Poppy campaign starts in the Tri-Cities as the Legion turns 100

Royal Canadian Legion members and volunteers take to Tri-Cities streets and storefronts starting today, Saturday, October 24, as the annual poppy campaign begins in the organization's 100th year.

The campaign runs through November 10, with volunteers distributing plastic poppy pins for a donation at grocery stores and in downtown areas across New Westminster, Burnaby and the Tri-Cities, according to Freshet News.

A centenary year for the Legion

The 2026 campaign carries extra weight: it marks 100 years of the Royal Canadian Legion, the national organization that has supported veterans and their families and led Canada's remembrance efforts for a century. The poppy, inspired by the First World War poem In Flanders Fields, has been the Legion's symbol of remembrance for generations.

The centenary was marked nationally this week. On October 21, Governor General Louise Arbour, commander-in-chief of Canada, was presented with the first poppy of the year by the Legion's Dominion President, Sharon McKeown, at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. The event included special mention of Canadian Armed Forces members killed, injured and affected at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta.

'The poppy is a powerful symbol of remembrance, inviting us to reflect on the individuals behind the uniform and on the impact military service has on families, communities and our nation,' Arbour said in a Legion news release.

From Flanders Fields to lapels

The poppy's link to remembrance runs through Canadian history. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian military doctor, wrote In Flanders Fields in 1915 after the death of a friend in Belgium, and the poem's image of poppies growing between the crosses made the flower an enduring emblem of the war's cost. The Legion adopted the poppy as its symbol of remembrance in its early years, and the annual distribution of pins has been a fixture of Canadian autumns ever since.

A century on, the mechanics are unchanged: a volunteer, a tray of pins, a donation box and a few seconds of conversation at a store entrance.

Where to get a poppy in the Tri-Cities

In Port Coquitlam, Legion branch 133 president Sharon Martin and Nancy Mantle are leading the poppy tagging effort. Volunteers will staff stations outside Costco, Save On Foods, Safeway and Shoppers Drug Mart, as well as along Shaughnessy Street, the city's downtown spine.

Poppy boxes have also been placed at 30 area schools, including Terry Fox Secondary, putting the campaign in front of students and families throughout the two-week drive.

Taggers will also be out at stores and downtown corners elsewhere in the Tri-Cities, New Westminster and Burnaby through the campaign window.

Sharon Martin, the branch 133 president, was busy readying the Port Coquitlam effort ahead of launch day. Branch 133 is the city's local Legion home, and its members organize the tagging stations, school boxes and volunteer roster each year.

What donations support

Money raised through the poppy campaign supports Legion activities and programs for active and retired veterans. The campaign is the Legion's most visible fundraiser of the year, and donations are made in exchange for the plastic poppy pins Canadians wear on their lapels in the lead-up to Remembrance Day.

The drive ends November 10, the day before Remembrance Day ceremonies at cenotaphs across the Tri-Cities on November 11.

Every donation, whatever the size, comes with a pin. There is no set price for a poppy; the Legion asks people to give what they can.

Students can volunteer

The Port Coquitlam branch is asking volunteer helpers to commit to a minimum of two hours, and high school students can earn graduation credit for their time, making the campaign a practical way for teens to meet volunteer requirements while supporting a centenary-year cause.

Tagging shifts are a long tradition for Tri-Cities families, service clubs and cadets, and the two-week window leaves plenty of room to sign up for a slot before Remembrance Day.

Toward Remembrance Day

The campaign is the public lead-in to Remembrance Day on November 11, when ceremonies are held at cenotaphs in all three Tri-Cities communities and across the country. Wreaths are laid, veterans parade and a moment of silence marks the eleventh hour. The pins distributed over the next two weeks are what those ceremonies look like from a distance: a crowd wearing the same small red flower.

With the Legion marking its centenary, organizers hope this year's campaign draws both longtime donors and a new generation of volunteers and wearers.

How to wear it

The poppy is traditionally worn on the left lapel, over the heart, from the start of the campaign through Remembrance Day. Pins are distributed by donation, and replacement pins are available at the same stations if one goes missing, as they often do.

If a pin pokes loose, a small piece of eraser or a folded bit of tape on the pin's end keeps it in place - a trick legion volunteers have shared for years.