Air Canada reverses decision to ban flight crews from wearing poppies

Following employee opposition, Air Canada has reversed course on an internal memo that prohibited staff from wearing Remembrance Day poppies while on duty. On Monday morning a leaked memo issued by Renée Smith-Valade, Air Canada’s VP of in-flight service, told staff, “I strongly encourage anyone who wants to wear a poppy to observe and respect Remembrance Day to do so when not in uniform.” The memo added that Remembrance Day would instead be commemorated by Air Canada with an “onboard announcement” on its aircraft. According to some employees, managers quickly began instructing flight attendants to remove uniform poppies in compliance with the memo. But a few hours later — after the memo had already generated employee and union pushback — a second note from Smith-Valade confirmed that following some reconsideration the “wearing of poppies is supported.” In a statement to the National Post the airline said “while we do have regulations on non-service pins to maintain a consistent uniform look, we have clarified for our in-flight crews that they can wear a poppy in uniform and do so proudly.” The statement added, “our uniform policy has been revised with this clarification to avoid any confusion in the future.”<br/>