Minister of Veterans Affairs Jill McKnight (left) and Richard Bialachowski (right).
A Veteran, lawyer and volunteer, Richard Bialachowski has offered his time and talents to support the Veteran community for more than two decades. He is involved with the Hamilton Signals Association, 32 Signals Advisory Council, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 315, Friends of HMCS HAIDA, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Senate and the Thirteenth (XIII) Regiment Foundation.
For almost 20 years, Richard Bialachowski has provided pro bono legal counsel to various charities and not-for-profit organizations such as Royal Canadian Legion Branch 315, the Hamilton Signals Association (HSA) and the 32 Signals Advisory Council. He was instrumental in getting the HSA incorporated and maintaining its charitable status and volunteered considerable time drafting bylaws ensuring they were tailored to the needs of the HSA. He also advised the HSA board regularly on governance issues and prepared draft governance documents. He advised the board on the changing law regarding governance because of the COVID-19 lockdowns. He assisted the 32 Signals Regiment Advisory council in changing their organizational structure with the provision of advice on governance issues. As a member of the HSA, he was a key player acquiring and restoring historic military signal artefacts for the purpose of saluting Veterans. He is active in educating the general public on the role Veterans played.
Richard has also been a member of the Board of Directors of Friends of the HMCS HAIDA (FOH) for almost 15 years. He has chaired the Governance Committee since 2022 and was recently appointed Chair of the Twinning of the HMCS HAIDA and ORP BŁYSKAWICA Committee. He was responsible for re-opening connections through the Polish Consulate General with ORP BŁYSKAWICA, a Polish Memorial ship that joined the HMCS HAIDA during the D-Day Campaign. His aim is to have both ships exchange Naval compliments and have a Veteran’s exchange visit. He was also actively involved in organizing and chairing the HMCS HAIDA 80th Anniversary Committee. In addition to this volunteer work, he and his law firm also donated much time and resources to the FOH to transition it to the new Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act. He also assists Veterans in transcribing archival diaries used on the website and for educational programs.
If he wasn’t already active enough within the Veteran community, Richard has also been a member of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (RHLI) Senate since 2015. In this role, he is actively involved in maintaining history, customs and traditions of RHLI. He works at preserving, maintaining and protecting the real assets, artefacts and memorabilia, overseeing the operation of the RHLI Heritage museum, assisting members of the RHLI Regimental family and acting as a corporate member of the Thirteenth (XIII) Regiment Foundation.
Somehow, Richard also finds time to volunteer with other community organizations like CityKidz, the Rotary Club of Hamilton Stoney Creek, St. John Ambulance and ProAction Cops & Kids.
One of his fellow volunteers had this to say about him: “His passion for Canadian Military heritage, telling the story of our Veterans and for engaging our youth sets an excellent role model for Canada’s youth and other Veterans and has made a positive impact on the lives of those around him. […] He’s consistently displayed leadership and initiative on behalf of Veterans and has helped many Veterans from blundering or suffering unnecessary stress.”