Conflict is the last thing anyone wants when honouring veterans.
Tay Township heard a request from a Bayport Legion Branch 545 representative at a recent council meeting, where she asked for clarification of the township’s stance on the memorial banner program.
Established in 2021 by Waubaushene resident and retired Canadian Armed Forces member Christine van Zandbergen, the rebranded Banners4Veterans program was intended to showcase community veterans on banners throughout Tay Township.
However, difficulties arose when coordination misaligned between Banners4Veterans, the municipality, and the Legion branches for Port McNicoll, Victoria Harbour and Waubaushene.
A letter from the Royal Canadian Legion National Headquarters was sent to Tay Township this month, noting that the poppy was a registered trademark and recognized symbol of the Legion’s poppy campaign.
The letter noted the Banners4Veterans program had been using the poppy trademark without proper authorization from RCL Dominion Command, and a request was made to Banners4Veterans that it cease all use of the poppy.
In the council chambers, the Legion representative stated: “The newest email for the banners is being circulated currently; it’s stating that the township is in full support of the banner program.”
A mid-September Facebook post on the Waubaushene and Area Virtual Hub page stated that authorization to place banners in the village had been given, with banners to be raised shortly after.
The Legion representative asked council three questions regarding the municipal stance on the issue, revolving around township support, allowing banners on private property, and addressing a list of perceived bylaw infractions.
“This has been one of the most unfortunate situations that this township has ever got sucked into, and the reason that it was done was to try to cooperate with the Legions and the banner program," said Mayor Ted Walker at the meeting. "From there it just turned horrible.”
Walker explained to the Legion representative and the audience that numerous meetings had been attended by the parties to “try to come to some solution,” but had failed.
“We made it very clear at that meeting that the Township of Tay would not permit the banners to be placed on township property unless the Legions concurred with the design of the banners. We’ve upheld that,” said Walker.
“We’ve also committed that if a private resident put the sign up, that we would ignore the bylaw for Remembrance Day for that period of time; again, we are honouring that commitment.”
The RCL letter further suggested that owners of the banners request the banners back, “so that (banner owners) can work with Legion branches to display them.”
Coun. George LaChapelle told the Legion representative the program’s difficulties couldn’t entirely be put on Tay’s plate, claiming that neither Banners4Veterans nor the local Legion branches had contacted families directly for confirmation of permission to have the faces of veteran relatives displayed on memorial banners.
“Why wouldn’t the branches reach out to these individuals? Because if they have them give consent, it gives us and you a little more power to get them (banners) off the private property. We don’t know the circumstances whether everybody granted these,” LaChapelle said. He added his family hadn’t been approached for consent on one such banner.
Within the meeting, Deputy Mayor Barry Norris took time to thank the Legion presidents in attendance before sharing his thoughts.
“I’m fully in support of the veteran banner program; it’s one of the best programs I’ve seen in a lot of years,” stated Norris. “Unfortunately there’s no question, the municipality got stuck in the middle of this. We’ve backed out.”
Council approved a request from both Norris and Coun. Judy Larmand asking for clarification from the RCL national headquarters over the final portion of the letter which was written: “...we ask that the Township of Tay display banners through these (Tay) Legion branches only.”
Questions from MidlandToday regarding the Banners4Veterans program were sent to van Zandbergen, but no comments had been received at the time of publication.
Controversy erupted nationwide in 2012 following sales of a knitted poppy project by an unendorsed Fredericton, New Brunswick community, which resulted in that local Legion asking those organizers to stop due to trademark infringement. It was a scenario which Tay Coun. Paul Raymond in 2021 had cautioned could happen to the proposed banner program.
The Royal Canadian Legion National Headquarters letter from October 12 can be found in the council agenda on the Tay Township website.
Tay council meets for committee of the whole meetings every second Wednesday of the month, and regular council meetings every fourth Wednesday of the month. Archives and livestreams of council meetings are available through the Tay Township YouTube channel.
