At last, the 2023 Canada Post stamp program has been revealed. Not sure if it’s just me, but the news release seems very late this year. Maybe it’s because I checked for it every day for the last 2 months and was getting impatient.  No dates or images are given, so expect the order below to change as the year goes on. 

Something new

One of the first issues of 2023 should be the new definitives replacing Queen Elizabeth’s portrait. A King Charles III stamp will likely appear in the early part of 2023. I’m guessing, so don’t hold me to that date. 

Annual releases

The annual Black History Month stamp will arrive in January for the February celebration. This long running series has produced some fascinating  glimpses of Canadian history.  The 2022 stamp featured the incredible Eleanor Collins, featuring David Belliveau’s illustrations and Paprika Design’s layout. The FDC did justice to this woman’s legacy. 

More from the annual releases will be the spring flower for 2023 – the ranunculus. We can also look forward to the second issue in the new Indigenous leaders  series. September will see a second set of stamps for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Last year’s 4 stamp set, by Blair Thomas and Believe In Design, was one of  the highlights of the 2022 stamp program. You can read more about the stamps and the artists who created them here Truth and Reconciliation Day Canada Post | Bitter Grounds Magazine. 

Also to be expected is the Canada Post Community Foundation stamp, and the usual Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas stamps.  One of the Christmas stamps will highlight the beauty of Canada’s winter landscape. 

The 2023 Remembrance Day stamp will feature a Canadian member of the resistance during WW2. 

A few interesting bits of history

Rounding out the program will be a set of stamps on Ferries in Canada, 6 stamps listed only as “A picture is worth a thousand words“, which leaves a lot to the imagination, a set on Quebec Activists & Trailblazer and finally, a set on a hockey pioneer. All we’ve been told is this person “broke boundaries and gave back to his sport & community”. Any guesses as to which player?

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Of course you’ll also get first looks at new articles and updates on all the work being done here.  Well, I’m off to make another espresso – it’s an epic snow storm out there & the wind is so strong, it sounds like a freight train running across the balcony. A perfect day to stay in and read about stamps. 

Cheers
Catpaw

January

Chloe Cooley – Black History Month
Topics: history | black history

1 stamp, booklets of 6, FDC, cancel

On March 14, 1793 Chloe Cooley, an enslaved Black woman in Queenston, was bound, thrown in a boat and sold across the river to a new owner in the United States. Her screams and violent resistance were witnessed by a neighbour, William Grisley, who informed Peter Martin, a free Black and former soldier in Butler’s Rangers. They brought the incident to the attention of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe who immediately moved to abolish slavery in the new province. He was met with opposition in the House of Assembly, some of whose members owned slaves. A compromise was reached and on July 9, 1793 an Act was passed that prevented the further introduction of slaves into Upper Canada and allowed for the gradual abolition of slavery although no slaves already residing in the province were freed outright. It was the first piece of legislation in the British Empire to limit slavery and set the stage for the great freedom movement of enslaved African Americans known as the Underground Railroad.  Ontario Heritage Trust | Chloe Cooley and the 1793 Act to Limit…

Chloe Cooley | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Artist: Rick Jacobsen
There are no illustrations of Chloe Cooley. Jacobsen and the Lime Design team relied on contemporary records to help create this design. 
Designer: Lime Design

Release date: January 30, 2023

March

Spring Flowers – ranunculus
annual series
Topics: flowers 

2 stamps, FDC, cancel, souvenir sheet, booklet of 10

Since 2007, Canada Post has released a flower set each March/April to usher in spring.  .  

• 2007 – lilacs
• 2008 – peonies
• 2009 – rhododendrons 
• 2010 – African violets
• 2011 – sunflowers 
• 2012 – day lilies
• 2013 – magnolias
• 2014 – roses 
• 2015 – pansies 
• 2016 – hydrangeas
• 2017 – daisies
• 2018 – lotus
• 2019 – gardenias
• 2020 – dahlias
• 2021 – crab apple blossoms
• 2022 – calla lilies
• 2023  – ranunculus

Designer:  Stéphane Huot
Photographs: Veronique Meignaud 

Release date: March 1, 2023

April

EID
Topics: celebrations

1 stamp,FDC, cancel, booklets of 6 

Image: stonepaste bowl (729 AH / 1329 CE) image courtesy Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

The ROM has a brief, interesting page on Ramadan, including a little on stonepaste bowls. Ramadan at the ROM | Royal Ontario Museum

If you make it to Toronto for a visit, the ROM is a must see, as is the Aga Khan Museum 

Designer: Subplot Design Inc. 
Calligraphy: Khaled Elsheikh
Illumination: Unaiza Karim

