Choir provides community to military spouses

Rain poured down on the Remembrance Day ceremony at 12 Wing Shearwater, but the Canadian Military Wives Choir gathered in parkas pinned with handmade poppies and sang solemn songs of remembrance.

The choir performed near the Afghanistan Memorial where military families living on the Royal Canadian Air Force base gathered in the windy and wet weather.

The choir is made up of women with a close connection to the military community. This includes women who are spouses of a serving or retired military member or have served time themselves.

At the ceremony, the choir sang O Canada, God Save the King, I Vow to Thee, My Country and We Will Remember Them.

Maddie Harris-Fallon, 37, is one of the choir members. She is a master sailor in the Royal Canadian Navy and a military spouse herself. Her wife is Diana Fallon, who is a corporal in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Together they have five children.

“In normal Remembrance Day fashion, it was cold and wet,” said Harris-Fallon, “but I was really impressed to see how many people showed up.”

None of the choir members are professional singers themselves, but they volunteer their time to bring together the military community through song.

The choir is a non-profit that has spread from coast to coast. The first group made under the organization was based in Ottawa, Ont., in 2013. Now, it has a choir group at nearly every community with a military base. The Halifax chapter was formed in September 2017.

“The military wives choir is pivotal to spouses, even female serving members, retired members and anybody who’s within the community and is female identifying,” said Harris-Fallon.

Victoria LaFontaine, 31, is the vice-president of the Halifax chapter. She is a mother of three and wife to David LaFontaine, who is a marine technician in the Royal Canadian Navy.

Since COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted, her husband has been sailing almost non-stop. She said she has a lot to coordinate with her children when he is away and is usually running around “like a chicken with her head cut off.”

“The community within the choir really helps, because it’s very isolating being a military spouse,” said LaFontaine.

Maddie Harris-Fallon said, “If I posted with my family to say, Gagetown, where I don’t know anybody, my first day there, I can reach out to somebody within the choir and immediately I have a community.”

The choir also hosts social fundraising events such as paint nights and virtual auctions, with their focus to give back to the community, especially the veteran community. They sing to veterans in Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Hospital several times a year and send them cards during the holiday season.

“Without the veteran,” said LaFontaine. “None of us would be here.”