BIKER NEWS: Veterans Motorcycle Club members to march in Chemainus

BIKER NEWS -- Several members of the Ladysmith chapter of the Veterans Motorcycle Club say they will march in the Chemainus Remembrance Day parade and not Ladysmith.

The decision comes after members say the Ladysmith Legion, Branch 171 told them they were not welcome at this year’s parade on Wednesday November 11th.

“My reaction was it’s not the right of the Legion to dictate who can march in a parade, it’s the right of the veterans and people who have served this country and people who came before us that have that right to make that decision” said Kris Dlouhy, President of the Veterans Motorcycle Club of Canada and a Canadian Forces Veteran who served in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

He and the club members say they have earned the right to take part in any Remembrance Day ceremony he wants. However the biker club “label” appears to have made the local legion uncomfortable and earlier this week told the club they were not welcome at this year’s ceremony.

“The Legion and any influences from the outside be it the local police, RCMP, whoever look at us as associated with outlaw motorcycle clubs and they put us in a group that we don’t belong in” Dlouhy told CHEK News.

Lloyd Rose is a club veteran and a 15 year Navy veteran but the fact he and others put their medals on his leather jacket seems to have been yet another reason ask club members not to come this year.

“It doesn’t matter that we ride motorcycles, it doesn’t matter that we wear vests with patches on the back, we’re still veterans. And at the end of the day if we can’t be welcomed into a Legion that is supposed to be there to support veterans then we’re not going to support them” said Rose.

CHEK News visited the Ladysmith Legion seeking more details and clarification for the story and were told someone would contact us however no one did.

The motorcycle club says the Legion has reversed its decision and invited club members to participate in Remembrance Day ceremonies on Wednesday but they say on principle they will march in Chemainus instead.

This article was first published on November 07, 2015
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