'Most of the city is evacuating': Gridlock on Alberta highway after evacuation order in Fort McMurray
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
The Royal Canadian Legion says it has seen a "dramatic increase" this year in the number of overseas websites selling unauthorized merchandise using depictions of the poppy.
Nujma Bond, communications manager for the Royal Canadian Legion, told CTV's Your Morning that the legion sees a rise in unauthorized poppy merchandise circulating online every year as Remembrance Day nears. However, this year, she says the legion has been alerted to "500 plus cases."
"Last year, for example, we knew of about 50. So we find out about these through research that we do, people contact us tell us about it, and once these things are out there, they're very hard to track [and] very hard to shut down," Bond said Wednesday.
Bond said these websites are predominantly located overseas or in the United States, with some in Canada, and mostly appear through ads on Facebook and other online platforms, offering clothing, accessories, flags and pins that claim to support veterans.
However, Bond said these unauthorized sellers are not affiliated with the Royal Canadian Legion and are likely pocketing the money.
"People might think that they are buying products through the Royal Canadian Legion or products that we have approved, also they might think that they're buying products that are going to be supporting veterans, and that just simply is not the case," Bond said.
While the legion has registered its trademarks with the Canada Border Services Agency through the Request for Assistance program, the program doesn’t always catch every infringing item that comes across the border.
Bond said the legion works to contact these websites and social media platforms to take the advertisements and items down, but that can be difficult given the number of unauthorized sites out there.
Despite this, Bond says the best way to fight unauthorized sellers is through education, so Canadians know that the only website authorized to distribute poppy merchandise in Canada is poppystore.ca. Canadians can also obtain poppies and purchase other items directly from their local legion branch.
"Sometimes we do approve outside products, but you need to check with your local branch or your provincial command or nationally to make sure that the product that you're buying is legitimate," Bond said.
Every year, the Royal Canadian Legion conducts the Poppy Campaign, along with thousands of members who volunteer across Canada to raise funds in support of veterans and their families. Poppies are distributed freely, but donations are welcome.
Bond said Canadians donate an average of $20 million each year to the Poppy Campaign. She said the money goes to a variety of programs and supports for veterans, including emergency funding through local legion branches, as well as medical help and peer support programs.
This year, the poppy marks 100 years as a symbol of remembrance in Canada. Bond said the legion is marking the event in a number of ways, including a commemorative coin from the Royal Canadian Mint, a new stamp issued by Canada Post, and a reproduction of the original poppy pin, which was first made in cloth in 1921.
Anna Guerin of France is credited with having first proposed the poppy as a symbol of the costs and sacrifices of soldiers in the aftermath of the First World War.
According to the Royal Canadian Legion, Guerin was inspired by John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields" and presented the idea of wearing a poppy on Armistice Day to the legion in July 1921 as a way to raise money for veterans' needs and to remember those who had given their lives.
"100 years later, we have the symbol [and] it still resonates very deeply," Bond said.
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
Less than a week after two public sculptures featuring a livestream between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City debuted, 'inappropriate behaviour' in real-time interactions between people in the two cities has prompted a temporary shutdown.
The Edmonton Oilers will start Calvin Pickard in net Tuesday for Game 4 of their playoff series with the Vancouver Canucks.
The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it is sending a new package of more than US$1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel, two congressional aides said Tuesday.
King Charles III has unveiled the first portrait of the monarch completed since he assumed the throne, a vivid image that depicts him in the bright red uniform of the Welsh Guards against a background of similar hues.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
The province has released more information on its plan to break up Alberta Health Services and replace it with four sector-based health agencies.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.