OTTAWA – Canada Post is quietly preparing for its first annual issue of stamps that mark a religious holiday that is not Christmas.
In 2017, the Crown corporation will begin issuing annual stamps to mark holy days for Muslims, Jews and Hindus, ending the monopoly the Christian tradition of Christmas has had on the country’s philatelic heritage.
Canada Post has been issuing annual Christmas stamps since 1964. Next year, Canada Post will issue stamps to mark the Muslim feast day of Eid, the Hindu festival of lights known as Diwali, and the Jewish holy day of Hanukkah.
In addition to its annual Christmas stamps, Canada Post has been issuing a Chinese New Year stamp every January since 1997, and a series of stamps marking Black History Month every year since 2003. These are the only events for which Canada Post issues annual stamps.
Canada Post’s board of directors has approved the issue of Eid, Diwali and Hanukkah stamps for each of the next three years.
“We’ll see how they do,” said Jim Phillips, Canada Post’s director of stamp services. “If the sales are strong, I would expect you would see those in the program on an annual basis.”
The stamps will be available about a month before each festival. In 2017, Eid will be marked on Sept. 1; Diwali on Oct. 19; and Hanukkah begins Dec. 12.
The decision to issue those stamps, made a few years ago, was motivated partly by a desire to do something special to mark Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, but also in recognition of an increasingly multicultural Canada.
The selection of stamp themes and designs is largely decided by an independent stamp advisory committee, first established in 1969. Committee members, who serve for terms of six years, and typically have backgrounds as historians, graphic designers, visual artists or stamp collectors, are appointed by Canada Post.
The crown corporation aims for regional, language and gender diversity on the committee, but has also made an effort to increase the ethnic and religious diversity, Phillips said.
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