Sarnia Legion’s longtime website redirects elsewhere amid questions over domain control

Sarnia Legion’s longtime website redirects elsewhere as records reveal questions about domain control and a new Facebook page claims official status.

Visitors to the Sarnia Legion’s longstanding website are being redirected to a veterans’ remembrance site that does not identify itself as part of the branch, even as provincial trustees work to consolidate control over the organization’s online presence.

The address sarnialegion.com now forwards visitors to sarnialegion.ca, where a website titled Lest We Forget presents Canadian veterans’ stories and remembrance material. Several prominent links, including About, Contact and Veterans’ Stories, returned errors when checked by The Sarnia Journal.

The Royal Canadian Legion’s Branch 62 instead operates its current website at rcl62.ca, which advertises events, membership information and veterans’ services.

The website arrangement also differs from one described just days earlier in correspondence obtained by The Journal.

In a November 10 email, a website developer assisting Branch 62 confirmed that sarnialegion.com had been configured to forward visitors to rcl62.ca. The developer also described plans to transfer the longstanding .com address into a GoDaddy account belonging directly to the branch.

But by November 12, the address was directing visitors to sarnialegion.ca instead.

The available records do not establish when the forwarding destination changed, who authorized the change or whether the planned transfer was completed.

The developer’s correspondence also raised questions about the history and administration of the Canadian domain, which had previously been used by the Legion itself.

In the same email, the developer explained that sarnialegion.ca was not held in the GoDaddy account used to manage the .com address.

“From what I can find so far it looks like Ron RealeSmith purchased sarnialegion.ca himself through GoDaddy back in May 2017,” the developer wrote.

Public records show that the current registration began April 27, 2017. They do not identify who registered the domain or who controls it today.

Realesmith is the branch’s suspended president, temporarily removed from the position by Ontario Command on October 6 while a formal complaint under the Legion’s General By-Laws was being addressed.

The developer said the domain might still be in a GoDaddy account established by Realesmith and that someone at the branch having access to it would help with the administration of the address.

Historical records examined by The Journal reveal why the 2017 registration is significant.

Branch 62 had used sarnialegion.ca for years before that date. A membership notice published in Aamjiwnaang First Nation’s Chippewa Tribe-Une newsletter in March 2014 listed an email address using the domain, while Internet Archive records establish its presence online as early as 2013.

Yet the address appeared on an archived list of Canadian internet domains scheduled for release on April 26, 2017, through the Canadian Internet Registration Authority’s expired-domain process. Its current registration began the following day.

The other address, sarnialegion.com, had been registered earlier that year. In subsequent years, the Canadian domain forwarded visitors to the .com website, an arrangement documented in Internet Archive records through July 2025.

The Canadian domain also continued serving a role in Legion communications, with historical records showing email services configured through the address and published notices advertising it for branch enquiries.

Questions about the branch’s online presence have resurfaced during an extraordinary period for Branch 62.

On October 14, Ontario Command suspended the branch executive’s governing powers and appointed Mark Rogers, Gabriele Janka and Caroline Mayo as trustees. Further executive resignations followed, and Cathy McBride subsequently assumed the presidency.

The changes have also affected how the branch identifies itself on Facebook.

The longstanding page at facebook.com/sarnialegion62 carried a resignation statement from former acting president John Surins criticizing the trusteeship. It was the latest post visible on the page when The Journal reviewed it.

On November 12, another page, facebook.com/RCLBranch62, announced that it was the only authorized Facebook presence for Branch 62.

The announcement said other current or previous pages using the branch’s identity did not have authorization from the branch or Legion leadership.

“Only authorized IT personnel and the Board of Trustees have admin rights,” the announcement stated.

It did not identify who administers the older page.

The Journal has requested comment from Realesmith, McBride and Rogers concerning the domains’ ownership, historical administration, recent forwarding changes and access to the branch’s online accounts. Responses were requested by 2 p.m. Friday, November 13.

Branch 62’s current website is rcl62.ca, while a statement on the newer Facebook page describes the older page as unauthorized. The branch’s longstanding website address, however, continues to direct visitors elsewhere.