By Patricia Roussel and David Dean
This put up is a part of the Canada Publish and Canadian Tradition collection.
That is the primary put up in a restricted collection devoted to learning the historical past of Canada Publish. Impressed by current 2025 labour disputes and renewed public dialog about Canada Publish, the intention right here is to look at the cultural impression and historic legacy of a controversial but important Canadian Crown Company. A nationwide establishment and the nation’s main postal operator, Canada Publish in its earliest iteration proceeded Canadian Confederation itself.
On this co-authored put up Patricia Rousell and David Dean will discover the connections between postage stamps, shaping nationwide identification by processes of commemoration, and the way this relationship performs out in praxis with a case-study of the 1996 Canada Publish-issued Klondike Gold Stamp Sequence.
Canada Publish and Imag[in]ing Canada on Stamps
In 1908, Canada issued a set of eight stamps commemorating a uniquely Canadian historic occasion: the founding of Quebec 300 years earlier. 4 of the stamps had been strikingly totally different from any beforehand issued by the Dominion which had, with one exception, at all times featured a portrait of the ruling monarch.[1] The 2 highest stage stamps provided imagined scenes of the French “discovery” of Canada: Champlain’s departure from France (on the 15¢ stamp) and Cartier’s arrival (on the 20¢). Equally uncommon had been the 5¢ and 10¢ stamps which depicted Champlain’s habitation and Quebec c.1700 respectively. The remaining stamps, used for normal postage, would have appeared extra acquainted, particularly to anybody who remembered the 1897 situation marking Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. Every of these stamps had featured a double portrait of the Queen, one from the start of her reign and one from the Eighties. Equally, the remaining 4 stamps of 1908 had been double portraits of, respectively, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and James Wolfe.
The choice to situation the Quebec tercentenary stamps on July 16, 1908, was made by the Postmaster Basic. Details about easy methods to handle provide and demand was despatched to native postmasters in a round letter six days earlier than, explaining that the stamps had been being launched to fulfill “what seems to be a preferred want.”[2] Philatelists (those that examine postage stamps and their manufacturing) name such stamps commemoratives. These are issued “normally for a restricted interval, to mark a specific occasion or anniversary,” in contrast to definitive stamps used for regular, on a regular basis postage and obtainable indefinitely till changed by a brand new design. Though what counts as a commemorative stamp is debated by philatelists, most agree that the primary commemorative stamp was issued by Peru in 1871 to mark the 20 th anniversary of the primary railway in South America.[3] The primary British Empire commemorative was issued by New South Wales in 1888 to have a good time the centenary of the British settlement in Australia. Canada’s first, the Quebec tercentenary points, had been launched in appreciable numbers and had been reported to be massively well-liked.[4]
Anniversaries supply the chance for the state, by its postal authorities, to mark a previous occasion it considers to be traditionally vital and worthy of celebration. As Eric Hobsbawm (fascinated by European state constructing between 1870 and 1914) remarked, postage stamps are the “most common type of public imagery apart from cash” and have appreciable “publicity worth” for the nation state.[5] In Canada, the Postmaster Basic, a cupboard place in control of the Publish Workplace Division, had final authority over what was commemorated and celebrated on postage stamps between 1867 and 1981. This was a largely inner matter till 1969 when a Stamp Advisory Committee was shaped, composed of philatelists, historians, designers and others. The committee remained after the Publish Workplace Division was changed in 1981 by Canada Publish, a crown company managed by a President/CEO and a Board of Administrators.
Canada Publish, just like the Publish Workplace Division it changed, performs a major position in shaping our sense of nationhood and the nationwide imaginary. Its web site explains a number of the standards used to find out whether or not a subject is worthy of a postage stamp. Commemorative topics should relate primarily to Canada, have nationwide significance, and have well-liked enchantment. Examples supplied on the web site embody “Canadian historical past, traditions, accomplishments, or pure heritage,” “social, cultural, political, financial, or enterprise life,” and the “start, work, or an occasion within the lifetime of an impressive Canadian.”[6] The workings of the Committee are confidential, requiring an entry to info and privateness (ATIP) request.
If the institutionalized backstories about Canada’s commemorative stamp program will not be simple to return by, historians can make use of different analysis methods to discover the character of commemorative stamps, the messages they convey, and the components of the story that they exclude or silence. They will find the stamps of their political and cultural context, situate them inside a historiography, study their distribution, discover public reactions as expressed in print and digital media, and topic them to rigorous visible evaluation. On this put up, Patricia will carry her insights into a major set of stamps issued in 1996 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Klondike Gold Rush.
