Nov. 07, 2006 - Issue #577: Never Again?
White poppies upset some veterans
The poppies—which are being sold and distributed by Whyte Avenue’s Earth General Store and by the local chapter of the peace group Women in Black—have been imported from a British group called the Peace Pledge Union, which has produced the alternative poppies since 1934. According to the Union’s website, the white poppy “symbolizes the belief that there are better ways to resolve conflicts than killing strangers.” The Royal Canadian Legion, however, feels differently about the campaign.
“The Legion does not support the ‘Poppies for Peace’ campaign—not the peace part, but the poppy part,” said Steven Clark, administrative officer for the Royal Canadian Legion in Ottawa. “The use of the poppy for peace infringes on the copyright that the legion has on the poppy.”
The Legion was granted an exclusive copyright to the poppy in 1948, and has since held yearly poppy drives every year starting in late October, using the money raised to fund Legion programs. According to Clark, the Legion does not necessarily oppose the aims and philosophy of the Poppies for Peace campaign; the group’s objections have more to do with the drive’s timing and choice of symbol.
“This period has always been for our veterans. To link in another campaign takes attention and focus away from the veterans,” Clark explained. “The red poppy has been a symbol of remembrance in Canada since 1921, and since, we’ve had this tradition of red poppies.
“They might consider the use of a different symbol.”
The man who brought the contentious poppies to Edmonton, meanwhile, feels
that veterans offended by the Poppies for Peace campaign have misunderstood
its goals.
“It is in no way meant to be disrespectful to our veterans,”
insisted Earth’s General Store manager Michael Kalmanovitch, who sells
the poppies for $2 at his store. “I’m not anti-troop, and I
don’t think that wearing a white poppy is anti-troops.
“The white poppy recognizes that there are more victims of war than
just the soldiers who die,” he continued, adding that, in his mind, the
philosophy behind wearing a white poppy is actually very much in the spirit
of the original intent of the red poppy campaign.
“The original idea behind Armistice Day and the red poppy was to send
the message ‘never again,’ and I think that’s been
forgotten,” he explained. “I don’t think there’s any
veterans out there that think, ‘yeah, that was fun, let’s do that
again.’” V
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