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Canada’s 2025 stamp program has arrived

by | Jan 17, 2025

Canada’s 2025 stamp program has arrived. In words only, but I’ll take it. Normally this page is published well before the holidays, but 2025  was very late appearing.  At least it is here and this year Canada Post isn’t pulling any punches with some of the content – they have dived deep into Canada’s history, warts and all. 

But first, a number of old friends return including Canada Post’s Community Foundation fundraising semi-postal stamp. Funds raised from this go to support children and youth programs across the country.  Also making a return are the popular Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas stamps. 

Community Foundation single stamp

2024’s Community stamp by designer/artist Seung Jai Paek. Seung has designed 2 previous stamps for Canada Post, Diwali 2021 and Year of the Rat 2020

Spring isn’t official until the annual Spring Flower stamp makes its appearance in March. This year, the 19th in the series, will feature peonies. Last year Canada Post treated us to 2 Wildflowers by designer Andrew Perro and artist Alain Massicotte.

Canada's 2025 stamp
Wildflowers Souvenir Sheet for 2024

Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and spotted beebalm (Monarda punctata) Released March 1, 2024

 Black History Month will focus on the heartbreaking story of Marie Joseph Angélique, a slave in New France who ended her short life tortured and executed by the government. This stamp will start the program and should appear in the next week, just prior to the start of Black History Month in February. This series, along with the fall Truth and Reconciliation set are some of Canada Post’s most powerful stamps. They offer a  look into our history, and not just the nice bits that make people happy. Canada’s history is complex and riddled with incredibly dark chapters of inhumanity and kudos to Canada Post for shining a light on it.  

Accompanying the Truth set, will be the fourth Celebrating Indigenous Leaders stamps issued to coincide with National Indigenous Peoples Day June 21. This is a true powerhouse series that draws attention to the leaders in the First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities. You can read more about last  year’s 3 here

Indigenous Leaders III Souvenir Sheet

Indigenous Leaders III Souvenir Sheet 2024
Elisapie | ᐃᓕᓴᐱ (b. Elisapie Isaac, 1977)
Josephine Mandamin – Anishinaabe Elder
Christi Belcourt apihtâwikosisâniskwêw / mânitow sâkahikanihk (b. 1966) – Métis artist, environmentalist and community organiser

Remembrance Day this year will continue with Canada Post’s exploration of Canadian history with a set featuring  Canadian war heroes who “broke down barriers to serve their country”. Again, there is a lot to chose from, but it will be worth the wait.

A second set of  Canadian Graphic Novelists will appear, possibly in May, like last year’s stamps. The first edition was released in May 2024, featuring Chester Brown – Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki – This One Summer, Michel Rabagliati – Paul Paul à Québec and Seth – Clyde Fans. Subplot Design Inc designed the first series. 

Chester Brown - Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography Chester Brown Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki - This One Summer Michel Rabagliati - Paul Paul à QuébecSeth - Clyde Fans

Canada Post will pay tribute to former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney who died last February. It might appear mid February, but that’s a guess. 

Rounding out the program will be three new topics. The first shines “a light on the dark history of civilian internment in Canada”. This is a much under read part of Canada’s history. Most are now familiar with the WW2 Japanese Interment, but very little is written about the WW1 camps that included Ukrainian Canadians, the homeless, conscientious  objectors, political and cultural prisoners, to name some of the targeted groups. WW2 saw Germans, Italians, Japanese, and Jewish refugees imprisoned, at first with NAZI prisoners of war. Once again, we’ll have to wait to see this set. 

The second new topic will appear in May, just before Pride month, with a focus on  “places and events that set the stage for the evolution of 2SLGBTQIA+ rights” in Canada.  . 

The last set will make a certain friend happy – fungi! Yes, our friend the fungi will be featured on a pair(?) of stamps. I’m assuming a pair because last year’s spring nature stamps highlighted  Endangered Frogs, with two stamps. 

