Air turbulence: When can it become dangerous?
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
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.
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked and sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues the 'Team Canada' charm offensive to U.S. lawmakers and business leaders, Canada's ambassador to the United States downplayed the effect of another Trump presidency on Canada.
New inflation data is 'welcome news' for consumers and an economist says it could signal the possibility for a interest rate cut as several core measures also continue to ease.
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus is facing fresh Conservative-led calls to resign, this time over "very partisan" and 'inflammatory' language used – the Liberals say mistakenly – to promote an upcoming event.
The Toronto Blue Jays have offered tickets and a signed baseball to a fan who says she was struck in the face by a 110 m.p.h (177 km/h) foul ball at Friday’s game.
Ontario Provincial Police continue to investigate a long weekend fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont.
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
The organizers of a month-long boycott of Loblaw-owned stores say they've decided to extend the boycott past May.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.