Deer takes on another term 

Ray Deer won’t be retiring just yet. The president of the Royal Canadian Legion Mohawk Branch 219 is now on his eighth consecutive term, following an election at the hall earlier this month. 

“I'm hoping one of our younger veterans will be ready to step in, then I would be ready to step down,” said Deer, who ran unopposed. “I’m 70 years old now, I can’t be doing this forever.”

There are others on the executive he’s eyed as potential successors, but they’ve yet to step up to the plate. They include Tara Jacobs White, his vice president, as well as Mark Jacobs, his second vice president, but both have their own time commitments, he said. 

Tara still works as an intelligence analyst for the Kahnawake Peacekeepers, and is also chairperson for the cannabis control board, while Mark runs a construction business. Deer had even nominated her for the title during the prior election, but she declined.

“They've asked me to stay on board because they're not ready to jump in as of yet. They have an interest, but you know, it's just not in their cards at this time,” Deer said.

The composition of the executive at the Legion hasn’t changed much since the election. 

The only new executive elected was Daniel Montour, who’ll replace Michael Thomas. He’s an associate member with a long history of volunteering at the Legion, Deer said. 

“We wanted to have somebody that was totally involved with the Legion, and he’s the pulse of Legion,” the president said.

It’s the first time an associate has ever joined the executive, Deer said. Associate members are directly related to veterans, who historically have been the only ones allowed to run for executive. This time around however that wasn’t an option, leading to the decision to try something new.

Reflecting on their successes of the past year, the first thing that came to mind for Deer was this past Remembrance Day. He’s never seen so many come to town to join in on the parade in the more than two decades he’s volunteered with the Legion. 

“That was the most members that had participated and the most community members that had ever showed up for the parade. So that, to me, was a huge success,” said Deer, who said it brought him back to what Remembrance Day celebrations were like back in the 1960s and 70s.

Thanks to the help of Council chief Ryan Montour, they were also able to raise over $9,000 that day. Montour, also an executive, was the one behind the half-and-half raffle that made that possible. 

“Just like any other Royal Canadian Legion, all of us are struggling. You hear that across the country,” Deer said. “He's been instrumental, he's done a bunch of fundraisers for us keeping us above water.”

He’s also relieved to see more community members at the hall each weekend. Dawn Marquis has been running weekly cornhole tournaments there each Sunday, which have been quite the hit.

“Our Sundays were dead, nobody was here. But since she initiated this Sunday tournament ,we've been getting people that have not been coming to the Legion, they've been coming to play," he said.

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