Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 members, veterans, elected officials and invited guests attended a soft launch of Branch 25’s new office and apartment complex at 96 Great Northern Road Friday.
The soft launch took place in Branch 25’s new museum on the building’s ground floor and was highlighted by the unveiling of military paintings by Sault artist Doug Bradford and daughter Cindy Hatt.
As reported earlier, five of the eight paintings - three by Bradford, five by Hatt - were specially created as a permanent exhibit for the new museum.
Some of them will be on display throughout the Branch 25 apartment building.
“We’re here to honour the men and women who gave up their lives for us to freely live here and I think it’s very important for everybody to know that,” Bradford told SooToday.
Bradford has a long history of creating paintings that honour the Canadian Armed Forces through the Canadian Forces Art Program.
His paintings include works portraying the 49th (Sault Ste. Marie) Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA), Canada’s role in the Korean War and commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy.
Several of his paintings are on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
“My mother was a really good artist and we used to sit down at the dining room table and watch her sketch and paint. The gift comes from my mother to myself, my brother Ken, my daughter Cindy and our whole family. We were given a gift for that and it’s helped us along the way,” Bradford said.
“It’s exciting,” said Hatt, a Sault native now living in San Diego who took a flight to her hometown to attend Friday’s event.
“I think it’s really important to honour the veterans. As children our parents really instilled in us that the good life that we’re living right now is because of the efforts of our ancestors, people who fought in World War I and World War II. The military is defending us now all around the world so that we can live a good life. I’m personally grateful for all that they do. It’s hard work to dedicate your life to the Canadian military and for me this is a way of giving back and showing my thankfulness through art.
“I have that artistic gift from my grandmother Louise. I never got to meet her but she was involved in the Algoma Art Society and was a great artist herself. My dad has given me the gift and the gift is in my children and my cousin’s children,” Hatt said.
She has participated in several Bradford family art shows and has had her paintings displayed at art shows in Victoria and San Diego.
“It’s just in us. We do it. We have to. It just comes out,” Hatt said with a chuckle.
“I’ve been involved with the museum for about 50 years,” said Ron Rouleau, Branch 25 2nd vice-president and the museum’s assistant curator.
“It’s great that so many people would come together and share in the opening of this museum. It’s spectacular. It’s wonderful. This new building saved the Legion and the museum. We just couldn’t afford to be in that old building any longer. We get to continue our work with the veterans, the community and the Poppy Campaign and the museum. These photos of the people that are here, those are the people that deserve this,” Rouleau said.
The new Branch 25 museum was finished in early July.
Some of its artifacts were on display at Branch 25’s temporary home at the Marconi Multicultural Event Centre after the old location at 96 Great Northern Road was closed and demolished to make way for the new Branch office and nine-storey, 108-unit accessible building.
Most of the artifacts were in storage at the Sault Ste. Marie Museum.
The new museum honours Canadian army, navy and air force veterans, including local men and women who have served Canada and who have died in the line of duty.
The museum has a three-dimensional model of the Canadian flag on its ceiling.
“The space is beautiful. I love the Canadian maple leaf symbol on the ceiling. They’ve done a good job of creating a community space as well as a museum. I’m pleased that a little bit of me and my dad will be a part of it,” Hatt said.
“Doug Bradford has been a friend of the Canadian Armed Forces and veterans for many years,” said Pierre Breckenridge, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 president.
“He’s always been generous with his time, with his demonstration of that love he has for the Canadian Armed Forces through his art and he’s passed it on to his daughter Cindy. What both of them have given to us today is incredible. Those paintings will be hanging on our Legion walls for generations.”
Paintings created and donated to the museum by Doug Bradford include:
- Battle of Vimy Ridge (painted especially for Friday’s occasion)
- A Dangerous Threat
- A study of ‘M is for Mother’
Paintings created and donated to the museum by Cindy Hatt include:
- Canadian Women Radar Pilots
- Miron Military Contribution
- CWAC Drivers (Canadian Women’s Army Corps)
- Got Your Six
- Canadian Ranger
All but one of Hatt's contributions - Got Your Six - was painted especially for the museum.
Breckenridge said he hopes to have an official grand opening of the new Branch 25 building in October in order for provincial and national Royal Canadian Legion officers and elected officials in attendance.
Meanwhile the public can tour the new Branch 25 museum by appointment.
Appointments can be made by calling the Branch 25 office at (705) 945-8721 or by email.
“We may eventually open it to the public regularly but for the time being we must figure out security for this building. We don’t want anything else taken,” Breckenridge said, referring to the June theft of the casting of the citation First World War hero William Merrified received.
The new Branch office and nine-storey, 108-unit accessible building opened up to tenants in the spring, with some units still available.
The Branch office is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m Monday to Friday, its lounge open from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
There is also a banquet room available for occasions such as celebrations of life, though the kitchen is not fully operational.
Breckenridge said he hopes the kitchen will be fully open by the beginning of September.
The new building came into being after $32 million in federal funding and $1.9 million from Veterans Housing Ontario was announced in January 2023.
SalDan Developments was the contractor.
Construction began in early 2023 and was completed in spring 2024.
The building belongs to Legion Branch 25 while the apartment complex is jointly owned by Legion Branch 25 and Veterans Housing Inc., a group that includes Sam Biasucci, SalDan Developments president.