Higher demand for poppies this November

Poppies could be more popular than usual this year, that from president of the Nova Scotia Nunavut Command of the Royal Canadian Legion, Ronald Trowsdale.

“The last number of years, the awareness and the demand for poppies has been great, and the public has been very supportive, and I think with what has happened here, I think it’ll be on our minds, and we expect there to be even more this year,” he said.

He’s referring to the recent deaths of Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa and Patrice Vincent in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

“I really expect emotions will be high this year,” he said.

The origin of the poppy, according to military historian John Boileau, stems from the first and second World Wars overseas.

“The significance of the poppy is of course that, the blood red colour of it represents Flanders Fields,” he said. Soldiers noticed that where the fallen laid, the poppies grew better.

“And it’s also come now to represent all those in the service of their country who have died, not only in war time, but on peace-keeping, peace-support and peace-making missions,” he said.

Trowsdale encourages people to go out and buy a poppy. He says the money raised goes directly to veterans, and gives them a better quality of life.

“That is our major campaign of the year, and of course all the money is public money, held in trust, and it goes strictly towards veterans and their dependent,” he said.

He estimates the money raised to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.