Commemorating the Centennial: The 1996 “Discovery” of Klondike Gold Stamp Sequence
Canada Publish, Yukon Gold Rush, 13 June 1996, Pane of Ten, Designed by Steven Slipp, Unitrade Specialised Catalogue of Canadian Stamps (2022), catalogue #1606i, p. 320. Photograph Credit score: David Dean.
Issued on June thirteenth, 1996, to mark the one centesimal anniversary of the invention of gold within the Klondike, 5 commemorative stamps designed by Nova Scotian graphic designer Steven Slipp had been printed and distributed throughout Canada. Out there as a pane of ten in addition to individually, these stamps depict key parts of the Klondike Gold Rush, particularly: the “discovery” of gold, stampeders travelling north with their provides, the North-West Mounted Police controlling the border, saloons and showgirls in Dawson Metropolis, and mining applied sciences similar to sluice bins.[7] Every stamp follows a constant visible construction, that includes what Slipp describes as one “vibrant” particular person, a big typographic title, a panorama ({photograph} or engraving), a associated print doc, and a gold foil solar aspect.[8] With a print run of two,400,000 every,[9] these stamps discovered their approach into put up places of work, onto envelopes, and into private collections, the place they proceed to supply a visible illustration of the favored story of the Klondike Gold Rush as a defining second for the Canadian North.
A hanging characteristic of the pane of ten is the narrative created by the brief sentences printed above and beneath every row of the 5 stamps, in English and French respectively. Collectively, these captions type a timeline of the gold rush, starting with the “discovery” of gold by Tagish man Keish, identified in most English contexts and labelled right here as “Skookum Jim,”[10] in 1896 and concluding with “odd males playing on their desires.” This captioning strongly influences the place viewers’ eyes are drawn and what they pull from particular parts of the stamps’ imagery.
Canada Publish, Yukon Gold Rush, 13 June 1996, Skookum Jim Mason Staked the First Declare, 45cents multicoloured, designed by Steven Slipp, Unitrade Specialised Catalogue of Canadian Stamps (2022) catalogue #1606a, p. 320. Photograph Credit score: David Dean.
In keeping with Slipp, there was appreciable analysis put into every of the stamps by members of Canada Publish’s Stamp Advisory Committee for a number of causes: to find out the nationwide significance and related particulars of the topic, and to offer the chosen designers with an abundance of data and visuals pertaining to the topic. The choice to characteristic Keish as the primary determine of the primary stamp was made by managers within the Stamp Merchandise division at Canada Publish, which on the time was led by supervisor William (Invoice) F. Danard.[11] The evaluation which follows explores the importance of prominently that includes Keish in the beginning of this commemorative collection, whereas additionally addressing the gaps between the stamp descriptions, its imagery, and the views current in Canada Publish’s portrayal of the Klondike Gold Rush narrative.
As famous, Keish is positioned on the centre of the stamp. He stands in entrance of golden textual content studying “Bonanza,” with George Carmack’s notorious discovery declare behind him and a declare stake to his left. Keish holds a gold pan tucked beneath his arm and wears a tailor-made go well with, together with his famed gold nugget chain hanging from his jacket. To his proper, there’s a lovely picture of the Yukon River coated in a glistening gold, with rolling mountains on both aspect and an enormous frog looming over the river. The background is rendered in numerous shades of purple, with the frog outlined in gold.
Every of those options speaks to a distinct a part of the invention story, as determined upon by Canada Publish’s Stamp Advisory Committee. What do these rigorously thought-out options say in regards to the narrative that’s being commemorated, particularly contemplating that Keish, an Indigenous particular person, is at its centre?
The popularized starting of the gold rush dates to August 1896, when Keish, Káa Goox (Tagish Charlie), Shaaw Tláa (Kate Carmack), and George Carmack discovered gold in Rabbit (later re-named Bonanza), Creek in Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory. Keish and Shaaw Tláa had been siblings, Káa Goox their nephew, and all three had been members of the Tagish First Nation, whose homeland spans present-day southern Yukon and northern British Columbia. George Carmack, initially from California, met Keish whereas engaged on the Chilkoot Cross, the place Keish earned the identify “Skookum Jim,” that means “robust” within the Chinook dialect, for carrying heavy hundreds as a packer.[12] Their relationship later led to Carmack’s marriage to Shaaw Tláa and the couple’s transfer north in his pursuit of gold.
