While many abandon the poppy, Don Cherry wishes you’d wear one

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Many of you have decided not to wear poppies anymore.

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No Don Cherryhowever: he still wears his poppy for 11 days in November – until Remembrance Day on Tuesday.

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And six years on the same day, he was fired for his position that people “least” wear poppies could do. He still respectfully encourages people to do the same.

“I always remind people to buy a poppy,” Grapes said in an interview Monday. “But when I'm not at home, I notice that very few people have poppies.”

“HURT”

Now something has changed. Even in some courts, judges rule that the poppy is political and do not allow employees to wear it. This is crazy and offensive.

“It really hurts,” admits Cherry, adding that she understands that “Canada has changed.”

Changed from when he was a child growing up in Kingston until 2019, when he was removed from his nearly 40-year television gig as a regular commentator. Hockey Night in Canada – for telling the truth.

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DON WOULD SAY THE SAME THING AGAIN

There was a time when growing poppies “was a very big thing,” and almost everyone did it. Not anymore.

Things started to really change before 2019, when he was unceremoniously fired and canceled for his famous comment: “You people” who come here for our “milk and honey”, the least you could do is buy a poppy.

“I still feel the same way,” Don said, adding that all he was trying to say was “I think everyone should wear a poppy.”

Of course, he was right to express this point of view, and it was wrong to fire him for it.

“I would say the same thing again,” Cherry said.

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But it has not escaped the notice of many that the situation has even worsened, both with counting poppies and with expressing their opinions without remaining silent. Don says he's not going to change.

“My message now is the same as it was then: lest we forget,” he said 91-year-old Canadian legend ahead of Memorial Day this year. “I think we forgot.”

Many people have it.

THEY ARE WEARING POPPIES VERY MUCH NOW

You'd think checking Tim Hortons locations on November 10th would reveal Royal Canadian Legion donation boxes filled with poppies and people wearing them. But there was very little of both.

In fact, no one at one of the Tim Hortons stores had it. Elsewhere, two high-ranking gentlemen were seen wearing one each, and a female staff member was seen wearing a sticker on her hat.

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But those who wear poppies today are in the minority. Cherry said he lost members of his family to the war, and many Canadians he has met across the country in more than 50 years of public life – from coaching in the NHL to broadcasting to supporting the troops – can say the same.

“They gave everything for us,” Cherry said of the fallen. “We must never forget them.”

This seems to be a difficult task.

However, there is still hope for the future. When I spoke on the phone with Don Sunday to arrange a meeting with him, two polite members of Mississauga's 800 Black Forest Squadron Royal Canadian Air Cadets – Samrit and Calvin – entered the Giant Tiger I was in to hand out poppies.

Some took the poppies and left the coins, while others refused. But it was nice to see these teenagers doing this important work. They made a very impressive impression, and this is a credit to their uniforms.

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CHERRY PRAISE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE AGAINST THE TREND

“It’s so nice to see that and I’m grateful,” Cherry said.

It doesn't bother him that these two young men don't know him from his hockey career or his advocacy for men and women in uniform.

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What worries him is that they haven't forgotten those who died and are doing their best to remember. That's what it's all about. Memory.

It looks like it's an uphill battle though. Take the subway, train or walk through the mall, you won't see many poppies. This was what Cherry feared and why every November Coach's Corner on Hockey Night in Canada that he would campaign for poppies.

Ironically, the comment that got him fired in 2019 was far from the first time he'd said it.

“I said the same thing every year,” he said. “But they were looking for something to fire me for.”

CHERRY DOESN'T REGRET

It still bothers him that they did it on Memorial Day.

“This day was meant to honor the fallen and the veterans,” Cherry said. “They shouldn’t have chosen that day to do this.”

Six years later, he has no regrets.

“I wouldn’t change anything I said,” Cherry added.

He still believes Canadians should remember their free and prosperous lives because of those who died in the war to provide it.

“That’s how I feel,” he said.

However, many of you seem to disagree with Grapes on this issue.

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