The significance of the poppy on Remembrance Day

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As Canadians prepare to honour the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom and security. Volunteers across the country are selling poppies in honour of remembrance day. Donna Skelly takes a look at the origin of the iconic symbol and finds out where the millions of dollars raised is spent.

They grew wild throughout Europe during the first world war and could be seen flourishing among the graves of fallen soldiers.

The red poppy , made famous in John McCrae’s poem ” In Flanders Fields” was adopted as Canada’s symbol to honour our war dead in 1921.

Throughout the decades the poppy has seen minor changes . From 1980 to 2002, the centre was green then changed back to black to better resemble the actual flower.

Last year 20 million poppies were distributed during the Canadian Legion’s Poppy Campaign raising millions of dollars in donations.

What most people aren’t aware of is that all of the money collected by local branches of the Royal Canadian Legion stays at the local branch. It’s used to pay for things veterans need – items not covered by veterans affairs.

Lucy Martin has run the poppy campaign at the Hamilton Mountain Legion for the past 17 years. Her branch raises between forty and 60 thousand dollars every year with all of it going to local veterans. “They come in because DVA won’t look after… they call it ‘trivial things’. Well it’s not trivial if you need them for your health. Then I support them. ” Lucy’s four brothers and five brothers in law all fought in the Second World War. She is passionate about the poppy campaign and about helping Canada’s war veterans. “November the 11th shouldn’t be the only day, you should be thinking of them every day. Every day to me is Veterans Day.”