Endangered Frogs Stamp 400P Rana Prestiosa Endangered Frogs Stamp 400P Rana Prestiosa

The fungus will likely show up mid April. But, with Canada Post, you never know. They are cagey about the details and keep us guessing. In anticipation I’m going to lay out my guesses about release dates and see if I get them right.  Oh and expect a stamp or two not on this list. Occasionally we are treated to an unplanned stamp.

January

From Far and Away
4th in series

From Far and Away
4th in series From Far and Away
4th in series From Far and Away
4th in seriesFrom Far and Away
4th in series 

4 oversized rate stamps, sold in coils and booklets

  •  Restigouche River in New Brunswick – photographer Guylaine Bégin
  • Admiralty Islands, Thousand Islands – photographer Ian Coristine
  • Qarlinngua sea arch in Arctic Bay, Nunavut – photogarpher Clare Kines
  • Point Prim Lighthouse, PEI – photographer Sander Meurs

Designer: Stéphane Huot

Release date: January 13, 2025


Black History Month  – Marie Joseph Angélique

Black History Marie Joseph Angelique Stamp 400P

Black History Marie Joseph Angelique OFDC Black History Marie Joseph Angelique OFDC BackBlack History Marie Joseph Angelique Booklet Cover Back Black History Marie Joseph Angelique Booklet Cover Black History Marie Joseph Angelique Booklet  

1 stamp, FDC, cancel booklet of 6
note how the front and back of the FDC are part of the map. 

Marie Joseph was a Black slave in Montreal. She was accused of arson as a way of escaping, subsequently, imprisoned, tortured for a confession, found guilty and executed. 

In that final interrogation, Angélique continued to deny that she had set the fire, and so the judge called in Mathieu Leveille, the “master of the means of torture,” and he applied the boots to Angélique’s legs and began to pound and shatter them with his hammer. Angélique broke under the relentless application of the torturer’s instrument of punishment, and she screamed that it was her who had set the fire, but that she did it all by herself. The judge was satisfied – but not completely, because Angélique still refused to name Claude Thibault as her accomplice. 

She did confess her guilt, not that confession would save her. With or without it, he would still be hanged. 

The Hanging of Angélique: The untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal, by Afua Cooper. (Harper Perennial 2006), Chapter XII, pp. 282-283.

Artist Alexis Eke wrote on her Instagram page about designing the Angélique portrait: 

 Had the honour of illustrating a stamp for Canada Post, highlighting the story of Marie-Josèphe Angélique. Although we don’t have any photos of Angélique, her story as an enslaved Black woman in Montreal has become a symbol of Black resistance and freedom to many.

I’m so grateful to have contributed to Canada’s history in such a unique way and to see my work on letters, packages and postcards all across Canada ❤️ Thank you @canadapostagram for the incredible opportunity! 
Alexis Eke (@alexis.eke) • Instagram photos and videos

No portraits of Angélique exist. Elke based her dynamic illustration on a photograph of Haitian Canadian actor and model Penande Estime, taken by Jorge Camarotti. It captures the defiance and pride of Marie Joseph Angélique.

Artist: Alexis Eke 
Eke is an Afro-Caribbean artist artist, based in Toronto. Her work has been used by the AGO, Canada Goose, Penguin Random House, The Walrus and CBC, to name a few of her clients. She writes in her bio:

… she aims to increase the representation of black women in design and offer a space for deep reflection.  … Her work reflects her cultural and personal experiences as a woman of Caribbean upbringing with a strong Christian faith, and asks “How are Black women represented in the art world?”
About — Alexis Eke

Designer: Nathalie Cusson of Scooter Design

Release date: January 31. 2025


March

Spring Flower – Peonies

Spring Flower - Peonies Spring Flower - Peonies 

 Spring Flower - Peonies

Spring Flower - Peonies  Spring Flower - Peonies

Spring Flower - Peonies Spring Flower - Peonies Spring Flower - Peonies

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

Cytherea’ and ‘Marie-Victorin’ are two hybrids created by Canadian-born horticulturists. 

