by catpaw | 31 Dec, 2024
A small, rough & tumble logging town named Ottawa was officially proclaimed the capital of the Province of Canada on December 31, 1857.
Almost everybody knows that Queen Victoria selected Ottawa as Canada’s capital. But few are aware that the city’s selection was anything but a gentile affair. In fact, the Queen was only asked to help after years of sterile political wrangling between contending factions in Parliament. There were more than 200 votes on the issue. Even after the Queen had made her choice, it didn’t go down well with some and was challenged in Parliament. At the end of the day, Canadian legislators only narrowly ratified the Queen’s decision; a change of three votes from yea to nay would have nixed it.
Queen Victoria Chooses Ottawa – The Historical Society of Ottawa
When the Dominion of Canada was established in 1865, Ottawa became the capital of the new country. In 1965 Canada released a stamp celebrating the capital’s 100th anniversary. The new stamp was designed by Gerald Matthew Trottier, using his own water colour painting of Parliament Hill.
[Parliament Hill] [graphic material] / Painted by Gerald Matthew Trottier
Watercolour : essay, gouache on paper ; 240 x 310 mm RG3, Accession number: 1989-565 CPA, 1989-565
Courtesy Archives Canada
Trottier transformed his painting into one of Canada’s iconic images of Ottawa for the city’s 100th anniversary.
Centenary of Proclamation of Ottawa as Capital
Designed by Gerald Mathew Trottier
Engraved by Gordon Mash ad Yves Baril
by catpaw | 23 Dec, 2024
Internationally renowned Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh was born December 23, 1908.
After years as a refugee from the Armenian massacres of 1915, Karsh eventually made his way to Canada in 1925.
On the stormy New Year’s Eve of 1925, the liner Versailles reached Halifax from Beirut. After a voyage of twenty-nine days, her most excited passenger in the steerage class must have been a seventeen-year-old Armenian boy who spoke little French, and less English. I was that boy.
My first glimpse of the New World on a steely cold, sunny winter day was the Halifax wharf, covered with snow. I could not yet begin to imagine the infinite promise of this new land. For the moment, it was enough to find myself safe, the massacres, torture, and heartbreak of Armenia behind me. I had no money and little schooling, but I had an uncle, my mother’s brother, who was waiting for me and recognized me from a crude family snapshot as I stepped from the gangplank. George Nakash, whom I had not seen before, sponsored me as an immigrant, guaranteed that I would not be a “public charge,” and traveled all the way from his home in Sherbrooke, Quebec, for our meeting — the first of his many great kindnesses.
A Brief Biography – Yousuf Karsh
Karsh’s photographs would be featured on numerous stamps from Isle of Man, Jersey, UK and Canada over the decades, culminating in a 3 stamp tribute to his work in 2008 on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Audrey Hepburn
Winston Churchill
Yousuf Karsh – Self Portrait
From the Birth Centenary of Yousuf Karsh (portrait photo) series
Released by Canada Post in 2008
Designer: Hélène L’Heureux
by catpaw | 13 Dec, 2024
Canadian painter and author Emily Carr was born December 13, 1871, in Victoria, BC.
“Emily Carr is one of Canada’s best-known artists. Her life and work reflect a profound commitment to the land and peoples she knew and loved. Her sensitive evocations reveal an artist grappling with the spiritual questions that the Canadian landscape and culture inspired in her.”Lisa Baldissera
Emily Carr: Life & Work | Art Canada Institute
Birth Centenary of Emily Carr (1871-1945)
Issued by Canada Post in 1971
Designed by William Rueter
Forest, British Columbia, Emily Carr, 1931-1932
Part of Canada Post’s 1991 Masterpieces of Canadian Art
Designed by Pierre-Yves Pelletier
Few artists impact the world equally with their paintings and paragraphs. Van Gogh was one, Emily Carr (1871–1945) another, and she was one of the first Canadian artists of national significance to emerge from the West Coast. During her life she felt her artistic career was a failure. Saddled with a sense of professional and personal isolation and rejection, she persevered and her vision of Canada is now iconic.
Emily Carr’s Life – Emily Carr Chronicles
Emily Carr at St Ives, Cornwall.
December 1901
This photograph is part of 198908-002 which contains original art works by Carr and photographs related to Carr, her family, friends and pets. <.br> This image courtesy https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/emily-carr-in-her-late-teens
by catpaw | 21 Nov, 2024
Foster Hewitt, the voice of Canadian hockey, arrival was announced November 21, 1902.
“Henderson has scored for Canada”
Foster Hewitt’s understated description of the series winning goal for the ’72 Summit Series
Hewitt provided play-by-play coverage, first on radio and later CBC tv, for generations of hockey fans. For 40 years his distinctive voice heralded another “Hockey night in Canada”, a phrase, along with “He shoots, he scores!” he coined. To many, he was Canadian hockey. Although he retired in 1963, he came out of retirement to provide coverage of the historic 1972 Summit Series.
Hockey Night in Canada / La Soiree du Hockey
From the first Millennium Collection series
Issued in 1999 by Canada Post
Designed byHélène L’Heureux and Sheri Hancock
The images in the left of each stamp: The English stamp shows Foster Hewitt and the French stamp shows the French voice of hockey Pierre Houde.
Foster Hewitt (1902-1985) – The History of Canadian Broadcasting
