Canada Post has issued its 2026 Hanukkah stamp, featuring a family celebration inspired by an archival photograph of three generations gathered in a North Toronto home.
Released Nov. 9, the stamp features an original painting by Canadian artist Jacqueline Kott-Wolle, who drew inspiration from a photograph of her own family celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights. The artwork depicts family members gathered around a hanukkiyah, the nine-branched candelabrum used during Hanukkah.
The eight-day celebration begins at sundown Dec. 4 this year and commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE following a revolt led by Jewish fighters known as the Maccabees. According to Jewish tradition, recorded in the Babylonian Talmud, a supply of oil sufficient for one day miraculously burned for eight days.
Canada Post began issuing annual Hanukkah stamps in 2017 as part of a broader program recognizing religious and cultural celebrations observed across Canada, including Eid and Diwali. This year’s design emphasizes family memories and the passing of traditions between generations.
The 2026 Hanukkah Official First Day Cover features additional artwork by Jacqueline Kott-Wolle and a Toronto cancellation depicting dreidels. Canada Post produced 4,000 covers. (Canada Post image)
Designed by Hélène L’Heureux and printed by Lowe-Martin, the issue includes a booklet of six Permanent domestic-rate stamps and an Official First Day Cover (OFDC).
The OFDC features another Kott-Wolle painting depicting the artist and her child beside a hanukkiyah in a Toronto home. Its cancellation features two dreidels, while the reverse includes lyrics from the traditional song Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah.
The booklet retails for $7.44, while the OFDC is priced at $2.24, with production limited to 4,000 covers. Both are available through Canada Post and select postal outlets.
A special Hanukkah cancellation is applied to a cover bearing Canada Post’s 2025 Hanukkah stamp in Disraeli, Que. Designed by Ottawa philatelist Irv Osterer, the postmark features a hanukkiyah and dreidels. (Courtesy of Irv Osterer)
DISRAELI’S CONNECTION
Collectors can add another dimension to the issue through a special Hanukkah cancellation available from the post office in Disraeli, Que.
Ottawa philatelist Irv Osterer, who designed the pictorial postmark several years ago, is encouraging collectors to send envelopes to the community for cancellation. The design features a hanukkiyah and dreidels, symbols associated with the Festival of Lights.
The location has a distinctive historical connection. Disraeli, originally known as Black Creek, was renamed in 1877 in honour of Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), Britain’s first prime minister of Jewish birth. The community’s post office dates to 1881.
According to Osterer, the postmaster welcomes requests from collectors around the world.
Collectors wishing to obtain the cancellation can send properly stamped envelopes to:
Maître de poste Fortier
210 Rue St. Joseph Est
Disraeli, QC
Canada G0N 1E2
The special cancellation offers collectors an opportunity to combine Canada’s latest Hanukkah stamp with a postmark from a Quebec community whose name has a historical connection to Jewish heritage.