The semi-double Cytherea was registered in 1953 by Arthur Percy Saunders, an expert on peony hybridization. He was the son of the first director of Canada’s Central Experimental Farm. 

Marie-Victorin was first propagated in 2004 by Lindsay D’Aoust and named after Brother Marie-Victorin (1885-1944), founder of the Montréal Botanical Garden. 

The series began in 2007. You can see the entire series here Canada’s Spring Flowers. – 17 years & counting. It’s been updated to 2025. 

  • 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
  • 2024 – wildflowers
  • 2025 – peonies

Photographer: Jeffery Ofori
Designer: Stéphane Huot

Release date: March 3, 2025


Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha – Canadian Prayer Rug

7th in series

Single stamp showing the Canadian prayer rug

Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha - Canadian Prayer Rug booklet of stamps Cover for teh booklet  Back of the booklet

FDC for Canadian prayer rug. Full cover illustraton in deep, browns. Back of FDC

1 stamp, booklet of 6, FDC, cancel

EID this year started March 30th and ended March 31. 

This stamp is a celebration of multi-faith outreach between Canada’s Indigenous and Muslim communities. The rug was designed by Métis artist Kit Craven and Muslim weaver Noor Iqbal, using knowledge gained from conversations with Indigenous Elders and descendants of early Muslim settlers. It’s a special endeavour was created in 2016 by the Green Room in Edmonton

The rug’s design depicts Alberta’s diverse landscapes and distinct seasons. At its centre are an archway and a lodgepole pine – a tree that supports teepees and lodges and is reminiscent of the cypress of settler homelands.

Weaved with locally sourced wool, dyes and other materials, the prayer rug reflects the rich cultural and geographical history of the region, bringing together elements that honour the community’s heritage.

More than a work of art, the rug symbolizes unity and multiculturalism within Treaty 6 Territory, which includes Edmonton. It celebrates the deep, enduring connection between Indigenous and Muslim communities, which helped to open the country’s first mosque in Edmonton in 1938.
Prayer rug celebrating ties between Indigenous and Muslim peoples adorns new Eid stamp | Canada Post

Designer: Kristine Do
Illustrations: Kit Craven
Photographer: Maya Visnyei

Do also created the 2024 EID stamps Eid Festival 2024 : Ma`mul Pastries

Canada EID 2024

Release date: March 10, 2025


Right Honourable Brian Mulroney

Right Honourable Brian Mulroney single stamp

Booklet of stamps Cover of booklet - black with Mulroney in profile  Back of booklet

FDC showing mulroney's portrait and Peace Tower in the background back of FDC 

1 stamp, booklet of 10, FDC, cancel

Conservative party Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.

Mulroney, who served as prime minister from 1984 to 1993, believed that Canadian democracy “is advanced by the collision of great ideas and the articulation of competing visions of the country.” Having won back-to-back Conservative majorities in the 1984 and 1988 federal elections – a feat that hadn’t been achieved in Canada since the Liberals secured a second term in 1953 – he spent his tenure pursuing a vision and championing ideas that were transformative. Brian Mulroney: booklet of 10 Permanent™ stamps – Canada Post

He died February 29, 2024.

Designer: Paprika
Stamp photographer: Bill McCarthy
Booklet cover photographer: Tony Bock

Release date: March 21, 2025


April

Blue Rodeo

 Blue Rodeo booklet cover

Blue Rodeo sheet from bookletBlue Rodeo profiles on a single stamp see description for list of band members Blue Rodeo back of booklet 

Blue Rodeo FDC in dark blue and grey 572dc9ff ee82 4b17 b619 e790b46ee047

1 stamp, booklets of 6, FDC, cancel

Formed 1984 in Toronto, Blue Rodeo is a legend in Canadian rock history. Still going strong, 41 years later, they have accrued an armload of honours including 12 JUNO Awards, induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame and  a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

Featured on the stamp: 
Mike Boguski, Jimmy Bowskill, Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor  – front row, and Colin Cripps, Bazil Donovan and Glenn Milchem in the back row.
About | BlueRodeo.com

