July 25, 2005
Ottawa -- Travelling across the Prairies by train, English author Derek Patmore wrote, "This country could do with a great deal of editing!" His tongue-in-cheek remark illustrates the inability of many Europeans to grasp the concept of distance as it applies to Canada and the Prairies. This year, Saskatchewan celebrates the 100th anniversary of its entry into Confederation. To mark this milestone, Canada Post will issue a commemorative 50-cent stamp on August 2, 2005. The stamp image will compress in time and space three uniquely Saskatchewan vignettes that portray this land of hope and promise under a single great canopy of blue sky.
Saskatchewan is the heart of the Canadian prairie. Vast open vistas and sunshine frame bountiful farms and crops that feed the nation and the world. Much of Saskatchewan gently rolls away to the horizon. That roll, while gentle and soothing, is deceiving. The eye can still see clearly features in villages and landmarks, which may be some 20 km away, but appear to be much closer.
The Cree speak of a great flood from which Saskatchewan was born, and the rocks say this is so. Once covered by ancient seas and glaciers, today the province benefits from riches deposited deep below ground; gold, copper, zinc, lead, uranium, oil, gas, potash, sodium, sulphate and coal. After the seas receded, incredible reptiles and mammals made their home there before the thunder of stampeding bison shook the plains. And the constant is the land, the pride of Saskatchewan's farmers.
Saskatchewan entered Confederation in 1905, but was settled much earlier. Aboriginal people, Métis, fur traders and the Hudson's Bay Company set up outposts in the wilderness. By 1870, the push was on to entice homesteaders to the Prairie. With the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, settlers moved from the East, or from across the Atlantic from as far away as the Ukraine. By 1905, about 146,000 immigrants a year were pouring into Saskatchewan.
This province gave Canada its first woman governor general (Jeanne Sauvé) and its first Ukrainian governor general (Ramon Hnatyshyn). Political leaders such as John Diefenbaker and Tommy Douglas, the Father of Medicare, came from here. Hockey stars such as Glenn Hall and Gordie Howe, and curlers Ernie Richardson and the incomparable Sandra Schmirler honed their skills on the Saskatchewan Prairie. Singer/songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie and actor Gordon Tootoosis, writer W.O. Mitchell and physician David Williams, who flew on the Shuttle Columbia, all hail from Saskatchewan.
Canada Post is proud to salute the free spirit of Saskatchewan and its people with this centennial stamp. Happy 100th anniversary to all current and every former resident of the Land of Living Skies. For additional information about Saskatchewan's centennial celebrations, visit: www.saskatchewancentennial.com.
Bradbury Branding & Design Inc. of Regina worked in close consultation with the Saskatchewan Centennial Committee to craft the stamp. The stamp measures 48.75 mm x 32 mm, and will be sold in a sheet of eight stamps. Canadian Bank Note printed 3 million of the stamps, using 6-colour lithography plus varnish and PVA gum, on Tullis Russell Coatings paper. The stamp is general tagged on all four sides. The Official First Day Cover will read: Regina, SK.
Additional information about Canadian stamps can be found in the Newsroom section of Canada Post's website, and a downloadable high-resolution photo of the Saskatchewan commemorative stamp is in the Newsroom's Photo Centre. Stamps and Official First Day covers will be available at participating post offices, can be ordered online by following the links at Canada Post's website www.canadapost.ca, or by mail-order from the National Philatelic Centre. From Canada and the USA call toll-free: 1-800-565-4362 and from other countries call: (902) 863-6550.
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For further information, contact:
François Legault
Canada Post
(613) 734-8888
francois.legault@canadapost.ca
