The Moose Jaw Royal Canadian Legion has decided to cancel its annual memorial service for Decoration Day, due to continued concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
“We decided to cancel because of COVID-19, because [the service] brings the community together to plant Canadian flags together on the flags of veterans,” said Legion second vice-president Sue Knox.
The Decoration Day Memorial was to take place on June 7 in the three cemeteries in Moose Jaw, followed by the annual afternoon parade and service in Crescent Park, but the COVID-19 precautions have prompted the planning committee to reconsider the event.
The annual service involves a number of groups including the Legion and local veterans, military personnel from 15 Wing, ANAVETS members, Boy Scouts, and local cadets groups. Knox and the committee felt that it would be too difficult to organize the event with all of the uncertainty and closures during this time.
“It’s a planning process, it takes about three months to get it organized,” said Knox. “And there just isn’t enough time to do it, even if they let everybody go back to doing their normal things in a couple of weeks.”
The Decoration Day Memorial has only been cancelled once in the last number of years, said Knox, in 2017 due to excessive rain and mucky conditions in the cemeteries. Although this year will be cancelled, the Legion is hoping to find an alternate way to still celebrate Decoration Day for veterans and families.
The committee will be meeting in the next week to discuss an alternate solution for the service, possibly an online format that will allow veterans and families to still share their memorials of lost loved ones.
The Legion hopes to see the traditional service return to normal next year.
“We’re hoping to have it next year, once this whole situation calms down,” said Knox.
More details about the possible online service will be announced in the future, and any questions about the cancellation can be directed to Sue Knox at 1 (306) 684-5593.