This stamp is part of a long, storied series celebrating Canadian music talent such as  Robert Charlebois (2009), The Tragically Hip (2013), Beau Dommage (2013), Stan Rogers (2021) and Sarah McLachlan (2024)

Designer: Jim Ryce
Artist: Katy Lemay

Release date: April 4, 2025


Community Foundation Semi-Postal

Community Foundation Semi-Postal showing multi coloured giraffes having a bit of fun

GIraffe booklet stripBooklet cover Back of Community foundation booklet

booklet cover with an orange and purple giraffe Community Foundation Semi-Postal Postcard

FDC showing a giraffe picknic back of FDC Community Foundation Semi-Postal

1 stamp, booklet of 10, prepaid postcard, FDC, cancel

This annual semi-postal raises funds for a variety of community based children’s charities, community programs and schools.    

Designer: Paprika
Artist: Anne-Julie Dudemaine
Dudemaine is a Montreal based illustrator, muralist and pattern designer. You can see more of her work here Anne-Julie Dudemaine


Eeeee! A real bucket list project: I got to illustrate a stamp for Canada Post!
Big thanks to the team at Paprika and to Rachel Huard for the art direction and trust. 
The booklet of 10 stamps is part of the 2025 Canada Post Community Foundation edition. For every booklet sold, $1 goes to organizations that support children and youth across the country.
Anne-Julie Dudemaine (@annejulie_dudemaine) • Instagram photos and videos

Release date: April 30, 2025


May

2SLGBTQIA+ rights

2SLGBTQIA+ rights stamp one  night out with friends 2SLGBTQIA+ rights protest and demand better 

2SLGBTQIA+ rights hanlan's point 2SLGBTQIA+ rights date night dance
2SLGBTQIA booklet of stamps 2SLGBTQIA+ rights back of FDC booklet cover back of  2SLGBTQIA+ rights back of FDC booklet back of  2SLGBTQIA+ rights back of FDC booklet
Indigenous 2 Spirits FDC 2SLGBTQIA+ rights back of FDC

Truxx FDC 2SLGBTQIA+ rights back of FDC

Hanlan's Point beach in Toronto fDC 2SLGBTQIA+ rights back of FDC

Montreals Club Carousel FDC 2SLGBTQIA+ rights back of FDC

4 stamps, booklets of 8, 4 FDCs, cancel
offset

In an age when extremists are determined to destroy all that is safe and good, this stamp seems more important than ever.  

  • Club Carousel, Calgary’s first gay bar, which created an innovative members-only policy and established a space for the community to gather free from harassment 
  • Truxx, a popular bar in Montréal’s gay village where a 1977 police raid – and resulting widespread protests – led to legislation barring discrimination based on sexual orientation in Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms  
  • Hanlan’s Point Beach in Toronto, where the 1971 Gay Day Picnic was held – considered the first major gathering of queer people in Canada and an early example of what we now know as Pride 
  • The 3rd North American Native Gay & Lesbian Gathering in 1990 near Beausejour, Man., where the term “Two-Spirit” was first introduced and adopted
    Details from Canada Post press release 

Designer: Kelly Small of Intents & Purposes Inc.
Illustrator: Tim Singleton
People in Toronto will be familiar with Tim’s work. He also designed the 2024 TTC Ride Guide! This is his first stamp design for Canada Post. 

TTC Ride Guide poster

Poster for the TTC Ride Guides

Release date: May 30, 2025


June

Indigenous Leaders 
4rd in series
Released for National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21

This series honours and celebrates Indigenous leaders who have worked to help their communities overcome horrific abuses and neglect. Each had helped their people reclaim pride in their heritage and claw back memories and traditions. It is an amazing series. 

Each stamp was unveiled at different ceremonies and released together on June 20, 2025.

