CANORA - Hello, I'm Cathy Trach, president of Canora Branch #52.
Lorie Negraeff, membership chairperson, reported that we had 15 paid members for 2024, 18 so far for 2025 and one prepaid for 2026. Of these members, approximately 10 are active.
Myself and Padre Thom Carnahan attended both 2024 Rallies – Zone 1 Rally in Sheho and the District 4 Rally in Foam Lake.
In 2024 our Treasurer Darryl Stevenson and Building Chairperson Debra Gabora worked diligently to apply for grants. We received sufficient funds from a provincial grant and Crossroads Credit Union Community Investment Funds to allow us to resurface the floor in our Legion Dugout and purchase new chairs.
Just a side note, we do rent out the Dugout and had approximately 14 rentals in 2024.
June 9, 2024 our branch held our Decoration Day Ceremony at the Canora Cemetery followed by coffee, tea and cupcakes at the Dugout.
Each December Lorie Negraeff, our bursary chairperson 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 2024 we offered two bursaries at $500 each. Unfortunately, there were no entrants for 2024 and to date we have not received any for 2025, however our deadline is not until May 1.
Every June a member from our branch attends the awards night at Canora Composite School whereby we present a plaque in the achievement of academics. The school decides on which academic is chosen.
Each summer Canora holds Community In Bloom, which is a week full of festivities. In 2024, the Legion hosted a pulled pork luncheon fundraiser with attendees to have an opportunity at winning three different door prizes. We felt our first time luncheon was successful with close to 100 people attending.
In 2025, Canora in Bloom will be celebrating Canora's 115th birthday when on Aug. 15 the Legion will once again join in the festivities and hold a luncheon fundraiser.
During the celebrating week last year, on July 12 our Legion held a 50/50 fundraiser at the “Pandemonium in the Park” wrestling night. The event wasn't as well attended as the town of Canora anticipated, however it gave the Legion an opportunity to show our faces and bring in a few dollars for the Branch.
In September, to recognize the Battle of Britain and the Royal Canadian Air Force, we placed a writeup in Canora Courier honouring the memory of those heroes who defined one of the most pivotal moments of history. In this article, we also honoured three of our hometown children who entered into the Royal Canadian Air Force in one capacity or another, by including their autobiographies.
In 2024 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 164 entries ranging from essays, poems, pictures in colour and pencil (black and white), thus receiving amazing posters, poems and stories from the students.
Our year ended with the Remembrance Day program, starting at the Cenotaph for all to pay their respects to our fallen veterans and lay their wreaths. This was followed with a church service at the St. Joseph's Church, ending with a luncheon at the Dugout, which is open to everyone. This year we were honoured to have one of our very own home town children, Lieutenant-Colonel Kevin Ciesielski speak of his service duties and life experiences in the Royal Canadian Air Force. We had a full house for the luncheon where everyone ate well and enjoyed comradery by sharing stories and memories of family and/or friends who had served.
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