A group of Burlington woodcarvers has been making canes for veterans for the past six years.
To date, they have presented 158 of the canes, which bear a beaver on the handle and the name of the veteran and his regiment woodburned onto the shaft.
The tradition of presenting canes to veterans is said to date back to the US Civil War. When soldiers would return home with leg injuries, their neighbours would carve a cane for them with an eagle head top. Over time, the tradition faded but in the early 2000s some woodworkers reignited the tradition and now woodcarvers around the US make thousands each year.
Carver Bob Pring said he and his friends learned of the practice on a trip to Michigan in 2016 and decided they wanted to do something similar in honour of Canadian vets.
"We hashed it out on the seven-hour drive back," Pring said of the trip he made with Ken Naunton, Mike Sheppard and Ken Maitland. "We weren't going to carve an eagle head. So, what's our national symbol? The beaver. We decided on the beaver and Mike Sheppard designed the pattern because he is an exceptional carver."
They joined with another 10-15 woodcarvers and began making the canes out of the sculpture workshop in the Art Gallery of Burlington.
"We are really a family here," Pring said. "It's a work of love really."
Pring said he has probably done 40 canes himself. "It's kind of my passion," he said.
When carving, he thinks about the war: "I was born during the war, but not of the war. I was born in 1942. I never had any exposure to it. My dad was a baker so we had lots of food. So, it was like I really did not know the war till my grandfather came back in '45. He would talk only a little bit about it.
"But I think about all the people that have given their lives. I think about the effort these people put in, the training they went through and the horrors they saw, heard and smelled. I think that would be something that stayed with you forever."
The canes are always presented for free and cannot be privately purchased.
"Sometimes it might go to their son or grandchild," Pring said.
The group keep a ledger that lists the recipients, dates when the presentations were made and the name of the carver who made each cane.
Primarily, the recipients are suggested by local Legions, but the carvers also make canes for former police officers and firemen.
In 2017, they made a number for the Invictus Games, and presented one to Games founder, Prince Harry.
The group has also sent canes to be presented in Apeldoorn, Burlington's sister city in the Netherlands. "I think we sent 26 over there," Pring said. "They made a big splash over there. We did a video about how we make them. They showed it over there and some of the people were really touched by it."
Woodturners create the shaft for the cane and then the beaver head is carved from a wood blank, based on a basic pattern. Each one is unique.
Pring said recipients are often visibly moved to receive the cane. "I remember one batch we did for five Indigenous people that were in the armed forces. We did that in Hamilton. One of the recipients was in the US Marine Corps. You know how tough these characters are. When I presented to him, he did not say much but I could tell he was really shaken. He said that since he left the Corps he had not heard one thing from them."
He added: "It means a lot to them. Because someone has remembered. Someone took the time to carve this, to paint it, to put their name on it. Just for them."