Inuit drum dance teacher Julia Haogak Ogina

Inuit drum dance teacher Julia Haogak Ogina single stamp showing her smiling

booklet Julia Haogak Ogina Cover of booklet Backside of booklet with information

1 stamp, booklet of 6, cancel
offset

“We have to teach and sing the songs to create singers to lead us to sing and tell stories — to be able to create the music for the dance” 
Drum dancer honoured with new stamp

Born in 1962 in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., Ogina grew up learning the customs and traditions of her ancestors through dancing, singing and storytelling. As more people in her community began moving into centralized communities, children were sent to residential schools and people had to learn English to find work, Ogina began noticing gaps in her own knowledge. She worked as a translator and research assistant on The Northern Copper Inuit: A History (1996). The project, carried out through consultations with community Elders, spanned the early history of the Ulukhaktok region to early and late contact periods and into modern-day life.

Around 2006, she became the programs coordinator of Elders, Language & Culture for the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, whose mandate is “to manage the lands and resources that support traditional and cultural values.” In her position, she emphasizes oral learning and the transfer of knowledge via community. In 2017, she helped publish Huqqullaarutit Unipkaangit (Stories Told through Drum Dance Songs). The project involved a decade-long consultation with Elders to retrieve and preserve drum dance songs – which she sees as a conduit for ancestral knowledge and “a window into all the strengths of our people.”
From Canada Post’s news release.New stamp pays tribute to Inuit drum dance teacher Julia Haogak Ogina | Canada Post

Designer: Andrew Perro, using a photograph by Matisse Harvey (Archives Radio-Canada)

Unveiling date: June 13, 2025

Métis Elder and Michif Language Keeper Sophie McDougall

Portrait of Métis Elder and Michif Language Keeper Sophie McDougall on single stamp 

Booklet of 6 stamps Cover of booklet featuring Métis Elder and Michif Language Keeper Sophie McDougall portrait Info on back of booklet

1 stamp, booklet of 6, cancel
offset

“She loved family get-togethers. That was the meaning of her life” 
St. Louis teacher, mother and Michif language-keeper stamps legacy at Canada Post | paNOW

Born in 1928 in St. Louis, Saskatchewan, McDougall (née Margaret Sophie Boyer) was a descendant of the area’s original settlers. As a Métis woman, she experienced discrimination at teachers’ college but faced it with courage and determination. She spent many years as a dedicated schoolteacher. Her first teaching assignment was in 1945 in a remote area north of North Battleford – at a tiny school with no electricity.

An Elder with the Prince Albert Métis Women’s Association in Saskatchewan for 20 years, McDougall translated books and other materials into Michif, the traditional language of many Métis. Michif is categorized as critically endangered by UNESCO. She also worked with many organizations in Prince Albert to document and teach the regional dialect Michif French. In her late 80s she appeared in the YouTube series, Métis Women Stories and later contributed to the creation of the Learn Michif French app. In 2023, McDougall received the Order of Gabriel Dumont Gold Medal in recognition of her lifetime of service to the Métis of Canada.
From Canada Post’s news release New stamp commemorates Métis Elder and Michif Language Keeper Sophie McDougall | Canada Post

Designer: Andrew Perro 
Illustrator: Jennifer Faria
Faria also designed the cancels for each stamp. She is a member of the Indigenous Art Collective.
From the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, Ontario.  
This is her first stamp. Jennifer used photographs supplied by McDougall’s family

Unveiling date: June 17, 2025

First Nations Elder and Knowledge Keeper Bruce Starlight

First Nations Elder and Knowledge Keeper Bruce Starlight portrait showing himwearing full headdress 

booklet of 6 stamps Cover of booklet Back of booklet with info printed on Starlight

1 stamp, booklet of 6, cancel
offset

“We’re still here, and we’re not going to go away,” …”No matter what.”
First Words: Bruce Starlight speaks Tsuut’ina | CBC Radio

Born in 1947 on the Tsúut’ínà Nation, Starlight is the son of the late Chief James “Jim” Starlight, who served as chief of the First Nations community for more than a decade during the 1950s and early 60s. Although he had to leave high school to help support his family after his father died, Starlight went on to study linguistics at the University of Calgary later in life. Frustrated by a lack of support for the teaching of Tsúut’ínà, he began to document its alphabet, words and phrases.

