ManitobaA thousand crocheted poppies made in the Prairie city of Steinbach, Man., are now hanging 3,000 kilometres east in the maritime town of Pictou, Nova Scotia, marking a rural Canadian commemoration for veterans this Remembrance Day.Poppies for Peace displays involved volunteers hand-making thousands of poppiesChristopher Gareau · CBC News · Posted: Nov 11, 2025 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Steinbach Piston junior hockey player Grady Hoffman helps Levina Klassen and others tie crochet poppies onto a fish net for display on Remembrance Day. Poppies for Peace has a similar display in Pictou, N.S. (Chris Gareau/CBC)A thousand crocheted poppies made in the Prairie city of Steinbach, Man., are now hanging 3,000 kilometres east in the maritime town of Pictou, Nova Scotia, marking a rural Canadian commemoration for veterans this Remembrance Day.T Sheppard-Luangkhot came up with the idea of connecting Canada’s rural veterans together by tying the hand-crocheted poppies to fishnets for what she calls a Poppies for Peace display. “With military and veterans, a lot of people lived in small towns or on bases. And so I think it’s just really important to remember rural voices and what we contribute to peace efforts as well,” said Sheppard-Luangkhot, who works out of Steinbach and is the founder of OPEN, the Organization for Peace, Equity and Nonviolence.The poppies were meticulously put together by different generations of volunteers to specifically honour two veterans of different generations: current 144 Construction Engineering Flight aviator David Porter, and Second World War flight instructor and Signals Corps veteran Richard Sheppard.Richard Sheppard was Sheppard-Luangkhot’s grandfather and Porter is a friend and someone she describes as a peace-building mentor. She reached out to Porter, who lives on the east coast. He helped her make perogies that they sold to support Ukrainian refugees in Poland shortly after Russia’s invasion in 2022.Aviator David Porter with Canadian Armed Forces 144 Construction Engineering Flight puts up Poppies for Peace in the Murray Family Public Library in Pictou, N.S., with deCoste Performing Arts Centre’s Katie Gunn. ( Iain MacLellan)“I owe him big time. So that’s partly why I did it. This project is to thank him. He’s taught me a lot,” said Sheppard-Luangkhot.She delivered some of the crocheted poppies to Pictou where they are now on display at the Murray Family Public Library. Locals there have been adding to their part of the fishing net and writing names of someone they are remembering for the last couple weeks.“I think it takes them by surprise. I certainly haven’t seen anything like it before. And it’s really quite beautiful,” said Maren Fassnacht, Pictou’s library branch assistant in charge.More poppies will also be added to the Steinbach version hanging during its Remembrance Day ceremony in the Pat Porter Active Living Centre, according to the centre’s executive director Audrey Harder.She said the display was made all the more impressive by volunteers like Vera Lohr, who herself crocheted 300 poppies, each taking about 30 minutes to make. “I didn’t have to really push anybody to do it … they’d come in with the bag of poppies and ask for more wool,” said Harder, who has served as the Royal Canadian Legion Steinbach branch chair and president.Tired hands were helped by local Steinbach Piston junior hockey players, including Grady Hoffman, who tied the crochet poppies to the net. Pat Porter Centre executive director Audrey Harder, Vera Lohr, Cathy Jago, Levina Klassen and Grady Hoffman hold up the fishnet of hand-crocheted Poppies for Peace displayed at the Remembrance Day ceremony. (Chris Gareau/CBC)He has a game this Remembrance Day and will not be able to make the ceremony, but wanted to make sure he at least did his part.“I think it’s just honoring those that put their lives on the line for us and our country. I think it’s the least we can do,” said Hoffman.The handmade poppies are also meant to remember those who had to wait, tending the home front as their loved ones went to war.It is because of Sheppard-Luangkhot’s grandmother Clare Sheppard that the red flowers are crocheted. Clare died days after her husband Richard in 2008 in Alberta.“She crocheted a lot just to kind of cope with the overwhelm of being a single mom. And so I think it’s just really important to honor Richard and all military, all veterans. However, honour what the families went through too when they served, or go through when they serve,” said Sheppard-Luangkhot.ABOUT THE AUTHORChristopher Gareau is a CBC Manitoba reporter based in Steinbach who covers the province’s southeastern region. He has previously covered southeastern Manitoba in print, and worked in radio and print in northwestern B.C. and southwestern Ontario. You can reach him at christopher.gareau@cbc.ca.
Thousands of crochet poppies honour rural veterans from Prairies to Maritimes
