A Wet’suwet’en artist has made a unique type of poppy to honour Indigenous veterans this year.
Charrine Lace who runs Wet’suwet’en Native Arts decided to make poppies this year out of birch bark.
“I’ve seen so many people make and sell their beaded poppies but I’m not a very good beader but I decided I needed to do something in my own style,” she said. “I had a lot of birch bark leftover from my birch basket making workshop. It was just the right size for a poppy, so I traced it out.”
This year she made 35 and handed most of them out for people to wear on National Aboriginal Veterans Day, which was on Nov 8.
“I wanted to make sure our Aboriginal fighters were represented in some way other than the beaded poppies. It turned out amazing. I’m glad I decided to do it,” she added.
She plans on making them again next year and collecting donations for the legion. She is also hoping some other crafters will join her.
“I wish more people would take the initiative and do something similar, then I wouldn’t have to do it myself,” she said. “More people would have access to one and more people would be proud to wear one if they had a hand in making one. They would be more likely to wear one and have a sense a pride in themselves as well as in the veterans they are honouring.”