A poppy is placed on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Remembrance Day in 2021.PATRICK DOYLE/Reuters

Michael Burns is the executive chair of Canada’s Valour Games and was previously the CEO of the 2017 Invictus Games Toronto.

Every November, Canadians pause to honour the hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens who were injured in war, and the more than 118,000 who never came home.

It is one of the last remaining moments in modern life where we collectively stop, reflect and show gratitude. It should be a unifying act. Instead, this year, the poppy has somehow become the subject of an unnecessary and frankly baffling national debate.

The debate has flared up because of reports that two Nova Scotia judges asked court staff to not wear poppies while in the courtroom. This has prompted widespread backlash, with Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston calling it “disgusting.”

Let’s be clear: If a red felt poppy is........

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