Kahnawà:ke Legion celebrates 70 years, founders honoured

Founded by fifteen WWII veterans, the Kahnawà:ke chapter of the Royal Canadian Legion, south of Montreal, is celebrating seven decades of service this year.

Officially known as the Mohawk Branch 219, the Kanien’kehá:ka community is honouring the founders with a heroes banner project.

“When they see that picture,” said Eric Bush, veteran who served in the United States Marine Corps from 1977 to 1981. “That brings everything to life.”

The second of the 15 banners, Bush’s father, Louis Bush — one of the Legion’s founders, who served in the United States Navy.

“We’ve seen a lot of the banners in the U.S. and said, ‘hey, that would be nice because we have so many veterans’,” said Ray Deer, veteran and president of the branch.

“Why don’t we put them on a pedestal?”

From the Legion hall to cenotaph on River Road – this marks the route of the banners – the same route of the Legion’s annual Remembrance Parade.

The first banner – Peter “Cyclone” Taylor’s.

“He’s the one that came up with the idea,” said Deer. “While sitting at the Legion in Lachine, because we didn’t have one.”

“To create our own Legion and convince 14 other veterans from Kahnawà:ke to start the process.”

In 1953, it was chartered.

“We’ve participated in every conflict that the United States and Canada has been involved in,” explained Deer.

To date, the Mohawk Branch 219 is the only Legion located in an Indigenous community within Quebec.

Veterans Affairs Canada estimates “that as many as 12,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit people served in the great conflicts of the 20th century, with at least 500 of them sadly losing their lives.”

“Within the hall we have marines, we have sailors,” said Deer. “We have air force, army, both Canadian and U.S.”

“It’s a legacy and it’s a tradition.”

The last banner – Joseph Horne, the Branch’s first president.

“People in this community, when we did that, we didn’t know what the effect would be,” said Deer. “But when they seen the pictures, they said they stopped and it was their grandfather, their uncle, someone that they knew.”

“That person is now gone,” he added. “But to see their pictures put within the community, they stopped and they were in tears.”

Veterans Affairs Canada funded the project, celebrating the legions 70^th anniversary – and the branch hopes to continue creating banners until every veteran is highlighted.

“Anybody could tell stories,” said Bush. “But when you see that picture up there, and then the whole town knows, makes it even better.”