Given recent events, Canadians across the country have been asking the Legion to start the Poppy Campaign early. The Legion understands and fully appreciates Canadian’s desire to find ways to show their support now. However, with the Poppy Campaign only one week away, changing the date is not as easy as it might seem.
The start date of the Poppy Campaign was determined by over 300,000 members of the Legion through a democratic process at a bi-annual Convention and was passed by vote into the Legion General By-laws. Changing a by-law requires we follow the resolution process with a membership vote. The Legion would not be able to facilitate this within a day or two.
From a more practical level, there is massive planning involved in delivering the Poppy Campaign. Tens of thousands of volunteers from over 1400 Legion Branches across the country are involved in the process. From a national level, there is a huge process involved in ordering and coordinating delivery of supplies to Branches. From a local Branch level, Legion volunteers across the country work with numerous area stores and venues to determine dates and times to distribute Poppies, and coordinate volunteers to distribute the Poppies during the campaign. This all takes a great deal of time. Making a sudden and immediate change to the start date is not as easy as it sounds. Can we look at changing the date down the road? Yes. But at this time, we cannot change the date for this year.
However, while the campaign does not officially start until October 31, if Canadians want to wear a Poppy, we welcome them to show their support early. And while you may not see the campaign out in your community yet, many Branches do have Poppies available at their location for those who stop by.
Legion members across the country support Canada’s serving military and retired Veterans every day. At this time of year, we offer the Poppy Campaign to help Canadians Remember, and show their support. It’s important to note, the Legion does not ‘sell’ Poppies. We offer them freely, and appreciate any donations. All donations go directly to support Veterans and their families in need. The Legion also is honoured to coordinate and deliver Remembrance Day Ceremonies in cities, towns and villages across the country.
This year, and every year, we encourage every Canadian to participate in the Poppy Campaign and attend your local Remembrance Day Ceremony to honour, thank and Remember.
Lest We Forget