The Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Executive Council has approved a new policy related to affiliating with known hate groups.
The Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Executive Council has approved a new policy related to affiliating with known hate groups.
In its entirety, the policy reads:
“The Royal Canadian Legion does not support or tolerate any group or organization whose views or actions are contrary to our values and those of our country. The beliefs of any group with which we interact must align with and reflect the Legion’s founding Articles of Faith and General By-laws.
As such, no Branch or Command within the Legion may affiliate itself in any manner whatsoever with a group or organization that promotes or is known to promote hatred or violence due to ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other social determinant. This also applies to Legion support of groups affiliated with organizations that espouse hostility.
Command and Branch Executive, and Legion members must use their best judgement to ensure policy compliance. The ultimate determination as to what constitutes a prohibited group lies with Dominion Command; its determination is final and will govern.
Any Branch or Command having doubts about a group’s history or its suitability to associate with the Legion, must obtain advice from Provincial Command or Dominion Command, respectively.
Noncompliance with this policy is punishable up to and including an Article III expulsion within the Legion’s General By-laws.”
The clear and firm policy comes into effect after a history of incidents involving groups whose core beliefs or actions were not in alignment with Legion and Canadian values.
The organization also has a policy related to “Outlaw Motorcycle Groups” which prohibits the wearing of outlaw colours while on Legion premises.
About The Royal Canadian Legion
Founded in 1925, the Legion is Canada’s largest veteran support and community service organization. We are a non-profit organization with a national reach across Canada as well as branches in the U.S., Europe and Mexico. With close to 260,000 members, many of whom volunteer an extraordinary amount of time to their branches, our strength is in our numbers.
Public Relations / Media Inquiries: 613-591-3335 ext. 241 or PublicRelations@Legion.ca
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