My final take on Cherry... This is prompted by the fact that he has, predictably, become a martyred hero both in the American far-right and in Russia. A KHL club has already offered him a job, both major sports newspapers in Russia have come to his defense, calling Canadians...

... "brainwashed with political correctness." Of course Russia would defend him. Far-right positions on race and immigration are universal in Russia, among both Putin supporters and anti-Putin dissidents (the same is true of climate denial).
Besides, Russia has its own "poppy"...

In Putin's Russia, wearing a black and orange striped ribbon ("St. George's ribbon") on Victory Day has become a sign of patriotism and "remembrance of the heroic ancestors." Of course, NOT wearing the ribbon can also be seen as unpatriotic, un-Russian and anti-government...

Seeing the ribbon/poppy as a political statement and judging folk on it is one thing, of course. Also, one can love the ancestors and appreciate the sacrifice but not feel good about wearing symbols of loyalty. We can have a conversation about it. It's not in and of itself amoral

What is amoral is using these symbols as a way to make immigrants, specifically based on the accident of their birth, to prove their loyalty. This is where we are erasing the difference between the poppy and the yellow star (even if the latter's inherent intent was different).

To me, what has always separated the poppy from other state-approved loyalty symbols was the fact that Canadians did not see its absence as a personal failure and did not see it as a requirement for a brown-skinned person to prove his Canadian-ness...

I sincerely hope the poppy never comes to serve this purpose. Or, for that matter, flag lapels, the hand over the heart or anything else.
Even if Russians won't understand. Even if they say you really don't have the freedom of speech and have made tolerance a false religion.