The Poppy Campaign

The following is from the Royal Canadian Legion (Dominion Command) Website:

Each November, Poppies blossom on the lapels and collars of over half of Canada’s entire population. Since 1921, the Poppy has stood as a symbol of Remembrance, our visual pledge to never forget all those Canadians who have fallen in war and military operations. The Poppy also stands internationally as a “symbol of collective reminiscence”, as other countries have also adopted its image to honour those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.
This significance of the Poppy can be traced to international origins.
The association of the Poppy to those who had been killed in war has existed since the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th century, over 110 years before being adopted in Canada. There exists a record from that time of how thickly Poppies grew over the graves of soldiers in the area of Flanders, France. This early connection between the Poppy and battlefield deaths described how fields that were barren before the battles exploded with the blood-red flowers after the fighting ended.
Just prior to the First World War, few Poppies grew in Flanders. During the tremendous bombardments of that war, the chalk soils became rich in lime from rubble, allowing “popaver rhoes” to thrive. When the war ended, the lime was quickly absorbed and the Poppy began to disappear again.
The person who was responsible more than any other for the adoption of the Poppy as a symbol of Remembrance in Canada and the Commonwealth was Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian Medical Officer during the First World War.

Ex-serviceman risks eviction by flying Canadian flag on balcony

OTTAWA (CBC) - An ex-serviceman refuses to take down the Canadian flag on his balcony in a subsidized housing unit in Cardinal, Ont., even though the local housing authority is threatening to evict him.
Mark Murray, 53, served with the Royal Canadian Regiment and the Canadian Airborne Regiment in the 1970s and 1980s.

He lives in the Seaway Apartments, which are operated by the community housing authority in United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.

He said Friday he was given the flag by his local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion last year, and he has flown it ever since.

Now he has received more encouragement not to take down the flag.

"I got a phone call here from Sean Wilson. He's the brother of Mark Wilson who was killed in action in Kandahar on Oct. 7, 2006, and he sent me a message here asking me not to take down my flag - to leave it up.

"I don't have the heart to take it down ... I can't do it now," he said.

Last Thursday, an official from the community housing department told him the flag had to come down or he would be sent an "N-5" letter, the first step in the process leading to eviction.

He was told the flag violates a rule requiring all subsidized properties to have a uniform appearance.

"I was going to negotiate with them, and ask for a flagpole in the back. But this has taken on a new meaning now, to the families, and to the troops," Murray said.

The director of community and social services, Dorothy Theobald, told CBC News Monday that her department is trying to work with Murray, but, she said, the flag can't stay.