Sask. Legions cancel meetings for group that wants sovereignty referendum

CBC News

· Posted: May 29, 2025 8:33 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

The Royal Canadian Legion won't let a radical pushing for a sovereignty referendum successful Saskatchewan to clasp meetings successful Legion halls.

Unified Grassroots is encouraging radical to motion a petition calling for a referendum connected a sovereign Saskatchewan. Its website says the intent of the referendum would beryllium "to empower the provincial authorities to negociate caller presumption for Saskatchewan's narration whether arsenic portion of Canada oregon arsenic an autarkic nation."

In an email to CBC News, the provincial enforcement manager of the Legion's Saskatchewan Command, Chad Wagner, said Unified Grassroots's "public calls for actions similar Saskatchewan separation, and truthful their events, bash not align with the Legion's founding principles and the promotion of Canadian unity."

Nadine Ness, the president and laminitis of Unified Grassroots, said the municipality halls are astir much sovereignty for Saskatchewan — which could inactive beryllium wrong a agreed Canada.

"It's teaching radical astir the antiauthoritarian processes that we person successful our country," she said. "So radical either privation this to beryllium a antiauthoritarian state oregon they privation this to beryllium an authoritarian country."

Unified Grassroots had planned to clasp 8 of its upcoming municipality hallway meetings successful Legion halls crossed Saskatchewan, including successful Prince Albert, Meadow Lake, Humboldt, Nipawin, Weyburn and Estevan. Those events person present been cancelled by the Legion.

Ness said she learned astir the cancellations from the section Legion halls she had booked.

She said 1 told her this directive came from Saskatchewan Command, portion different said it came from Dominion (or national) Command.

Ness said she has asked for an explanation, but arsenic of aboriginal Thursday afternoon, she had not heard from either of them.

"They won't instrumentality my calls," she said. "They person my telephone number. They ne'er erstwhile reached retired to america to adjacent spot what it was about."

In the emailed effect to CBC News, Wagner said each subdivision of the Legion has autonomy, but the branches indispensable beryllium tally successful enactment with the Legion's halfway principles. Wagner said the Legion "simply reminded" its branches of its policies.

He said groups similar Unified Grassroots are not wrong the Legion's objectives, frankincense the events were cancelled, adding the Legion volition not entertain an lawsuit that encourages oregon promotes separation.

In a video connected societal media, Ness said the connection "separation" doesn't look successful advertizing for the municipality halls, but acknowledged separation is 1 of respective imaginable outcomes of her group's efforts.

"We don't cognize what the result is," she said. "We're going to try to bash everything we tin truthful that it doesn't get to separation, but it is inactive connected the table."

In her interrogation with CBC News, Ness said her radical is present receiving invitations from crossed the state to big municipality hallway meetings successful quonsets and barns.