In 2006 the Alberta Wing Squadron of the Canadian Legion prevented a retail store and Women in Black Edmonton from selling White Peace Poppies purchased from the White Peace Poppy Campaign. White Peace Poppies were originally launched in 1933, symbolising the belief that there are better ways to resolve conflict than through war.

Three years later, and in response to the heavy handed approach of Legion, the White Peace Dove Campaign has produced White Peace Dove Badges. The badges are in the profile of a dove, made of the same kind of material and attached with the same kind of pin as the Remembrance Day Poppies.

“We developed the White Peace Dove Badges because we wanted a symbol which would enable Canadians to show their profound support for the cause of Peace and we were prevented from using the white poppy by the Royal Canadian Legion,” says Meagan Wilson, a member of the White Dove Peace Association, the non-profit society that is organising the campaign.

“This is in no way designed as an affront to the Remembrance Day Poppy Campaign or the Royal Canadian Legion,” says Laird Herbert, coordinator of the campaign. “We simply wanted a symbol that Canadians could wear on Remembrance Day which directly and unconditionally emphasized Peace. War and killing is a terrible, terrible thing, and must be avoided."

Eleven thousand White Peace Doves will be distributed across North America for this inaugural year of the campaign, with a few thousand also being shipped to the UK and the United States.

Doves can also be purchased online at www.whitepeacedoves.org.