Release date: April 3, 2023

 Animal Mothers and Babies
Topics: animals | art | First Nations 

2 stamps, booklets of 6, souvenir sheet, FDC, cancel

• Sea otters (Enhydra lutris)
  “Though sea otters are one of the smallest marine mammals, they are the largest member of the weasel family and have the densest fur of any animal on Earth – with an estimated 100,000 hairs per cm2. Their fur ranges in colour from a rusty brown to black and is their primary protection from the cold water they live in. They therefore spend a lot of time cleaning their fur. They grow to be approximately 1.5 metres in length, with the females typically smaller. They spend most of their time in the water and are well adapted to swimming. They have webbed feet and strong back legs, with a large, flat head, black eyes and small ears.”  Sea Otter – Oceana Canada 

• Red-necked grebes (Podiceps grisegena)
  “Red-necked Grebes are boldly plumaged waterbirds with pale cheeks and a daggerlike yellow bill that contrasts with a sharp black crown often likened to a toreador’s cap (sometimes raised into a short crest). In breeding plumage, the neck is a rich brick red. The species breeds on northerly lakes and winters mainly along ocean coastlines, usually singly but sometimes in small groups. During spring migration, flocks may form on large lakes, and pairs begin their boisterous courtship displays well before reaching breeding lakes farther north.” Red-necked Grebe Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

From the designer’s website:

Issued in the lead-up to Earth Day and Mother’s Day, we designed two stamps celebrating the bond between sea otter and red-necked grebe mothers and their babies. Temagami Anishinaabe artist Caroline Brown brought her illustrations to life through embroidery and beadwork, beautifully rendering the textures of feathers and fur. We gave the images a storybook quality, and were inspired by the traditional relationship between home-based fabric crafts and a mother’s love. Canada Post | Egg Design

Artist: Caroline Brown 
Caroline Brown (@whitebear17) • Instagram photos and videos
Temagami Anishinaabe artist Caroline Brown created the artwork using two techniques: embroidery and traditional beadwork.
Designer: Meredith MacKinlay, HOME | Egg Design

Release date: April 18, 2023

May

Canada Post Community Foundation
Topics: semi-postal | cartoons

2 stamps, 2 booklets of 10, 2 FDCs, cancel

Semi-postal issued every year to support Canada Post’s Community Foundation program. Since it’s inception, the foundation has raised an estimated $12.3 million, which has supported over 1000 community based family and children based programs across Canada. 

Designer: John Belisle
Belisle has created over 25 different designs for Canada Post, including the 2010 Vancouver Olympic series and the Canadians in Hollywood sets from 2006 and 2008.

Release date: May 1, 2023

His Majesty King Charles III
Topics: royalty | definitives

1 stamp, booklet of 10, FDC, cancel

Designer: Paprika

Release date: May 6, 2023

Royal Canadian Mounted Police 150th Anniversary
Topics: history | Canada

1 stamp, booklets of 6, FDC, cancel
offset

Designer: Réjean Myette

Release date: May 23, 2023

 June

The following three stamps are part of the annual Indigenous Leaders series that began in 2022.
Topics: indigenous people | Canada | leaders

Nellie Cournoyea

1 stamp, booklets of 6, FDC, cancel (canceled in Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Cournoyea’s birthplace)
offset

Champion of her people – the Inuvialuit of Canada’s western Arctic – Nellie Cournoyea is known for the unwavering vision, work ethic and heart that have guided her fight for Indigenous self-determination and Inuit empowerment. She became the first Indigenous woman, and second woman, to head a provincial or territorial government in Canada, as Premier of the Northwest Territories (1991-95). Nellie Cournoyea | Canada Post (canadapost-postescanada.ca)

Nellie J. Cournoyea | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Photos used in the set: 
Stamp portrait – 2022 by Peggy Jay
Stamp portrait background – Trout Lake, Northwest Territories, by Robert Postma (undated) 
FDC & inside booklet – 1993 by Tessa Macintosh. 
Cancel design: Tania Willard. Arctic fox, which can be found in the NWT coat of arms. 

Release date: June 21, 2023

George Manuel (1921-1989)

1 stamp, booklets of 6, FDC, cancel (canceled in Chase, B.C., Manuel’s birthplace) 
offset

Member of the Neskonlith Indian Band of the Secwepemc Nation in British Columbia.

Strong-willed and tireless in his dedication, Manuel lobbied for the inclusion of Indigenous and treaty rights in the Canadian Constitution…

George Manuel served as National Chief of what is now the Assembly of First Nations from 1970 to 1976, and as the first president of both the World Council of Indigenous Peoples and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.

