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The Naked Truth

Don Pitcairn

Oct. 12, 2026

Crosswalk Conundrum

I am a firm believer in the old adage "If you don't ask, the answer is always no."  With 2026 being the 100th year anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion, the 100th year of the White Rock Legion #8 and the 75th year of the Crescent Legion #240, I decided to ask the City of Surrey to paint Veteran's crosswalks at these three Surrey Legions.  This followed the Cloverdale Legion #6 receiving one of these Veteran's crosswalks back in November 2025 that was painted in red and white featuring a silhouette of a kneeling soldier, a maple leaf, and the motto "Lest We Forget."   My communication with Surrey City Hall began in the summer before the Crescent Legion's 75th anniversary and I was under no illusions that any of this would happen before the big party in August.  It turns out I was correct but it was still a pleasant surprise to learn in September that Surrey Engineering had promised a Veteran's crosswalk would be installed at both the Crescent and White Rock Legion before Nov. 11th this year.  I was also informed that the Whalley Legion #229 crosswalk has been delayed for at least a year due to construction around the city centre.

There was plenty of discussions between the Crescent Legion's President Scott McMahon and the lead Surrey Engineer as to where the best location would be.  It was finally decided to paint the crosswalk on the sidewalk running directly across the Legion's driveway even though the Legion's preferred choice was across 128 St. to the SFS Fire Hall #12 and Crescent Park.   There are many different layouts for these Veteran's crosswalks and the one chosen was a standard white crosswalk with solid white bars, a line of red maple leafs applied on top and the motto "In honour of those who served and sacrificed" painted on either end in both English and French.  This was completed during the night on Oct 7th and in the morning I drove by on my way to work and stopped to take photos of the finished product.  I thought it would be of interest to the people living in the Semiahmoo peninsula and I posted photographs of it onto several community Facebook pages.  To my surprise it received thousands of likes and comments showing that the community support for this project and others like it was almost universal. 

Along with the Crescent Legion, a Veteran's crosswalk was also promised for the White Rock Legion, again in time for Remembrance Day.  Complicating this issue was this Legion campaigning for a new pedestrian activated crosswalk across 152 St. between the Legion at 2290 152 St. and the White Rock Christian Academy on the other side of the road.  The reason for this request was that the busy road crossing creates serious pedestrian safety for Legion members, veterans with mobility issues, visitors and children moving between the school and legion parking lots, with both sides being used for overflow parking.  While this crosswalk and a Veteran's crosswalk were different issues, the hope was that both could be combined to solve the safety issue while beautifying this stretch of 152 St.  It turns out that Surrey has now completed a "Veteran's crosswalk" in front of the White Rock Legion. It consists of a line of four red maple leafs painted on the sidewalk.  It is not in front of either driveway, it does not have any white bars, no silhouette of soldiers, no motto, in fact there are no words at all.  When I asked the Legion President Chris Voisey for his thoughts he told me it was "pathetic" and that "doing nothing would have been better."  Drop by the #8 Legion at 2290 152 St. to see it for yourself and take the time to go inside and sign their petition for a pedestrian crosswalk across 152 St.

All of this brings me to the city of White Rock.  For those not aware of its history, the original White Rock Legion was built at the base of the iconic White Rock Pier in 1929.  It was damaged by fire in 1935, moved inland and then later relocated to it's present location in South Surrey in 1971.  The City of White Rock does not have an actual Legion branch within it's borders but it does have an awesome cenotaph across from the block that houses their City Hall, RCMP Detachment and Fire Department.  Since the Royal Canadian Legion supports Veterans and First Responders across Canada, installing a Veteran's crosswalk somewhere in the area east of Laura's Coffee Corner would be a natural fit.  If you have never been to the White Rock Cenotaph on Nov. 11th, it is quite the ceremony and the crowd is huge.  Currently White Rock has two coloured crosswalks; a Rainbow Pride crosswalk at Five Corners a block from City Hall and another Pride Crosswalk leading across Roper Ave. to the Peace Arch Elementary School. 

The Poppy Campaign starts on Oct. 24 with all the proceeds going to funding future operations of local legions.

Join in the Remembrance Day ceremonies on November11th. We will never forget!

Please visit the White Rock Legion #8 webpage or Facebook group for more information about how to sign their 152 St. crosswalk petition.

https://www.legion8whiterock.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/whiterocklegion008/

Naturally yours,
Don Pitcairn.  

The new Veteran's crosswalk in front of the Crescent Legion #240 was recently completed. It looks amazing and compliments the new paint job volunteers did on the building for the 75th anniversary of the branch.

Thank you to the City of Surrey Engineering Dept. and the painting crew who got this project completed before Nov. 11th.

It will be put to good use at this year's Remembrance Day ceremony.

If you want to see the new Veteran's crosswalk the Crescent Legion is located at 2643 128 St. across from Crescent Park.

Everyone is welcome, anyone can join and membership is free for 2026 as we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion.

• Installing transit priority to make buses faster and more reliable

• Expanding sidewalks and improving bus stops to make bus stops more comfortable

• Increase housing along transit routes to improve access to transit 

• Fund transit expansion through new revenue tools to make transit more abundant

• Making transit inclusive and safe with adequate lighting and public washrooms

  Which candidates have signed the Transit Hero Pledge?!

  In White Rock these are the ONLY candidates to take the pledge.

  White Rock / Council Candidates Together for White Rock

  • David Chesney

  • Conrad King

  • Anthony Manning

  • Christopher Trevelyan