In the 1970s, Starlight served as a councillor on the Tsúut’ínà Chief and Council and assisted Elder George Heavenfire in teaching participants about Tsúut’ínà history during the Sarcee Cultural Survival Camp. In 1992, he became the first elected Indigenous director on the Calgary Stampede Board of Directors, after serving as the first chairman of the First Nations Events Committee.

One of the last fluent speakers of the Tsúut’ínà language, in 2008 Starlight was among the founders of the Tsúut’ínà Gunáhà Násʔághà – an institute dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of his mother tongue. An accomplished teacher and speaker, he has developed extensive materials for Tsúut’ínà instruction, including dictionaries and recordings. Although he retired as language commissioner for the Tsúut’ínà Nation in 2022, Starlight continues to serve as a speaker and advisor on Indigenous issues. He recently collaborated on a collection of traditional narratives and historical accounts in Tsúut’ínà and a Tsúut’ínà-to-English glossary. In 2023, Starlight received an honorary doctorate from Mount Royal University.
From Canada Post’s news release New stamp honours First Nations Elder and Knowledge Keeper Bruce Starlight | Canada Post

 

 

Designer: Andrew Perro, using a photograph by Richard Anseeuw

Unveiling date: June 19, 2025 


Civilian Internment in Canada

Civilian Internment in Canada single stamp with words behind barbed wire

booklet back booklet front  booklet

back of FDC FDC showing one of the camps

1 stamp, booklet of 6, FDC, cancel
offset

This stamp was released to remind Canadians how fragile freedom is. 

During both the First and Second World Wars, the Canadian government organized large-scale civilian internment operations, during which thousands of people were unjustly interned in camps across the country. Tens of thousands more had their freedoms restricted in the name of national security. Some of these measures continued into peacetime.
New stamp draws attention to history of civilian internment in Canada | Canada Post

Internees also had their property confiscated. Much of it was not returned at the end of the war. Internees were often made to work on large labour projects, e.g., building a portion of the golf course at Banff National Park. They were used to build roads, clear bush and cut trails. They also worked on logging and mining operations. They were paid less than half the daily wage offered to other labourers.

Conditions were trying. The guards were sometimes brutal. Resentment at what many regarded as their unjust confinement was widespread. This provoked resistance — some passive, such as work slowdowns. Other efforts were more determined. There were escape attempts and even a riot involving some 1,200 internees at KapuskasingOntario, in May 1916. Three hundred armed soldiers were needed to put it down.

In total, 107 internees died in captivity. Six were shot dead while trying to escape. Others succumbed to infectious diseases, work-related injuries and suicide. In many cases, they were buried in unmarked graves or cemeteries far from their communities and loved ones.
Internment in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Check out Civilian Internment in Canada – University of Manitoba Press

Designer: Underline Studio
This is the first of two stamps from Underline Studio this year. They also created the September Diwali stamps.

Release date: June 17, 2025


August

Fungi

.Star-tipped reindeer lichen (Cladonia stellaris) Tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius) Chicken of the Woods stamp
Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) Rhizophagus irregularis

booklet of fungi

Fungi booklet cover Fungi back of the booklet
Souvenir sheet of all 5 stamps back of FDC

5 stamps, booklets of 10, FDC, cancel
offset

Canada Post has released two other notable fungi sets in the past. 

4 Fungi from 1998

Mushrooms & Fungi (1989) by Ernst Roch
Red Chanterelle (Cantharellus cinnabarinus)
Common Morel (Morchella esculenta)
Spindle Coral (Clavulinopsis fusiformis)
Admirable Boletus (Boletus mirabilis)

International Year of Forests

International Year of Forests by Subplot Design Inc.
with mushrooms a focus of the stamp

Designer: Jocelyne Saulnier of Joce Creative
Illustrator: Emily S. Damstra  
“It was the kind of project I love because it (1) involved learning about wildlife; (2) required a lot of detail, which is kind of my default; and (3) showcases subjects I care about.”
Canada Post fungi stamps – Emily S. Damstra
This is Damstra’s second stamp for Canada Post. Her previous stamp was the 2024 Endangered Frogs set.