Manuel believed that Indigenous Peoples, at home and around the world, could achieve their goals if they united. He fought the Canadian government’s policies of assimilation and organized the Constitution Express, a movement that brought supporters from the west to Ottawa, and to the United Nations headquarters in New York, by train in 1980 – and to Europe in 1981 – to lobby for the inclusion of Indigenous rights in the patriated Canadian Constitution.

His efforts contributed to the recognition and affirmation of existing Indigenous and treaty rights in the Constitution Act, 1982.

Co-founder of the Center for World Indigenous Studies, Manuel was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. He died on November 15, 1989, in Kamloops, British Columbia. New stamp pays tribute to First Nations political leader | Canada Post (canadapost-postescanada.ca).

Grand Chief George Manuel, “Take Back Your Land” – Center for World Indigenous Studies (cwis.org)
George Manuel | The Canadian Encyclopedia
George Manuel’s legacy should be taught in schools says daughter (aptnnews.ca)

Designer/artist : Secwepemc artist Tania Willard, using a 1970s photo of Manuel
Willard is an Assistant Professor and curator with UBCO’s Indigenous Art Intensive Tania Willard is bringing creative thinkers together – UBC Okanagan News

Release date: June 21, 2023

Thelma Chalifoux (1929-2017)

1 stamp, booklets of 6, FDC, cancel (canceled in Calgary, Alberta, Chalifoux’s birthplace) 
offset

The first Indigenous woman appointed to the Senate of Canada, Chalifoux was a powerful force for social justice and women’s and Indigenous rights.

Born in Calgary, Alberta, Chalifoux (1929-2017) was known for her kind heart and boundless energy. She channelled the strength she gained from her own personal challenges to help others and speak up against discrimination.  Thelma Chalifoux | Canada Post (canadapost-postescanada.ca)

 Metis Matriarch – Thelma Chalifoux | Edmonton City as Museum Project ECAMP (citymuseumedmonton.ca)

Photograph: Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Background artwork:   The Celebration,  by Métis visual artist Christi Belcourt  

Release date: June 21, 2023

Denys Arcand
Topics: film | Canada

1 stamp, booklet of  , FDC, cancel (Deschambault, Quebec, Arcand’s hometown)

One of the best write ups of Arcand can be found on the tiff website:  

Denys Arcand is one of the preeminent talents to have emerged in Quebec in the 1960s and is now one of Canada’s star directors. Indeed, he is unquestionably Quebec’s most internationally celebrated filmmaker … 
Arcand’s films often portray a world so irredeemably corrupt that he has been accused of being a cynic and a nihilist, yet his films consistently explore and demystify our social and political processes, conveying inherent values with wit and insight. He once told Cinema Canada “I can’t bear people who don’t want to see what appears to me to be reality. I don’t know why. I’ve always been that way… it seems to me that the first attribute of humanity is intelligence.” Canadian Film Encyclopedia – Denys Arcand (tiff.net)

The above quote is just a glimpse into tiff’s excellent (although brief) dive into Arcand’s career. It also lists some of his most well known works.

Denys Arcand finally won an Oscar in 2004 — and he was terrified | CBC Arts  is a bit disjointed in how it’s laid out, but still a fun look at Arcand’s Oscar acceptance. 

Designer: Paprika
Photographers:
Stamp: Bertand Carrière takin in 1985 while Arcand was filming Le déclin de l’empire américain
FDC: Alexandre Isard and Rick Eglinton

Release date: June 28, 2023

July

Let’s Take the Ferry! 
Topics: maritime

5 stamps in booklets of 10, souvenir sheet, FDC, cancel

• Spirit of British Columbia has a capacity for 2,100 passengers and crew, along with more than 350 vehicles, and is one of the two largest ferries in the BC Ferries fleet. Built in 1993, the vessel was converted in 2018 to dual-fuel propulsion, allowing the ship to use liquefied natural gas and significantly reduce CO2
• Chi-Cheemaun, which means “big canoe” in Ojibwe, was built in 1974 and runs from May to October. The ferry features Woodland-inspired artwork on its bow and funnel, while on-board amenities include Muskoka chairs on the upper deck and an art gallery.
• Trillium is the oldest ferry of the stamp issue. Launched in 1910, the vessel is a rare side-wheeled paddle steamer and, at 564 gross tonnes, is the largest ferry in the Toronto fleet and can carry up to 800 passengers.
• Alphonse-Desjardins, named after the founder of North America’s first credit union, was built in 1971 and traverses a one-kilometre span of the St. Lawrence River between Québec and Lévis year-round, offering views of the old city and its fortifications from the water.
• Grand Manan V navigates in some of the world’s highest tides to bring visitors and residents to and from Grand Manan – the largest island in the Bay of Fundy – while providing passengers with a chance to spot wildlife, including whales and seabirds. The vessel also transports millions of dollars of lobster, salmon and dulse each year.
  Details from Canada Post news release July 12, 2023

