New stamps feature artwork reflecting the history and legacy of residential schools

Stamp creation process guided by the Survivors Circle of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 19, 2024 /CNW/ - Today, to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Canada Post and the Survivors Circle of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation unveiled new stamps highlighting artwork that reflects the history and legacy of residential schools.

Canada Post again partnered with the Survivors Circle to create this third issue of its Truth and Reconciliation stamp series. This partnership helps ensure that the perspectives and voices of Survivors remain central throughout the stamp creation process.

Canada Post (CNW Group/Canada Post)

The artwork chosen by the Survivors Circle for this series was created by three artists: Robert Burke, Helen Iguptak and Adrian Stimson. All three are residential school Survivors.

Robert Burke

Robert Burke's artwork explores the social issues and personal challenges of his Black Indigenous identity, as well as what he experienced in nearly a decade spent at St. Joseph's Residential School in the Northwest Territories.  

Helen Iguptak

Inuk artist Helen Iguptak was forced to abandon her traditional clothing when taken to live at Turquetil Hall in Nunavut. At the school, an older girl taught her to make dolls, a medium with a rich Inuit history. The dolls she makes today are dressed in traditional Inuit clothing.

Adrian Stimson

Two-Spirit interdisciplinary artist Adrian Stimson is a member of the Siksika Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy in Alberta. He attended three residential schools, including Gordon's Residential School in Saskatchewan.

About the stamps

The booklet cover features the Survivors' Flag of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. The stamps are cancelled in Ottawa, home to the seat of the Canadian government, which forcibly separated Indigenous children from their families and communities and removed them from their land, languages, cultures and spiritual traditions, by sending them to residential schools and day schools.

The child's handprint is a symbol to remember the children taken at a young age to residential schools, many of whom never returned home. Lowe-Martin printed the stamps. Canada Post thanks the Survivors Circle of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation for their guidance throughout the stamp creation process.

The stamp products will be available at canadapost.ca and postal outlets across Canada beginning on September 27, to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30.

The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line provides 24-hour support to former residential school students and their families. If you require support, please call 1-866-925-4419.

For links to images of the stamps and other products, and more resources:

• External folder with high-resolution images
• Read the Canada Post magazine article
• Social media – Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

SOURCE Canada Post

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