Endangered Frogs Souvenir Sheet

Release date: August 27, 2025


September

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – Bentwood Box

Bentwood box

Bentwood box one Bentwood box

Booklet Truth-and-Reconciliation-2025-Booklet-Cover

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - Bentwood Box  FDC Back of FDC

This year the Survivors Circle of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation picked Bentwood Boxes for the stamps. 

The Bentwood Box is a lasting tribute to all residential school Survivors. The sacred box and the items in this collection are deeply personal symbols of their experience.

Bentwood boxes are traditional to the northwest coast with many uses: As oil and food dishes, storage boxes for food, medicine or ceremonial regalia, water buckets, burial boxes, canoe tackle boxes, drum boxes and more. They could also be used to steam food by filling the box with water and dropping stones from a fire into the box.

Commissioned by the TRC in 2009, the Bentwood Box travelled with the TRC to its eight national events throughout Canada, where people placed personal items into the box to symbolize their journey toward healing and expressions of reconciliation. Thousands of items from across the country — including photographs, reports, books, drums, knitted baby blankets, beaded moccasins, a prayer shawl, a suitcase and a Tutchone Warrior’s bow with eagle feathers and four arrows — were donated to this collection. 
The Bentwood Box – NCTR

On the stamp depicting the front panel of the box, crosses represent the churches that ran residential schools (with the federal government), while raised hands symbolize the helplessness felt by parents when their children were taken away from them and sent to residential schools.

Another stamp features a panel on the box that relates Inuit experiences at residential schools. The northern lights and stars in the background represent Inuit ancestors and teachings. Students were separated from this knowledge while at residential schools.

On the third stamp, a panel depicts student experiences from the Prairies and Eastern Canada. The infinity symbol, found on the Métis flag, acknowledges the Métis children who were taken to residential schools.

The back of the Bentwood Box features the Thunderbird, which is shown on the back of the OFDC and inside the booklet. The carving of the Thunderbird proclaims the strong voices of Indigenous Peoples, which are essential to reconciliation.
New Truth and Reconciliation stamps focus on the Bentwood Box | Canada Post

The boxes depicted on the stamps were the work of master carver Coast Salish artist Luke Marston. He is a member of the Stz’uminus First Nation on Vancouver Island.

“I am inspired by the legacy of my ancestors. The title “Honouring the Ancient Ones” is a reflection of the respect I feel for the master carvers of long ago. I believe, as an artist, that we have to find a balance between traditional and contemporary art, and at the same time evolve and grow as Coast Salish people.”
 Luke Marston Luke Marston – Coast Salish artist

Designer: Blair Thomson from Believe in
Blair has had the honour to design the entire Truth and Reconciliation stamps series. Starting with the 2022 Truth and Reconciliation, 2023 Residential Schools, 2024 Victim’s Artwork. You can read more about this day and see the previous stamps here.  

Release date: September 29, 2025


Diwali – Festival of Lights

Diwali 2025 stamp

booklet Booklet cover back of booklet

FDC for Diwali back of FDC with text about the event

1 stamp, booklet of 6, FDC, cancel
offset

The design uses Rangoli art with the word Diwali in both Hindi and English. 

Canada’s first Diwali stamp was issued in 2017, making this the 9th stamp in this series. 

Designer: Ritu Kanal from Underline Studio
Underline Studio also designed this year’s Civilian Internment stamp.