Designers: Lionel Gadoury and Owen Gabany of Context Creative

Release date: July 12, 2023 

August

Quebec Feminists
Topics: feminism | history

3 stamps, 3 FDCs, cancel, booklets of 6
offset

Simonne Monet-Chartrand (1919-93)

Simonne Monet-Chartrand, unionist, social activist, pacifist, feminist, speaker, writer (born 4 November 1919 in Montréal, QC; died 18 January 1993 in Richelieu, QC). A woman of passion and conviction, Simonne Monet-Chartrand actively supported many causes, including labour and union rights, feminism, human rights, and pacifism. 
Simonne Monet-Chartrand | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Madeleine Parent (1918-2012) 
union organizer and feminist who went toe-to-toe with Maurice Duplessis in a fight for workers rights. By 24 she was a union leader who fought passionately for worker’s rights to organise.

An ardent trade unionist and feminist, Montréal-born Madeleine Parent (1918-2012) was just 24 years old when she dedicated herself to improving the labour conditions of workers as a union organizer for the United Textile Workers of America (UTWA) in Quebec.
In the mid-1940s, she and her future husband, Kent Rowley, led controversial but successful factory strikes at various textile plants. Arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy, Parent was also expelled from the UTWA. She and Rowley played a key role in establishing Canadian unions, including the Canadian Textile and Chemical Union in 1952 and the Confederation of Canadian Unions in 1969. 
Quebec Feminists – Madeleine Parent: Official First Day Cover – Canada Post (canadapost-postescanada.ca)

Léa Roback (1903-2000)

Léa Roback, CQ, bookseller, trade union activist, feminist and pacifist (born 3 November 1903 in Montréal, Québec; died 28 August 2000 in Montréal). Léa Roback, a woman of Jewish-Polish descent, was an ardent, vocal and tireless activist who fought social inequality in all its forms.  
Léa Roback | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Designer: Paprika

Release date: August 28, 2023

September

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Topic: history | Indigenous 

Over 130 residential schools operated from 1831 to 1996. An estimated 6,000 children died, alone and far away from home in these schools (or attempting to escape and return home). They are buried in unmarked graves throughout the country, on the grounds of these schools. No effort was made to note who was buried or where, leaving entire communities grieving for missing children who were torn away and never returned. 

The survivors experienced generational trauma at the hands of the teachers, priests and nuns who ran the schools. The schools were not set up to educate the children but to strip away their identities and culture. The phrase “beat the native out of them” was often used.  Physical and sexual abuse was the norm, leaving generations of indigenous children cut off from their families and communities and in deep pain for the rest of their lives.  Residential schools are directly responsible for the deep damage done to First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities across the entire country. 

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation  is an effort to bring awareness to the Canadian public of the horrors of residential schools and fight the growing denialist movement that re-inflicts this systemic trauma on the indigenous communities. You can learn more here National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – NCTR

Residential School Timeline – NCTR

Interactive Map – NCTR showing where all the schools were located

Schools shown in these stamps:

• Kamloops Residential School, Kamloops, BC
  Operated from 1890 to 1978
  Denomination: Roman Catholic
  In 2021  200 potential unmarked graves were found here. It was this discovery that helped spark a nationwide awareness of the systemic violence & cultural genocide experienced by children at the hands of the residential school system.

• Île-à-la-Crosse Residential School, Île-à-la-Crosse, SK
  Operated from 1821 to 1976
  Denomination: Roman Catholic

   

• Sept-Îles Residential School, Sept-Îles, QC
  Operated from 1952 to 1971
  Denomination: Roman Catholic

• Grollier Hall, Inuvik, NT
  Operated from 1959 to 1997
  Denomination: Roman Catholic

Booklet cover images:

• Shubenacadie Residential School, Shubenacadie, NS
  Operated from 1929 to 1967
  Denomination: Roman Catholic
  

Interior images: 

• Turquetil Hall, Chesterfield Inlet, NU
  Operated from 1954 to 1969
  Denomination: Roman Catholic
• Ermineskin Residential School, Maskwacis, AB
  Operated from1895 to 1975
  Denomination: Roman Catholic

The FDC features the Mohawk Institute, in Brantford, Ontario, the first residential school set up in Canada.

