CANORA – Hello, I'm Cathy Trach, president of Canora Branch #52.
We hold four meetings a year along with group texting and group emailing.
The report from our Membership Chair Person, Lorie Negraeff, stated we had 21 paid members for 2025, 16 so far for 2026 and four Centenary memberships. Of these members approximately 10 are active.
In 2025, myself and Padre Thom Carnahan attended the Zone 1 Rally held in Yorkton, however no members were available to attend the District 4 Rally in Humboldt.
From the grant proceeds that our Treasurer Darryl Stevenson and Building Chairperson Debra Gabora worked diligently to apply for, we received sufficient funds from the Provincial Grant and Crossroads Credit Union Community Investment Funds to allow us to resurface the floor in our Legion hall, which was completed February 2025 and we also purchased 100 new chairs.
We rent out the Dugout and had approximately 15 rentals in 2025.
We donated a total of $3,000 from our Poppy Fund; $1,500 to Leave the Streets Behind and $1,500 to the Emergency Fund.
Due to air quality concerts our June 2025 Decoration Day Ceremony at the Canora Cemetery was cancelled, However Padre Thom went to the Cemetery where, according to Thom, “Three elderly showed, who have family buried.” They did a Decoration Day service for Veterans, took pictures of all with Thom, and as it happened one of the elderly even sang Happy Birthday to a beloved family Veteran.
Meanwhile at the Legion Dugout, I had the honour of welcoming Shelley Price-Jones, great niece of Pilot Officer Emery Orville Fennell. Shelley wanted to bring her Uncle home by way of presenting to the Canora Legion his trunk along with a framed print of the Saskatchewan lake dedication to Pilot Officer Emery Orville Fennell.
Because our local Canora Courier reporter, Rocky Neufeld, was on hand for the Decoration Day Ceremony, he was more than willing to join us at the Legion to document the day. He not only documented the homecoming of Pilot Officer Emery's items but also a family uniting. A cousin Shelley had never met and who happens to be from Canora, Garth Hammerstrom, was invited to join in the homecoming. At that point Shelley also presented to Garth an additional trunk of Emery's. It was a very emotional day to say the least.
During the month of May we placed an article in the Canora Courier, honouring and remembering our military heritage during the Battle of Atlantic. At this time we also included the honouring of our Hometown children who have entered into the military. This year's article featured Lieutenant-Commander Colin Dudeck, who has dedicated his life to serving in the Royal Canadian Navy.
Every June a member from our branch attends the Awards night at the Canora Composite School, whereby we present a plaque in the achievement of academics. The school decides on which academic is chosen. We also connect with the high school each December when our Bursary Chairperson, Lorie Negraeff, sends a package to the Canora Composite School for Grades 10, 11 and 12 advising of the guidelines to complete an essay for the opportunity to earn a bursary. In 2025 we offered two bursaries at $500 each. We received one entry from Delilah Wilson, who was presented with a $500 cheque during the Grade 12 Graduation Ceremony.
The annual 2025 summer Community in Bloom festival celebrated Canora’s 115th birthday.
The Legion joined in the celebration by hosting our second annual Pulled Pork Luncheon Fundraiser on the Friday. On Saturday during the Canora Homecoming, Street Festival and Car Show, our Legion held a 50/50 fundraiser.
In September, Comrade Deb Gabora and I transplanted perennials along the west side of the Legion Dugout. The perennials which will help beautify our building were donated by Comrades Deb, Kylee Toffan and myself.
On Oct. 2, our high school history teacher, Olivia Dereniwsky, had her History 20 and History 30 classes paint the Commemorative Crosswalk near the Canora Town Office to the north across Third Avenue East next to Main Street. The tribute “In honour of those who served and sacrificed” was written in English and in Ukrainian. Although not part of the creation of this project, the Canora Branch did help by way of purchasing the material.
In 2025 we completed our yearly Poppy Campaign with our Chairperson Lorri Dennis taking the Poster and Literacy Contest guidelines to the Canora Junior Elementary School, Canora Composite School and the Invermay School. The campaign went very well with entries in essays, poems, pictures in colour and pencil (black and white), thus receiving amazing posters, poems and stories from the students.
We have dedicated comrades who deliver wreaths and poppy trays to our businesses in Canora and then collect for our Remembrance Day Service. We were out in the community starting Nov. 5. Comrade Deb Gabora and I delivered a program at the daycare where we each read a poem, did a craft of colouring poppies that Deb cut out and put a string on so that once colouring was completed the children could hang them on a tree branch. Then we gathered around and showed the children a few of the Veteran Banners explaining that they are displayed on the Canora street lights during November. As it happened one of the individuals featured in the Veteran Banners is a great-grandfather of one of the children so we made a big deal about it, let him hold the banner and took a picture. We ended the program by enjoying some delicious homemade Poppy Cookies.
On Nov. 7 Comrade Denise Leslie and Padre Thom Carnahan attended the High School Remembrance Day Service and on Nov. 10 Padre Thom attended the Gateway Lodge Service.
Our Remembrance Day program started at the cenotaph for all to pay their respects to our fallen Veterans and lay their wreaths. This was followed with a Service of Remembrance at the St. Joseph's Church, ending with a luncheon at the Legion Dugout which is open to everyone.
This year we were honoured to have our bursary recipient, Delilah Wilson, share with the congregation her winning essay. Professor Shelley Price-Jones, great niece of Pilot Officer Emery Fennell, spoke on the importance of continued remembrance and the promotion of our past and present Veterans. We had a full house for the luncheon where everyone ate well and had enjoyed comradeship before, during and after the luncheon.
The town's Community Development Office approached the Legion wondering if we would be interested in some form of activity during the Festival of Lights week. We came up with a plan to hold a Family Bingo Night. Comrade Deb Gabora knocked on the doors of our business sector and gathered a multitude of prizes for both children and adult winners. The town provided us with the bingo balls and cards, Ryan Monette of Aspen Paramedic Services provided us with a popcorn machine while Comrade Lorie Negraeff gathered necessities for the snacks and a handful of other Comrades joined in to make our first ever Family Bingo Night a success. Fun was had by all!
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