched.”
The LaSalle Legion has been like a second home to the 300 veterans, their families and seniors who use it regularly, and its loss would have been devastating to them.
In addition to the customary laying of wreaths for those fallen soldiers at the Sunday’s Remembrance Day ceremonies, there will be speeches from Cormie and others focusing on the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
“It seems that more and more every year we have to remind people why we have Remembrance Day ceremonies and how so many Canadians gave up their lives,” Cormie says. “It doesn’t help that so much of our history here has been watered down or even eliminated altogether in school curriculums.
“How can we expect kids to be sensitive to the plight of vets and the inadequate care some are receiving when they have no idea what they’ve done for the country? That’s crazy. And that’s why our legion makes a point of heading out to schools in the area to bring awareness.”
Most Montreal legions conduct their Remembrance Day ceremonies before Nov. 11 because many members will head down that day to Place du Canada for a mass city event. This year will stand out as 100 Bells of Peace will ring out across the land at sunset on Nov. 11 to officially declare the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.
“This ceremony will be memorable for us, after our fight to keep our legion open,” Cormie adds. “Hopefully, veterans from all our wars will be spared fights like this again.”
In a bid to raise the remaining funds for LaSalle Legion’s 2018 tax bill, a week-long auction will be held, Monday through Friday, with my Gripes of the Round Table TV colleagues Terry DiMonte, on CHOM from 7:30 to 8 a.m., and Aaron Rand, on CJAD from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Up for grabs will be everything from an airplane trip to anywhere on the continent, a weekend at the RitzCarlton Hotel, a train excursion to Toronto plus tickets to a Leafs game, Habs and Just for Laughs ducats, limo services and dinners to four of Montreal’s finest restaurants — including one with the Gripes gang, DiMonte, Rand, Mutsumi Takahashi and yours truly.
“We thought it was about time we do more than just ... gripe,” Rand says. “Time to give something back as well.”