Branch 360 Launches Appeal

By Olena Wawryshyn

The Ukrainian Royal Canadian Legion Branch 360, in Toronto, has launched an appeal to the Legion’s national body against its recent closure. The Branch, which has promoted veteran’s affairs and played a role in the Ukrainian community for 60 years, was shut down at a meeting on June 7 without any prior warning.

Four days earlier, the executive of Branch 360 was asked to attend a meeting “for no disclosed reason,” says Branch 360 Vice President Roman Kulyk.  At the meeting, a Legion Ontario Command representative, escorted by two police officers, declared that they were shutting the Branch down.

In a letter delivered at the heavy-handed meeting, the Ontario Command states that though Branch 360 participates in the annual poppy drive and supports cadets, its “bar and club business operations have taken precedence over the Legion operations.” The Legion also cites a lack of a seniors’ club, a women’s auxiliary and insufficient community outreach as other reasons for the closure.

The Branch maintains that the Legion’s allegations are false and unsubstantiated. They assert that Branch 360 operated somewhat differently than other branches because of its members interests and its building is located in a central, commercial district while other branches are in residential areas.

“It [Branch 360] was doing more to promote the principles of the Legion than any other branch I’ve been aware of,” said branch member Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk in a June 10^th Globe and Mail article.

Branch 360, named after Filip Konowal, the only Ukrainian Canadian awarded the Victoria Cross, has published Konowal’s biography; distributed copies of it to Canadian and international libraries and throughout Ukraine and erected commemorative plaques in British Columbia; Dauphin, Manitoba; Ottawa; Toronto at Branch 360; and Ukraine, in Konowal’s home village. The last one will be unveiled on August 22 in France, near Vimy Ridge, where Konowal earned the VC. 

Many other Legion branches are places where members go “to meet friends, have a few beers and throw darts,” says Branch 360 President John Gregorovich, “From the very beginning, the officers [of Branch 360] were interested in doing something more than the usual things that Legion branches do,” he adds.

The Branch, which has 91 members, was founded by the Ukrainian Canadian Veteran’s Association in 1946. Many original members were in the Royal Canadian Air Force. The branch had a men’s choir, sponsored music festivals and supported publications on Ukrainians in Canada. They have also supported Ukrainian seniors’ homes.

Money for their Queen Street building was raised by the community. The members wanted to be part of the larger Canadian veteran’s community and, in 1949, “we voluntarily assimilated ourselves into the Legion,” says Kulyk.

In 1965, the Royal Canadian Legion passed an act stating that all the branches’ property would be deemed property of the Legion explained Kulyk. Branch 360’s building is now estimated to be worth approximately $3.5 million.

After Legion rules changed to allow non-members to drink alchohol in their halls, Branch 360 opened a bar and restaurant, and the 360 became a popular venue for up-and-coming musicians. Gregorovich maintains that the Legion’s complaint that the Branch did not provide access to community groups is groundless because young musicians performed there regularly without having to pay for the venue.

The Legion also cited liquor-violation charges, graffiti in the washrooms, a mortgage and the depletion of assets as other reasons for the shut-down.

Kulyk asserts that the violations were minor and the executive maintains that assets were not being depleted. To pay for renovations, the Branch took out a line of credit against the building’s value. Income generated from the bar was being used to pay down the loan and to support various community projects.

When asked what might have motivated the Royal Canadian Legion, Kulyk said that “dwindling financial reserves may be a cause for this sudden act.” According to a CBC TV news report aired two years ago, Legion membership decreased by about 130,000 Canada-wide in the last decade. “That means the funds going to Dominion Command, whose expenses are around $4 million a year, are dropping as well,” said Gregorovich. When a branch is liquidated, the Legion takes over its assets he added.

Branch 360 has not been informed when their appeal will be addressed and was denied an oral appeal.

After the closing, Branch 360’s members voted to “support their current board and its executive; to permit them to act on their behalf to defend their rights as Royal Canadian Legion members; to work to reinstate Branch 360 in good standing and to seek the proper counsel to do so,” said Kulyk.

Markian Szwec, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch, and M.P. Borys Wrzesnewskyj have written letters in Branch 360’s support, which have been submitted to the Legion’s National Command. Branch 360 requests that community members also write to the Legion and to the Minister of Veterans Affairs in their support.