Nonprofit organizations belong to their members and their communities — not to whoever happens to hold office. This site explains the rules that govern our Legion branch, in plain language, from public documents — and gives you a confidential way to be heard.
This site is run by people from this community — families with parents, uncles, siblings, and children who have served, some serving today. The Legion exists to honour service and sacrifice, to remember those who never came home, and to look after the people who did. That mission belongs to all of us, and it is bigger than any individual who happens to hold office. We built this because respect for the people who served includes respect for the institution that carries their memory — and an institution is respected by being run properly: openly, accountably, and by its rules. That is the whole agenda.
Nonprofit organizations belong to their members and their communities — not to the people who happen to hold office in them. When an organization is healthy, that's invisible. When it isn't, most people don't know that clear rules exist, that those rules are enforceable, and that ordinary members and citizens have real channels to be heard.
This site explains those rules in plain language, with a focus on how they apply to Royal Canadian Legion branches in Ontario — including our own community's branch. It exists to inform, not to accuse. Every rule described here comes from public documents: Ontario law, the Legion's own by-laws, and Ontario's lottery licensing framework.
This is an independent community initiative. It is not affiliated with, operated by, or endorsed by the Royal Canadian Legion, Ontario Command, or any branch.
Most Ontario nonprofits, including Legion branches, are governed by a combination of provincial law, their national organization's by-laws, and their own branch by-laws. A few principles run through all of it:
None of these questions accuse anyone of anything. They are the standard questions members of any nonprofit are entitled to ask — and entitled to have answered.
If you're a member and you can't get answers to questions like these, that in itself is worth raising through the channels in Section 6.
The Legion is not just a local club — it's a national organization with a formal chain of command, and every branch is accountable upward within it:
Any Legion member in good standing may lodge a formal complaint against another member. The recognized grounds include, among others:
Key points about the process:
We summarize here rather than reproduce the by-laws. Ask your branch for the current General By-Laws — every member is entitled to see them — or consult copies published by Ontario branches online.
If an organization runs a licensed lottery in Ontario — a raffle, a Catch the Ace, a 50/50 — the proceeds are governed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and the terms of the licence. These rules continue to apply after the lottery ends:
In plain terms: winning big doesn't create a slush fund. It creates a regulated trust with a paper trail — and the AGCO accepts complaints and inquiries from anyone, member or not, through its iAGCO online portal (agco.ca).
A common belief among people who accept a seat on a nonprofit executive is that the position is honorary — that responsibility rests with whoever leads, and everyone else is just helping out. That belief is wrong, and it is worth understanding before trouble arrives, not after.
Every officer and executive member personally owes fiduciary duties to the organization: honesty, good faith, loyalty to the organization's interests over anyone's personal interests, and reasonable diligence and care. These duties are owed to the organization and its members — not to the president, and not to whoever appointed you.
Several things that feel like defences are not defences:
The only recognized protection is diligence, on the record. A member who asks questions, requests documentation, votes against an improper decision, and has that dissent recorded in the minutes is protected. Which raises an uncomfortable point: if an executive conducts business informally — by email, by conversation, without proper meetings or minutes — then no member of that executive can ever prove they exercised diligence or objected to anything. An executive without minutes is an executive whose every member silently owns every decision.
Two more things worth knowing. Many branch-level organizations are not separately incorporated, and members of an unincorporated association's executive generally enjoy less personal protection than directors of a corporation — not more. And where directors' insurance exists at all, it excludes dishonesty and knowing misconduct.
None of this is about any particular person or branch. It is what every nonprofit executive member in Ontario signs up for the day they take the seat — whether anyone told them or not.
Different concerns go to different doors. Sending the right concern to the right door is most of the battle.
You cannot file an Article III complaint — but you can still write to the Zone Commander, District Commander, and Ontario Command about a branch's public conduct, and you can file lottery-related complaints with the AGCO like anyone else.
→ The AGCO, via the iAGCO portal at agco.ca. No membership required.
Not sure where your concern belongs? Share it below. Community volunteers will review it confidentially and help route it to the right channel. Nothing is published; nothing is used or attributed without your consent.
Our Legion branch matters to this community. For generations it has stood for service, remembrance, and respect — values that belong to all of Sarnia, not to any one person.
Recently, many longtime members, volunteers, and community supporters have expressed concern about changes at the branch. Some concerns are about tone. Some are about how decisions are being made. Some are about how the organization is being run day to day.
This site exists to listen. If you have witnessed something at the branch — at a meeting, at an event, online, or in person — that you believe the Legion's own leadership at the Zone, District, or Provincial level should know about, you can share it here. If your concern involves how funds are handled, it can be directed to the appropriate provincial authorities as well.
Everything submitted is reviewed by community volunteers preparing formal submissions through the Legion's own established processes and, where appropriate, through provincial oversight bodies. Nothing is published here. Nothing is posted to social media. This is not a forum — it is an intake.
You do not have to be a Legion member to submit. You do not have to give your name to point us in the right direction — though concerns supported by named, firsthand accounts carry far more weight in formal processes.
Are you a Branch 62 member? Add your name to the Members' Accountability List. Under the by-laws, ten percent of the paid-up voting membership can require a Special General Meeting — on any question, within two weeks. This list exists so that when members want answers, reaching ten percent takes days, not months. Joining commits you to nothing. When an action is proposed — by a member, in their own name — you'll get one email explaining it, and you decide then whether to sign, electronically, right from your phone. One email. Member status. That's it. Never shared, never used for anything but member accountability actions and branch governance updates.
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What did you personally see or hear? Please describe only what you personally witnessed — not what you heard secondhand. Include the approximate date, the location or setting (general meeting, event, online, etc.), and who else was present if known. Specific, firsthand accounts are what formal processes can actually use.
Documents, photos, screenshots, or emails related to your concern (optional upload). Meeting notices, emails, photos, and screenshots are often more valuable than any description.
Your name (optional) and contact — email or phone (optional, only used if you consent to follow-up).
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Prefer not to give your name? You can still tell us what you know. Anonymous accounts are never filed as complaints — they corroborate formal ones and tell us where to look.
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Emails, posts, photos, meeting notices — with or without your name. Thirty seconds. Documents are often worth more than any description.
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