The anti-vaxxer crowd continues to irk, enrage and threaten the immune systems of many people in Toronto, but a symbolic action propagated by "freedom fighter" types today — on Remembrance Day — might be one of the most intentionally offensive yet.

Screenshots have been circulating in recent days of a message that goes along the lines of "If you are using a vaccine passport, please don't wear a poppy this Remembrance Day. People fought, bled and died for the freedom you're giving away."

Different variations of the message started popping up on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter ahead of November 11 and continue to do so as Remembrance Day 2021 goes on.

If you believe #Canadians should carry a #VaccinePassport to be a part of a #FreeSociety, don’t you dare wear a #poppy Someone’s parents, grandparents, siblings DIED do you would never have to carry #HealthPapers @fordnation @JustinTrudeau #RememberanceDay #OnPoli #Canada pic.twitter.com/spIh6zRlof

— Lexie H Devereaux (@LexieHDevereaux) November 11, 2021

While ceremonies were limited this year due to ongoing pandemic restrictions, this Remembrance Day was the first time that many people could pay their respects somewhere in person since COVID-19 hit. Last year in November we were on the verge of going back into a full lockdown.

The Royal Canadian Legion, which raises some $20 million for veterans and their families through poppy sales alone each year, upped its campaign game in anticipation of high sales volumes this year.

Numbers aren't yet in, but the organization added about nine thousand poppy boxes to its arsenal — at least 1,000 of them equipped with electronic card readers so that people could buy poppies with tap-enabled devices. 

Those who aren't actively discouraging others from wearing poppies, that is.

If you're using your vaccine passport this November, PLEASE don't wear a poppy.
Brave men and women split blood for our freedoms. pic.twitter.com/o53kRHZ0kR

— Incompetence no longer explains this#LetsGoBrandon (@thecnner) November 9, 2021

Wearing a poppy pin, for most people, is about more than supporting veterans financially — it's a sign of respect for the many men and women who've died fighting for Canada.

It's one thing to forget or lose a poppy, but actively shunning the red plastic badge on Remembrance Day?

That's a slight that leaves a bad taste in many mouths, locally and abroad.

My father (a veteran) uses his vaccine passport and wears a poppy. Fuck this person.

— 🧡🖤Mother Ghoul 🖤🧡 (@xmissxlissax) November 10, 2021

Thus, as anti-lockdown advocates encourage each other online to shun the poppy — going so far in some cases as to spam the timelines of people who support the campaign — others are taking them to task for being, as one veteran put it on Twitter, "anti-vax idiots."

Thank you to those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that entitled pussy-ass little bitches can today enjoy the freedom to go online and complain that they live in tyranny because someone asked the to put on a mask in Walmart during a pandemic.

— Active Stick (@TheOakLeafs) November 11, 2021

"I booked my Veteran dad's Covid Vax and flu shots for him. He'll be proudly running/MCing the Fairview Legion's Remembrance Day ceremony tomorrow," wrote one Twitter user in response to a screenshot of the anti-poppy message.

"Antivax d-bags are welcome to attend. On the other side of the street. With a bag over their face."

Brave men and women went through hell and people won't even have a fecking vaccine.

— Anthony Dutton Carr (@CarrDutton) November 10, 2021

"My father is still alive and he fought in the battle of the Atlantic," wrote another.

"And he is double vaccinated, flu shot and we all will proudly be wearing a poppy."