It is very important word that this “discovery” narrative usually obscures the truth that Indigenous peoples, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in particularly, had lengthy identified of the presence of gold of their lands.[13] Whereas accounts of who among the many 4 first discovered the gold stay contested, Carmack was formally credited after staking the preliminary declare, granting him better entry to the land and the riches it held. For a few years, he remained on the centre of this narrative because of racial hierarchies that privileged settler views and experiences. Although the stamp appears to ask a distinct narrative by foregrounding Keish, Carmack’s authority stays current, marked by the invention declare behind Keish with the inscription “G.W. Carmack submitting at Forty-Mile.” Following this submitting, information unfold quickly, drawing over 30,000 outsiders to the area by 1898. They utterly reshaped the land and renamed it the “Klondike,” a mispronunciation of the Hän phrase “Tr’ondëk.”[14] This upheaval irrevocably reworked the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in fishing camp of Trochëk, sitting on the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers, because the tent metropolis throughout the river grew into Dawson Metropolis, bringing years of dispossession and violence to the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in.
In keeping with oral histories collected by revered Northern anthropologist Julie Cruikshank, Keish’s unique presence on the “discovery” was not pushed by the starvation to seek out gold; slightly, he travelled far north from his Tagish neighborhood to go looking and take care of his sister, Shaaw Tláa. One other necessary issue that introduced Keish to the location was his frog spirit-helper, which he claimed to have acquired earlier in his life when he saved a frog and returned it to water. This frog was later acknowledged as having been the Tagish religious determine Tl’anaxéedákw, or “Wealth Girl.”[15] Wealth Girl appeared to Keish in a dream and took him to her father, who promised Keish nice riches as a reward for having saved his daughter when she was within the type of a frog.[16] These tales and desires emphasize that Keish’s expertise within the gold rush was deeply located inside his Tagish tradition, a connection that this stamp’s imagery clearly acknowledges with the frog hovering over the river.
The distinction between the left and proper sides of this stamp creates a visible reckoning within the Klondike Gold Rush narrative. In entrance of the invention declare, Keish is offered inside a prospector mythology, which Cruikshank interprets as him being praised as an “exception of his personal race,” or portrayed as an Indigenous particular person who needed to be a white man.[17] With this, settler-colonial values are imposed upon Keish as the unique “exploiter” of Yukon gold. But on the left aspect, with Keish’s frog spirit-helper showing over the river, that settler-colonial narrative is disrupted; as an alternative, his Tagish worldview interprets the invention narrative in a totally new gentle.
This commemorative stamp is remembered by Canada Publish as an effort to grant Keish the historic recognition he was lengthy denied inside the discovery story of the Klondike Gold Rush.[18] Issued nationally and circulated broadly, this stamp continues to form how the Klondike Gold Rush is offered. At present, a framed stamp sheet of this collection hangs within the Dawson Metropolis Publish workplace, the place locals can see it and maybe contemplate the way it displays the historical past of their residence.
Total, the stamp indicators a tentative shift in collective reminiscence by juxtaposing settler imaginaries with Tagish worldviews. It supplies a canvas to reshape the story, centring a person who was as soon as neglected, at the same time as broader Indigenous experiences throughout the Gold Rush stay within the background. This stamp represents an necessary step towards creating area for reimagining how the Klondike Gold Rush has been, and continues to be, understood as a major occasion in Canadian historical past.
The Public Historical past of Stamps
Patricia’s shut studying of the 1996 Klondike stamp situation is an element of a bigger SSHRC-funded venture on the general public historical past of postage stamps, “Philately in Troubled Occasions,” which explores how historical past, reminiscence, and identification are conveyed by stamps. Philatelists and stamp collectors have for many years demonstrated ardour for and deep data of postage stamps and postal historical past, but this residing archive has been largely ignored by public historians. On the opposite aspect, collectors focus consideration on the materiality of stamps and barely have interaction with how representations are constructed, the historic and historiographical contexts, or the idea and apply of historical past and public historical past. This venture goals to bridge this hole by creating an accessible database of the primary historic stamp issued by numerous at present and previously present international locations, and by providing case research such because the one Patricia has mentioned right here. Different staff members are inspecting stamps issued by Bhutan, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and San Marino.[19]
The method of making the database has raised many questions on how we conceptualize the previous and establish what counts as historical past, and has uncovered points of how nationwide imaginaries had been negotiated variously over area and time, by colonization and de-colonization, domestically, nationally, and transnationally. Our venture challenges complacency about what’s commemorated by asking questions on selections and by figuring out what’s silenced and erased. It asks how the previous is represented on stamps by interrogating processes, manufacturing, and design selections. Extra usually, it traces shifts and traits over time throughout the globe, from when the primary stamps had been issued within the 1840s to the current day. Because the Klondike case examine exhibits, it’s not solely what’s represented on stamps that issues, however additionally how these representations are made to do historical past and reminiscence work; how they carry out the previous to form a nationwide imaginary each in Canada and past; and what’s omitted, silenced, and erased of their making.
