Tim Horton's Remembrance Day Quarter

[Keith Webb]

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Just spotted this article:

"WINNIPEG (CP) - Second World War veteran Joe Fraser proudly accepted Canada's first coloured coin Thursday in a moving ceremony to unveil new 25-cent poppy quarters.

But Fraser, an army veteran from Gladstone, Man., who fought in Germany and Holland in 1945, didn't hold onto the quarter for long. He immediately handed it off to a young reservist, Cpl. Scott Hollywood of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, as a symbol of the need to keep remembering Canada's war dead in future generations.

"I hope the coin will keep the poppy in front of the people and will help people to remember," Fraser said following the ceremony that included the playing of the Last Post and a video montage of war footage.

"It just depends on how people use it, what they think of it. Will they remember?"

The Royal Canadian Mint will make 30 million of the special coins, which feature a red poppy in the centre of a Maple Leaf and the words: Remember Souvenir.

The project, in the works for almost a year, was done in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Legion, said mint president David Dingwall.

Tim Hortons started distributing the coins Thursday at all its Canadian locations. The quarters are believed to be the world's first coloured coins in circulation.

It's hoped the release of the coin will help the legion's annual poppy campaign set this year for Nov. 1-10.

Dingwall said the coin was perfected using a high-speed colouring process that should keep the quarter red for up to three years "with normal wear and tear."

But he acknowledged there have already been reports that the colour rubs off easily in some cases, leaving only the engraved outline of the flower.

Defects are normal given the number of coins that will be made, Dingwall suggested.

"If you rub hard enough and long enough the red colour will fade. But the poppy is underneath and we believe that is the enduring quality of our new 25-cent piece and I think the legion would attest to that."

Mary Ann Burdett, the legion's Dominion president, said the poppy has come to symbolize much-needed support and services for veterans and their families.

She added veterans are excited about the role the new coin will play in the group's educational and fundraising programs.

"The red poppy coin opens a new avenue of remembrance that will be part of everyday life for Canadians, a peaceful, free and blessed life that has been purchased at a very high price," said Burdett.

"It is a debt we can never repay and that we must never forget."

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