Cross Country Canada Ski Team

Cross Country Canada Ski Team

Cross Country Canada Ski Team

The insignia is instantly recognizable from near or far. The cross of bright red bars symbolizes shelter, safety and help when it is truly needed. A part of the international Red Cross community, the Canadian Red Cross is seen as a life-saver in times of desperate need around the world. (In Muslim countries, the Red Cross is replaced with Red Crescent, equally recognizable.) The Red Cross Society had its early beginnings in Geneva, Switzerland in 1863 with the founding of the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded by a five-member group. The organizer, Monsieur H. Dumont had been on a bloody battleground with no medical services in sight years earlier, and saw that with immediate care, more wounded soldiers could be saved. The first international Geneva Convention in 1864 was the product of M. Dumont’s work, said the Canadian Encyclopedia, the agreement giving protection to medical aid workers and the wounded in wartime.

The Canadian Red Cross Society’s history of providing assistance dates back to 1896 when Dr. George Sterling Ryerson organized the Canadian branch of the British Red Cross Society. The Society was a structured entity, with Dr. Ryerson named the first Chairman of the Executive. Two years later, according to Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross Society (CRCS) held their first public meeting in Toronto and began raising funds for the injured in the Spanish-American War.

Canadian Red Cross Society Act

Branches opened across Canada as needs grew. During the war in Africa in 1899, 65 Canadian Red Cross Society branches collected goods and donations to help the wounded. The CRCS was legally established in Canada in 1909 under the Canadian Red Cross Society Act, making it “the corporate body responsible for providing volunteer aid in Canada in accordance with the Geneva Convention.”