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“During the past year, Canadians have paid tribute to many heroes of the War of 1812. I am especially proud to be here today at the unveiling of this stamp in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel de Salaberry, a true French-Canadian hero,” said Minister Blaney. “Salaberry and his Voltigeurs are known for having bravely defended Canada 200 years ago, and we must never forget the sacrifices they made, as they participated in building the Canada we know today.” Dubbed “The Hero of Châteauguay,” de Salaberry was a distinguished British Army commander whose leadership of the legendary Voltigeurs ensured the successful defence of Montreal and all of Lower Canada (now Quebec) from 1812-14. Continue reading →

Canada Post released two stamps honouring the daring exploits of two legendary Canadian heroes – Laura Secord and Charles de Salaberry. Secord and de Salaberry’s pivotal actions helped to secure this country’s distinct identity when its future was threatened in a conflict with the Americans. Secord braved a 30-kilometre walk through the Canadian wilderness to warn a British outpost of an impending American attack. As commander of a group of fighters in Lower Canada, de Salaberry’s strategy and resourcefulness enabled his outnumbered Canadian force to repel an American invasion aimed at capturing Montreal. Continue reading →

In 1753, Franklin opened the first post office in Canada, in Halifax, to link the Atlantic colonies with Britain. Prior to 1753, Franklin had been postmaster of Philadelphia, before being promoted to joint deputy postmaster general for the British colonies. But eventually, Franklin’s involvement with the growing revolt against the British Empire made it necessary for him to leave his post. Continue reading →

“It’s a great honour that my art has been chosen to appear on stamps,” Gay said. “I think it’s a sign that the art created for children’s books is recognized as an important medium that leads to visual literacy and changes one’s vision of the world.” The stamps are based on original watercolour artwork from the Stella books and depict the character playing in a tree and sitting with her brother and dog reading a story. Continue reading →

The soaking test is done to see if the stamp reacts to water in the same manner as genuine laid paper, including the way it curls. Re-backed stamps, made by thinning a genuine stamp and attaching it to thinned blank laid paper, either curls differently or separates when soaked. A recognized one-cent Large Queen on laid paper was used as a control to evaluate the stamp. “The submitted two-cent stamp displayed no properties of a rebacked stamp when placed in water,” the report stated. “Obviously it did not separate from any rebacking. Further it was soaked several times. It never curled in an unusual manner. It did not reject water in any area of the stamp. It dried in the same consistent manner as the genuine one-cent laid paper copy each time it was soaked.” Continue reading →