2021 is the 100th anniversary of the poppy as a flower of remembrance in Canada. The poppy became immortalized in the poem “In Flanders Field” written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae who was a Canadian physician and served in World War I. He wrote the poem in memory of a friend and fellow soldier who had been killed the day before.

Executive Director Steven Clark with the National Headquarters of the Royal Canadian Legion says the history of adopting the poppy is a multinational story. He says the poem was published in a magazine in the U.K. and an American teacher read it and decided she would always wear a poppy in remembrance. Madame Anna Guerin of France learned of the custom and created the Inter-Allied Poppy Day Scheme.

In July 1921 she met with the predecessor of the Royal Canadian Legion, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, they approved her plan and Canada became the first country in the Empire to adopt the poppy as the flower of Remembrance to be worn on Armistice Day in memory of fallen soldiers.

Steven Clark says they are selling poppy seeds so that no matter where you are in the country you can support the legion, celebrate the anniversary of the poppy and remember a fallen soldier or veteran you may know. Clark says they are also very proud of the replica pin of the original poppy that was first made back in 1921. Both items can be purchased at poppystore.ca.