Release date: October 15, 2025


November

Remembrance Day – Private Buckam Singh

Private Buckam Singh cancel
Private Buckam Singh stamp
Booklet

FDC

1 stamp, booklet of 6, FDC, cancel
offset

The 2025 Remembrance Day stamp is dedicated to Sikh soldiers who were quietly forgotten by Canadian history books. Despite being forbidden to enlist and serve in the Canadian military, 10 managed to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force, despite the decades of violence and discrimination they faced. It’s only in the last 10-15 years has there been a push to recognise these men. 

This year features Private Buckam Singh who served in Flanders in 1916. Singh enlisted April 23, 1915 in Smith Falls, Ont and served with the 20th Canadian Infantry Battalion.  He was wounded twice, developing tuberculosis after his second injury. This led to his death in 1919.  

Newspaper clipping photograph of Buckam Singh

Private Buckam Singh photograph (with misspelt name) from a newspaper article.

By 1917, as he was waiting to be sent back to the frontline, Singh developed tuberculosis. He was admitted to a Canadian-run military hospital and underwent surgery to remove fluid from his lung.

Singh was sent back to Canada to recover after his surgery. After arriving in Halifax, he made the long train journey to try to recover in Ontario. Sadly, he succumbed to the tuberculosis on Aug. 27, 1919, in Kitchener, Ont.

He had no family or community around him.

Singh was buried by the Canadian military with full honours and laid to rest at Mount Hope Cemetery in Kitchener. His grave is one of the only resting places of a Sikh Canadian soldier from the First World War.
Meet Private Buckam Singh, one of the first Sikh soldiers to serve Canada | CBC Radio

Buckam Singh and Sikh Canadians in the First World War | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Designers: Larry Burke and Anna Stredulinsky from Burke & Burke
Illustrator: Parm Singh using a photograph by Dave Peleschak.
The Sikh soldier in the photo is a modern soldier at Singh’s grave
About – Parm Paintings

Release date: November 2, 2025


Christmas – Secular and Sacred

Winter Tale of Friendship

Sly fox in a big green scarf decorating a Christmas tree Bunny in  bunny warmer (scarf) admiring Christmas decorations Squirrels putting up christmas lights. They are wearing toques and adorable little ear muffs

Fox stamps Winter Tale of Friendship domestic postage booklet coverTinsel Tales Domestic Booklet Cover Back  Squirrels on stamps! Winter Tale of Friendship booklet cover for US postage prices Winter Tale of Friendship FDC FDC backside

3 stamps, 2 booklets (domestic and US), FDC, cancel
offset

Designer: Kristine Do
Do also designed this year’s Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha stamps
Illustrator: Alexandra Finkeldey
About — Scatterbee Illustration & Design

Nativity Scene

single stamp showing the nativity scene with an angel, donkey and one sheep.

Booklet of Nativity Scene stamps Front of the booklet Christmas Nativity 2025 Booklet Cover Back 

Nativity Scene on a FDC back of the FDC

1 stamp, booklet of 12, FDC, cancel
offset

Designer: Bex Morley

Release date: November 6, 2025


Hanukkah  

 

Hanukkah  stamp see description below

booklet showing 6 stamps Front of the booklet showing the menorah Back of booklet 

FDC back of the FDC

1 stamp, booklet of 6, FDC, cancel
offset

 

 

 

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There are two ways you can support Bitter Grounds

a donation via Buy me a Coffee

or

You can also buy some fun t-shirts, stickers, magnets and totes at my Merchandise Emporium
Among the philately related images you can buy are unique Cinderella airmails I’ve been creating.

 

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© 2025
Bitter Grounds Magazine
All Right Reserved

You can usually find me lurking on Bluesky along with a large number of great stamp lovers. 

Just look for Catpaw!

‪@bittergrounds.bsky.social‬ 

Diversity is a strength.

UPDATE ALERT!!

Why yes, I am still alive. Really sorry about running out of steam this year, but I'll be plugging away at countries over the next two months, and hopefully get a lot more up. In the meantime, enjoy the rich year Canada offered. Lots of topics to think about. 

Updates

Canada 2025 just waiting on the Hanukah stamps to finish the year.

NEW!

Faroe Islands 2025   

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