![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/VerdunLegion.jpg\" "\\"VerdunLegion\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nLast Sunday, November 4 was an emotional day for members of The Royal Canadian Legion\u2019s Branch 4 in Verdun. It was the last time that participants in the annual Verdun Remembrance Day parade could walk from the Cenotaph directly into the Great War Memorial Hall, the building they built in 1929.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe building is too big for us,\u201d said Ross Neil, first vice president of Branch 4 and the chairperson of the committee in charge of the building sale. \u201cWe\u2019re now around 200 members. The upkeep is a little too much. We thought about getting someone else in there, but that would have required lots of renovating so the ultimate decision was to sell it and find somewhere else to stay. We started last summer sometime. We finally had an acceptable offer in February.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Muslim Association of Canada bought the 10,000 square foot building at 4538 rue Verdun last March to turn it into the Verdun Islamic Community Centre. The value of the building and the lot on which it sits is $669,000 according to the tax rolls.<\/p>\n
This will be the fourth move in the history of the branch, which began as the Great War Veteran’s Association in 1919. They originally met at the old Verdun City Hall, then a rented hall on Wellington Street before building the Great War Memorial Hall. Several financial hurdles were successfully overcome in the years since then, including the Quebec Government\u2019s decision to require the group to pay taxes on their building in 1995. A diminishing membership in recent years led the group to seek out rented space again.<\/p>\n
They found it at 5969 Verdun Avenue. The former pharmacy has 3,000 square feet on the main floor and another 3,000 on the top floor. It is owned by 4370732 Canada Inc., which is run by Guy Barr\u00e9, out of Pointe Claire.<\/p>\n
The Great Memorial Hall had to be rezoned as a religious space for the Muslim group and the former pharmacy had to be rezoned as a social club. Three Borough Council Meetings and a waiting period to see if Verdun residents would oppose the motions meant that the Legion couldn\u2019t get into their new space by November 1 as they planned.<\/p>\n
They asked the new owners if they could share the space for a month, and the new owners agreed. \u201cIn the past few months, we\u2019ve allowed them to use the hall with no charge so they\u2019re doing the same thing for us,\u201d said Neil.<\/p>\n
For the next couple of weeks, Monday crib nights and Wednesday darts will take place in the basement while the new owners hold prayer meetings and other activities in the hall upstairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re planning to move into the new building in the beginning of December, says Neil. \u201cIt may not be 100% complete but we\u2019ll be able to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Note: This article also appears on p12 of the city edition of The Suburban.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Verdun Islamic Centre Sharing Space until December Last Sunday, November 4 was an emotional day for members of The Royal Canadian Legion\u2019s Branch 4 in Verdun. It was the last time that participants in the annual Verdun Remembrance Day parade could walk from the Cenotaph directly into the Great War Memorial Hall, the building they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-verdunposts","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-jR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16043,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/verdun-remembers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1231,"position":0},"title":"Verdun Remembered by the Legion, November 2, 2014","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"November 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"2020 The Legion Remembrance Day in 2020 will take place on Facebook Live due to the pandemic. 2014 Today, I'll share a story I did back in 2014 to commemorate the day. Verdun Legion Remembrance Day Services took place Sunday, November 2, 2020 from 1:45 until about 4 p.m. Our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Verdun"","block_context":{"text":"Verdun","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/verdunposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WP_20141102_002.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WP_20141102_002.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WP_20141102_002.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WP_20141102_002.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WP_20141102_002.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":591,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/verdun-invites-comments-about-densification-in-wellington-de-leglise-sector\/","url_meta":{"origin":1231,"position":1},"title":"Verdun Invites Comments about Densification in Wellington de L\u2019Eglise Sector","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"June 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Verdun welcomes citizen comments and memorandums about densifying the Wellington de L\u2019Eglise Sector as part of its master plan today, Wednesday, June 20 at 7 p.m. in the Council Hall on the second floor, 4555 Verdun Street. \u201cI\u2019d encourage you to think outside the box,\u201d said council member Ann Guy,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Verdun"","block_context":{"text":"Verdun","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/verdunposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/homessmall.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17158,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/verdun-borough-meeting-last-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":1231,"position":2},"title":"Verdun Borough Meeting Last Night","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"May 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night, borough councillors in Verdun met to make decisions for many of Verdun\u2019s upcoming summer projects, including the Verdun family markets that our coop, Cooperative Abondance Urbain Solidaire, will be organizing this summer. 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