Designer: Blair Thomson | Believe in

Release date: September 28, 2023

October

Diwali

1 stamp, booklet of 6, FDC, cancel

This is the 5th Diwali stamp by Canada Post. Previous issues 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022

Designer: Kristine Do 
Artist: Rena Chen
After graduating from Sheridan College with a degree in illustration, Chen moved on to the Glasgow School of Art to obtain her Master of Design in Communication Design.  Her design experience ranges from a number of books to logo and card designs. This is her first stamp.  

I draw inspiration from my personal experience of engaging with the world as a source of inspiration. I am interested in graphic approaches and complex patterns and find great satisfaction in intricate details in my illustrations. About | Rena Chen (rena-chen.com)

Release date: October 6, 2022

Donald Sutherland

1 stamp, FDC, cancel, booklet of 10

“I kept saying: ‘I’m a Canadian and now I’m a Canadian stamp. God damn. This is really something.’
I think just now when I said it, all the hair stood up on my arms. But it is cold in here.”
“Buy my stamp. Buy a lot of my stamps and send letters. Send them to people. Just little postcards: ‘
Hi, how are you? Donald asked me to send a stamp.”‘
Sutherland speaking on appearing on a stamp

Designer: Paprika 

Release date: October 19, 2023

November

Christmas

Secular

3 stamps, 1 booklets of 6, 1 booklet of 12, souvenir sheet, FDC, cancel
offset

Religious

1 stamp, booklet of 12, FDC, cancel
offset

Canada Post issues both a secular and a religious stamp for Christmas. 

Canadian Winters:
Jocelyne Saulnier of Joce Creative

I am super excited to share that I designed Canada Post’s 2023 holiday stamp series. It has been a pleasure to work with the ever talented Tim Zeltner, of i2i Illustrations, who’s beautiful and unique folk art style brought this concept to life: a continuous, magical winter scene featuring a panorama of Canada from West to East.  
Joce described working on this project Canada Post | Joce Creative

Artist: Tim Zeltner
Illustrator Tim Zeltner | Represented by i2i Art Inc.

Designers: 
Madonna and Child: Adrian Horvath
Horvath designed one of Canada posts most popular sets the 2021 Snow Mammals. Horvath’s first stamp design was the 2016
Star Trek 50th Anniversary set. 

Release date: November 2, 2023

Remembrance Day – Mona Parsons

1 stamp, booklet of 5, FDC, cancel

Nova Scotia born Mona Parsons was one of those larger-than-life people who rose to the extraordinaire challenge of saving people in WW2.  Born 1901, she originally studied acting in NYC in 1929, and danced with the famous Zeigfield Follies. Shortly after her mother’s death, she gave up acting and studied nursing. In 1937, she married Dutch millionaire businessman Willem Leonhardt and moved to the Netherlands with him. 

When the Nazis invaded, Mona and her husband worked with the Resistance, rescuing allied fliers and smuggling them out to safety. In 1941, they were betrayed to the gestapo and arrested. 

A Nazi tribunal was held the day after Leonhardt’s arrest and Parsons was condemned to death. She appealed and her sentence was commuted in 1942 to life in prison. In 1945 Parsons was moved to Vechta Prison, which had been a reform school. There she met Baroness Wendelien van Boetzelaer, with whom she planned to escape when an opportunity arose, which happened during an Allied bombing raid. The men’s side of the prison was bombed, and the women were taken outside. The warden, the former principal of the school, left the gates open and told the women they could take their chances with the Allied bombs or German bullets.

Parsons and van Boetzelaer made a break for it. For three weeks they made their way to the Allies posing as German sisters, with Mona feigning a speech impediment to cover her accented German. The women became separated, and Parsons eventually reached a Canadian battalion, the North Nova Scotia Highlanders.  Mona Parsons | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Mona Parsons, image courtesy Mona Parsons, image courtesy Library of Nova Scotia  

You can read more about this amazing woman here Mona Parsons | The Canadian Encyclopedia and here Celebrating the wartime heroism of Nova Scotian Mona Parsons – Canada.ca

Designer: Larry Burke, Anna Stredulinsky from Burke & Burke 
Burke & Burke also designed 2017 Halifax Explosion, 2018 Armistice 1918-2018, 2022 Holiday Portraits (Christmas)

Release date: November 6, 2023

Hanukkah

1 stamp, booklet of 6, FDC, cancel

This is the 6th Hanukkah stamp Canada Post has issued. Previous stamps 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022

Designer: Hélène L’Heureux
Artist: Stephanie Carter

Release date: November 12, 2023