The Royal Canadian Legion’s branch #59 is about to start its annual poppy campaign, and as per tradition, the first poppies are symbolically handed to dignitaries such as Moose Jaw’s mayor Clive Tolley.
“We’re here to do the first poppy presentation to the mayor of Moose Jaw. He’s the last in (the line of) succession of first poppies that are being presented to the dignitaries across Canada over the course of this week,” explained Sue Knox, the Royal Canadian Legion’s poppy chairperson.
“Once that is done, our poppy campaign skips off tomorrow (Oct. 27) and continues right through until Remembrance Day, at which time we have the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Moose Jaw Events Centre,” she said.
Moose Jaw isn’t the only community where this tradition takes place.
“The premier was presented with his poppy this morning at 10 a.m. in parliament in Regina. The governor-general received her first poppy on the 20th of October last week,” Knox said.
The initial presentation of a poppy is meant to be symbolic. “It is representative of the kick-off of the annual poppy campaign in various centres,” explained Knox.
After the first poppies are symbolically distributed, everyone is invited to join in the spirit of remembering those who gave their lives to serve Canada.
“The significance of wearing a poppy is to remember our fallen comrades who, during the First and Second World Wars and similar conflicts since have given their lives to give us our freedom,” Knox explained.
“It’s a way for us to be able to remember them every year during this period of time, which then culminates on November 11, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.”
“The poppies are being distributed starting today and will continue tomorrow (Oct. 27). Starting (Oct. 28) all day, we have our official kick-off to our poppy day. They will be available at various businesses or street corners around the City of Moose Jaw,” she said.
“Poppy trays are being distributed to various businesses around the city, and they will stay there until just after Remembrance Day.”
Proceeds of the annual poppy campaign go toward helping veterans and their families.
After Remembrance Day, the trays will be picked up and the donations will be tallied. “We have that money available to support our veterans over the course of the next year,” said Knox.
“We support our homeless veterans. We also have a program called Pause for Veterans, which is a program that gives a veteran in need a service dog to help them through their day. The dogs are appropriately trained to deal with different types of (concerns) that veterans deal with on a regular basis.
“We also support the families of veterans in need if they are not able to support themselves on a regular basis,” added Knox.
“In the past we have provided funds to help with heating costs, replacing furnaces or hot water heaters that go all of a sudden and (the veteran in question) doesn’t have backup funds to replace those.
“We provide support through the Riverside Mission, where we have some veterans who are occasionally in a state of homelessness. We try to get them off the street and sheltered.
“Last year we had a couple of veterans involved in the house fires last winter (and who) lost everything. We got them back on their feet again and found housing for them. We gave them food coupons so they could go to one of the grocery stores in town to get food to help sustain themselves.”
After a short speech, Knox presented Mayor Clive Tolley with the first poppy of the 2023 campaign in Moose Jaw.
“In society, we’re thankful for the veterans who gave their lives so that we could have freedom, but it gets a lot closer to home when you look at your grandparents that fought in the First World War, or your parents who fought in the Second World War,” said Mayor Tolley.
“We’ve got so many new Canadians and so many younger people who maybe don’t connect in that way, so it’s our opportunity through the Legion and through the poppy program to talk about it so the memory is kept alive,” Mayor Tolley added.
To help support our veterans and to honour the memory of those who gave their lives for Canada, the annual poppy campaign begins at a variety of business locations Oct. 28, 2023, and you can purchase a poppy with a donation of your choosing.
In response to some providers blocking access to Canadian news on their platforms, our website, MooseJawToday.com will continue to be your source for hyper-local Moose Jaw news. Bookmark MooseJawToday.com and sign up for our free online newsletter to read the latest local developments.