Patricia Roussel is an MA candidate in Public Historical past at Carleton College. Her graduate analysis examines the historical past of public commemoration and the heritage neighborhood in Dawson Metropolis, Yukon, on Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory.
David Dean is a Distinguished Analysis Professor in Historical past at Carleton College. He not too long ago revealed Performing Public Historical past: Case Research in Historic Storytelling (Routledge, 2025), and leads the SSHRC-funded Philately in Troubled Occasions venture.
[1] Unitrade Specialised Catalogue of Canadian Stamps (2022), 49-74. The exception was the Imperial Penny Postage “Christmas” stamp issued in December 1898, which featured a world map marking the British Empire in purple. The Province of Canada (previous to Confederation) had issued stamps that includes beavers and Jacques Cartier. Unitrade Specialised Catalogue, pp. 41-48.
[2] Robert Miller Coulter, Round to postmasters. Tercentenary collection of postage stamps, 1608-1908, Library and Archives Canada, ID 2186244.
[3] R.J. Sutton, The Stamp Collector’s Encyclopedia (Philosophical Library, 1966), 76.
[4] Over 35 million of the two¢ stamp had been printed, in comparison with slightly below 20 million of the two¢ 1898 imperial penny postage stamp. Unitrade Specialised Catalogue, pp. 68, 74. See additionally H.V. Nelles, The Artwork of Nation-Constructing: Pageantry and Spectacle at Quebec’s Tercentenary (College of Toronto Press, 1999), 261-262.
[5] Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, The Invention of Custom (Cambridge College Press, 1983), 281.
[6] Canada Publish, “The Canada Publish stamp program,” October, 17, 2025, https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/assist/articles/philatelic-products/stamp-program.web page (final up to date October 17, 2025). See additionally Jesse Robitaille, “‘Inside workings’ of Canada Publish’s Stamp Advisory Committee defined,” Canadian Stamp Information, April 4, 2017, https://canadianstampnews.com/inner-workings-canada-posts-stamp-advisory-committee-explained/.
[7] Sluice bins are lengthy trays lined with riffles that separate gold from sediment by channeling water to lure heavier supplies like gold and black sand, that are later panned to seek for gold mud or nuggets.
[8] Steven Slipp, electronic mail to Patricia Roussel, January 12th, 2026.
[9] This was barely beneath the 1995 Arctic collection of 5 stamps (3,000,000 of every stamp) however equivalent to these issued in 1996 commemorating Olympic gold medalists and Canadian authors. Unitrade Specialised Catalogue (2022), pp. 314, 321, 323.
[10] Keish’s English identify, “Skookum Jim,” continues to be broadly utilized in commemorative contexts, together with the Skookum Jim Friendship Centre in Whitehorse, the oldest Indigenous group within the Yukon, and the Skookum Jim Award administered by the Prospectors & Builders Affiliation of Canada.
[11] Steven Slipp, electronic mail to Patricia Roussel, January 12th, 2026.
[12] Jody Beaumont and Michael Edwards, First Nations Interpretative Guide (Travolution, January 2024), 129, https://travolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/First-Nations-interpretative-manual.pdf.
[13] Helene Dobrowolsky, Hammerstones: A Historical past of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, (Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, 2014), xiii.
[14] Helene Dobrowolsky, Hammerstones, xii.
[15] Julie Cruikshank, “Photos of Society in Klondike Gold Rush Narratives: Skookum Jim and the Discovery of Gold,” Ethnohistory 39, no. 1 (1992): 24-25, https://doi.org/10.2307/482563.
[16] John Sandlos, “Who Was Skookum Jim?” Canadian Mining Journal, November 1, 2023, https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/featured-article/who-was-skookum-jim/#:~:textual content=Keishpercent20alsopercent20maintainedpercent20apercent20rich,thepercent20largepercent20grouppercent20ofpercent20participants.
[17] Cruikshank, “Photos of Society in Klondike Gold Rush Narratives,” 33.
[18] Steven Slipp Design, “Postage Stamp Design: Commemorative Postage Stamps,” SlippDesign.ca, https://slippdesign.ca/commemorative-postage-stamps.shtml.
[19] Led by Principal Investigator David Dean and Undertaking Supervisor Anna Kozlova, the staff members are Mario Baker Ramirez, Chantal Brousseau, Declan Da Barp, Charlie Ham, Charlotte Johnston, Pleasure Karinge, Trevor Peeters, Patricia Roussel, and Jaime Wooden. This put up attracts on analysis supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Analysis Council of Canada.
Associated
