Manitoba lieutenant-governor receives first poppy of upcoming season

The annual Remembrance Day poppy campaign gets underway this Friday.

Manitoba’s lieutenant-governor helped officially kick off an annual Remembrance Day campaign Tuesday morning.

Anita Neville officially received the first poppy of the Royal Canadian Legion from the local branch at Government House.

“It really reinforces the contribution that veterans have made to both our country and to the larger world community,” Neville said. “All of us are touched by the war one way or another, and it’s very meaningful to receive this, and very much an honour.”

The poppy campaign run by the Royal Canadian Legion gets underway on Oct. 31. They are worn to honour more than 117,000 Canadians who died during military service.

Legion branches distribute poppies and donations from poppy sales are put in trust funds and used to help veterans.

“We raise funds for care of veterans where there are shortcomings in government systems,” said Rob Cutbrush, president of the Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario branches of the legion. “So, it’s very important that if we’re going to defend our nation, we must all stand together and look at all aspects of this nation and its remembrance.”

Neville said the poppy has continued resonance with ongoing conflict around the world.

“Young people are anxious,” she said. “Fortunately, they’re not being drafted to go off to war at the moment, but we’re living in a very uncertain time, and this is a reminder of what might be or could be.”