What is the significance of the poppy in Canadian culture?

The red poppy is the symbol of remembrance for Canadians who died in war. The flower grew in vast numbers on the disturbed battlefields of Flanders during the First World War, and Canadian military physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae captured the image in his poem 'In Flanders Fields', written on May 3, 1915, the day after he conducted the funeral of his friend Lieutenant Alexis Helmer at the Second Battle of Ypres.

The poem ends with the lines 'If ye break faith with us who die / We shall not sleep, though poppies grow / In Flanders fields,' and was published anonymously in the British magazine Punch on December 8, 1915. Within months it was being recited at memorial services across the British Empire, and an American academic named Moina Michael campaigned successfully in 1918 to have the poppy adopted as a symbol of remembrance.

The Royal Canadian Legion launched its annual Poppy Campaign in 1921, and today distributes more than twenty million lapel poppies between the last Friday of October and November 11. Donations support veterans, their families, and Legion services. The trademarked Canadian poppy has a single black centre, distinguishing it from British poppies, which carry the word 'Poppy' in the centre, and American poppies, which have a green centre.

Custom calls for the poppy to be worn over the heart on the left lapel, removed at the end of the November 11 ceremony, and many Canadians place their poppies on the National War Memorial or on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the close of the day. Newer designs include a digital-friendly version pinned with magnets and a black poppy that remembers Black Canadian service members.