Royal Canadian Legion celebrates veterans with massive mural - Personal stories of fallen soldiers highlight this year’s Remembrance Day
By Lee Griffi
The Royal Canadian Legion has unveiled four uniquely designed murals, each of which tells the story of a fallen Canadian service member.
The mural in Toronto’s Union Station tells the story of Allan “Scotty” Davidson who at just 22 years old was the captain of the Toronto Blueshirts, the team that would become the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 1914, he led his team to that city’s first Stanley Cup. Five months after that victory, he left his team, his career, and his home behind to become one of the first professional hockey players to volunteer for the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Serving in France and Belgium, accounts describe acts of remarkable bravery, including rescuing wounded officers and fighting on the front lines.
Lance Corporal Davidson was killed in action on June 16, 1915, when a shell exploded near him in the trenches. The mural honours him and the more than 120,000 Canadians who gave their lives in service to our country, whose names and stories should never be forgotten.
The mural was unveiled on Oct. 24, the first day of the poppy campaign. It stands 23 feet tall and 13 feet wide and Davidson was chosen because of his connection to Toronto and the fact it was going to be located inside Union Station.
“He, and others, their faces and their stories represent all Canadians who have died in the line of duty,” explained Nujma Bond, the Legion’s national communications manager. “It encourages people to think about that, to remember all of them, connect a little more deeply with their personal stories and realize, just like you and I, had lives and hopes and passions.”
The mural is made out of about 5,000 sticky notes and on those notes are messages from Canadians across the country speaking about their gratitude for veterans.
“There are also memories people have of family members who served. They are all very personal messages and those are what compose that huge mural. It’s quite amazing to see it in person but you can get a good sense of it online in the photos at www.legion.ca.”
Bond said Canadians will be fascinated to read about the stories behind the people in the three other murals.
“It puts a face to the name and helps us tell the story of remembrance itself, why we do this and why it is so important. It all leads back to the freedom we have in Canada today and the ability to live our lives as we wish.”
In addition to local poppy campaigns, the Royal Canadian Legion launched its official Amazon.ca storefront on Oct. 25, 2024. The storefront offers lapel poppies, available for donations of $2, $5, $10 or $20, red neon window poppies, We Remember lawn signs and other official Remembrance merchandise.
100 per cent of the money raised through poppy donations goes directly to its Poppy Trust Fund to support veterans and their families. More than 20,000 lapel poppies were distributed through Amazon in 2024 and all sales broke the $200,000 mark.
New this year is the ability to tap to donate to the campaign with a debit card, credit card or digital wallet via tap-on-phone. Legion volunteers from participating branches can use their own compatible smartphones to collect contactless donations.
“This is very exciting. It allows the Legion to increase its reach and as these methods expand across the country and more branches take part, it means a Legion volunteer who has an app on their phone can potentially donate anywhere they are. Not just at their branch, but maybe at the grocery store where someone is looking to donate.”
Bond said society is becoming more and more cashless, although there is no plan to eliminate the poppy cash boxes located across the country. There are also about 2,000 tap to donate boxes available in some areas.
The Legion’s inaugural year of rolling out the new technology is supported by BMO.
“For a century, the poppy has carried a profound promise: that the sacrifice of Canada’s Veterans will never be forgotten,” said Mike Bonner, the head of Canadian personal and business banking distribution. “BMO is honoured to stand with The Royal Canadian Legion in keeping that promise. Having recently had the privilege of addressing delegates in Winnipeg at the Legion’s 50th Dominion Convention in celebration of their 100th anniversary, I remain humbled by how much those in uniform have done and continue to do in service to Canada.”
The Legion continues to offer free memberships, something Bond said has resulted in huge increase.
“We have seen well over 100,000 people join this year. We were already seeing an increase over the past few years and we are really excited. With new members come new ideas, new energy, and we are able to harness that and allow people to use their skillsets and put them to use at the local level.”
She added there are now over 300,000 members across the country.
“It really tells us that Canadians are very supportive of the Legion’s mission and they want to be a part of it. They are supportive of our veterans, our families, and they see the Legion as a community hub and community supporter. It bodes well for the future.”
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