Our Story

About Kin Canada

Kin Canada is proud to be Canada’s largest all–Canadian service organization made up of outstanding community volunteers. From coast to coast, more than 7,000 members belong to approximately 500 Kinsmen Clubs (predominantly male), Kinette Clubs (predominantly female) and (coed) Kin clubs.

Kin members are enhancing quality of life in their communities by promoting service, fellowship, positive values and national pride. The Association boasts a proud 90–year history dedicated to fostering lifelong friendships while “Serving the Community’s Greatest Need.”

The Story Behind the Mural

The Portraits of Honour mural stretches 10 feet tall by 50 feet wide and features the faces of the 152 Canadian soldiers, sailors and aircrew who have lost their lives in Afghanistan.

Originally started in artist Dave Sopha’s home, it quickly took up too much space and was moved into the basement space of Kin Canada’s headquarters located in Cambridge, Ontario.

Since he began in December of 2008, Dave has painted an average of 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. Despite efforts to have him slow down, Dave cannot seem to tear himself away from his mural. He feels an overwhelming obligation to each soldier, sailor and aircrew, and to each of their families to make each portrait perfect.

And he has. In fact, if you point a newer model digital camera at any portrait, it will “ask you” if you want red–eye reduction as it is tricked into recognizing a human face.

Progress on the painting is slow. Because it is done in the medium of oil, it takes many hours to finish each face on the mural. And just when Dave thinks a portrait is done, he looks at it again and finds himself adding another brush stroke in his pursuit of excellence. In fact, if you ask Dave how many portraits are finished on his mural, he will answer, “just one.”

In reality, Dave has managed to complete 142 murals as of this date. He’s sketched in the remaining 10 and is currently painting them detail by painstaking detail. Each time Dave thinks he might catch up, another military member falls in combat. It’s a daunting task but one that Dave refuses to back down from.

Despite the fact that Sopha’s regular business has had to shut down for the past two years, Dave refuses to accept any form of payment for the work that he’s completed. Kin Canada and other private donors have however, assisted him in purchasing the expensive brushes, paints and supplies that he requires to continue.

The Tour

The Portraits of Honour National Tour (POH) is scheduled to commence on June 1, 2011 and will take 8 months to 1 year to complete its national journey.

Currently, the tour is still in the scheduling phase and we hope to release a tentative tour schedule online by March 15, 2011.
The goal of the tour is to provide Canadians from coast to coast with an opportunity to honour and celebrate our Canadian troops, pay respect to those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice and to recognize the challenges that face those who will return home with lasting physical or emotional injuries.

POH will provide Canadians with a chance to grieve together, remember together, celebrate together and heal together. It will act as a catalyst, we hope, for the creation of ancillary events and fundraising opportunities by community groups.

Our goal is to bring the POH Tour to the hometown of every fallen military member and to every city with a Canadian Forces base. Secondarily we will also seek out many other opportunities to attend medium and larger scale events such as festivals and fairs. The hope is to present the mural to as many people as possible. The funds raised will go to helping returning soldiers to join their families,and to restore their place in society.