Canada Post today announced its stamp line-up for 2011. The 20 stamp issues and two commemorative envelopes will feature a wide variety of topics and people, including baseball Hall-of-Famer Fergie Jenkins, singers such as the McGarrigle Sisters and Ginette Reno, hydroplane Miss Supertest III and much more. More than a billion Canadian stamps are sold yearly in Canada and worldwide.
“Each year, we receive hundreds of proposals for our stamp program and this year was no different. More than 600 proposals were submitted by Canadians and we’ve managed to narrow the program to 50 individual stamps on 20 wide-ranging topics,” says Moya Greene, President and CEO of Canada Post. “We’re now kicking off the 2012 campaign and inviting Canadians to submit their ideas.”
To make it easy for all Canadians to submit their ideas for the 2012 Stamp program, Canada Post has created a new stamp page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/canadapost). Stamp ideas collected from the Facebook page, by email and through letter submissions will be reviewed by the Stamp Advisory Committee and approved by Canada Post’s Board of Directors.
New stamp issues in the 2011 program
- The Zodiac series, a first for Canada Post, will feature images of the traditional Greco-Roman zodiac. The first stamps in this issue will depict four popular sun signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer).
- The 100th anniversary of Parks Canada will be honoured, celebrating a century of world leadership in the stewardship of natural and historic treasures.
- Miss Supertest III marks the glory of the Canadian hydroplane racer, three-time-winner of the Harmsworth Cup.
Continuing series
- A fourth Mental Health fundraising stamp will be issued in support of the company’s cause of choice. The booklet of 10 stamps sells for an additional dollar, which is donated to the Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health. Sales of the three previous issues of this stamp raised more than $500,000 for the Foundation.
- The first commemorative issue of the year will be two stamps that mark the Year of the Rabbit. This will be the third issue in the popular twelve-year Lunar New Year series.
- The spotlight will shine again on Canadian Recording Artists – including singer Ginette Reno, singer-songwriter Robbie Robertson and folk singers Kate and Anna McGarrigle.
- The Art Canada series features paintings by influential Canadian First Nations artist Daphne Odjig.
- As part of Black History Month, two stamps pay tribute to Canadian baseball Hall-of-Famer and youth advocate Fergie Jenkins, and journalist Carrie Best, founder of The Clarion, one of the first black-owned newspapers in Nova Scotia.
- The Canadian Roadside Attractions series will close with a trip to Atlantic Canada that features the Shediac Lobster, the Oxford Blueberry, the O’Leary Big Potato and the Glover’s Harbour Giant Squid.
- The gardening season will be highlighted with two stamps depicting warm and vibrant sunflowers.
- A salute to Canadian Innovations features stamps depicting the pacemaker, the electric oven and the electric wheelchair.
Other stamps feature the Canadian flag, baby animals, architectural details, methods of mail delivery, Christmas, the International Year of Forests, and Chemistry. Since 1851, more than 2,350 Canadian stamp issues have been released.
