Poppies are pinned on a row of military personnel during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Chilliwack, B.C.The Globe and Mail
The red plastic poppy, and its vexing straight pin, are a fixture on Canadian lapels this time of year, a small gesture of support for this country’s veterans and more importantly, for what they fought to protect.
That gesture, small as it is, is too much for some courts in Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. In Saskatchewan, Crown prosecutor Lana Morelli was told last week that she was not allowed to wear a poppy on her robes. Doing so would violate the “gowning protocol” for legal counsel, which prohibits “additional adornment” for lawyers. Understandably, Ms. Morelli was unhappy she was unable to show her respect for the wartime service of her grandparents.
In Nova Scotia, Premier Tim Houston posted a scathing note Thursday on social media criticizing “an order issued prohibiting individuals working in certain court facilities from wearing poppies while on duty in those locations. This order was issued under the guise that the poppy is somehow a ‘political statement.’” He says his government may pass legislation safeguarding the ability to wear a poppy.
The heads of the province’s top two courts issued their own statement on Sunday, saying they support the right of judges to use their discretion to prohibit the wearing of poppies in order to ensure courtrooms are a “totally unbiased and neutral space.” They described the hypothetical example of a non-veteran charged with an assault on their partner, a veteran, with a trial scheduled to start on Nov. 10, just before Remembrance Day.
The two judges said that accused would have “some discomfort or doubt” about the neutrality of the trial. We’ll get to the highly concocted nature of the scenario in just a moment, but first a question for the judges: Whatever would that (very sensitive) accused make of the fact that the court closes up shop for Remembrance Day?
Should poppies be allowed in Canadian courts?
The answer, of course, is that it is ridiculous to think anyone would draw any such inference from court being closed, about as ridiculous as it is to think of a similar inference being drawn from courtroom staff wearing a poppy. (And if the judges’ farfetched scenario were ever to manifest itself, there seems a fairly obvious solution: delay the start of the trial by two days, to Nov. 12.)
Indeed, the wearing of poppies by courtroom staff and counsel is uncontroversial in other Canadian provinces. Former Supreme Court justice Russell Brown wrote on social media that when he sat in Alberta courts, most judges – never mind staff – wore poppies. “I can’t begin to fathom why a judge or a court in Canada should even want to discourage counsel from doing the same thing,” he wrote.
Clearly, the judges seeking to pluck the poppy from the lapels of counsel and staff view the poppy as just another political statement. It is not. The poppy is not just another cause among many; it is a much bigger symbol.
But a symbol of what? The two senior judges in Nova Scotia intimate that it is a symbol of support and respect for veterans. Superficially, that is true. The poppy is at least an acknowledgement of the service of veterans, and the personal sacrifices that they have made: of their lives, of their bodies, of their health, of their youth.
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However, the poppy has a deeper significance. It is a commemoration of what those veterans fought and died for.
They fought to preserve democracy, an admittedly imperfect form at the time, but the foundation from which our modern version grew. They fought to preserve freedom, from tyranny that would have enslaved continents with a toxic mixture of barbarism and technology. They fought for justice, for a world governed by laws, not by armed might.
Until recently, it would have been easy enough to think of that victory, eight decades ago in the Second World War, as something mostly for the history books. But Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, and the threat from China and other authoritarian powers has made it abundantly and unfortunately clear that the fight is not yet over.
So, courts in Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia should rethink their ill considered banishment of the red plastic poppy. Not because it offends Mr. Houston. Not even because of the deep offence to veterans and their families.
No, the judges should retract their decision because the poppy is a symbol of the victory of freedom over slavery, human rights over barbarity, and of justice over the jackboot. A reminder of that, even if for just a few days each year, should be a welcomed sight in Canadian courts.