Communauté

A chaotic poppy campaign

le mercredi 11 novembre 2015
Modifié à 0 h 00 min le 11 novembre 2015
Par Patricia Blackburn

pblackburn@gravitemedia.com

Pharmaprix, Maxi, Super C. By a curious coincidence of circumstances, these three Chateauguay businesses will not have participated in the traditional sale of poppies this year.

Jasmine Zitouni of the Chateauguay branch of the Royal Canadian Legion was upset on November 10, a few hours before the end of the poppy campaign. This activity, which has become a tradition in honour of war veterans, constitutes the main financing source for the Legion.  «This is the first time that people refused to let us sell our poppies in these places, » Zitouni deplored. « I believe that we will lose at least $3,000 in profits for a campaign which enables us to collect an average of $10,000, » she added. 

First of all, letters were sent to the three businesses last August to request authorization to install a sales booth to collect donations. In October, still without a response, the Legion president tried to find out what was going on, but in vain.

Three misunderstandings

After a public outcry by Zitouni to denounce the situation, the head office of Pharmaprix quickly reacted by explaining that it consisted of a misunderstanding and offered a $1,000 donation for the local poppy campaign.

As for Maxi and Super C, they also evoked « an unfortunate misunderstanding. » « I don't know what happened, » replied Jean-Francois Blanchard, assistant director of Maxi in Chateauguay. This is a campaign we always support. »

Super C director Melanie Julien, tells of an exceptional situation. « The manager who received the request from the Legion fell seriously ill. She has been on sick leave since then. The letter must have gotten lost, » she regrets.

The two directors signified their intention of personally contacting the local Legion organization to offer their apologies. (Translation Dan Rosenburg)