Royal Canadian Legion branches seek younger membership

The executive director of New Brunswick’s Royal Canadian Legion Command says there’s optimism in the face of an aging membership.

"It's through the resiliency, honestly, of the membership itself," says Jack Clayton, who oversees 70 Legion branches across the province. “With memberships from 10 people up to 700 in some larger locations.”

Clayton says dedicated members are continuing the legion’s mandate of representing and supporting veterans, but more are needed.

"Where are we going to be down the road? If we don't get membership, we're not going to be existing,” says Clayton.

Larry Lynch, president of the Royal Canadian Legion Lancaster Branch 69 in Saint John, N.B., says people who are most likely to join the branch are those whose children are about to leave the house.

“If you’re 60 or 55 in the legion, you’re a young member of the legion,” says Lynch. “We need younger people of that age, or even younger than that, to help us out with the activities, whether it’s putting crosses on graves and getting banners put up, and all the activities we do."

The Royal Canadian Legion has four main categories for membership:

• Ordinary membership -- which includes still serving and retired military, reservists, RCMP, police officers, Canadian Coast Guard, and others listed in the General By-Laws.

• Associate membership -- which includes parents, spouses, widows, widowers, children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces as well as nephews of a person who is or was eligible for Ordinary membership.

• Affiliate voting membership -- Canadian citizens or Commonwealth subjects from an Allied nation who support The Royal Canadian Legion’s aims and objectives and are not eligible for ordinary or associate membership.

• Affiliate non-voting membership -- for non-Canadian citizens or non-Commonwealth subjects from an Allied nation who support The Royal Canadian Legion’s aims and objectives.

The legion has approximately 248,000 members across the country.

Annual membership fees vary branch-to-branch, with most around $50.