December 20, 2000: BRC Press Release #9
OTTAWA - A grey wolf, a white-tailed deer and a red fox are the new 2001
definitive stamps that will soon complement revised designs for definitives
featuring Queen Elizabeth II, the Maple Leaf and the Canadian flag. The
Honourable André Ouellet, President and Chief Executive Officer for Canada
Post, announced today that 13 definitive stamps and two pre-stamped envelopes,
including an expanded range of Picture Postage stamps, will be issued on
December 28, to coincide with the new postage rates coming into effect on
January 1st, 2001. The stamps will be available in a wide range of formats and
layouts.
The image of a red fox
illustrates the U.S.-rate (60 cent) definitive stamp. The largest of the four
fox species found in Canada (red, grey, arctic and swift), the red fox is a
carnivorous member of the dog family. Despite its name, the red fox can be a mix
of colours but the back of the ears, the lower part of the legs and the feet are
black and the tip of the tail is always white. Although it seems to prefer
country living, the red fox occasionally settles in suburbs, city parks and golf
courses. Highly adaptable, social and sometimes gregarious, foxes are considered
to be among the most intelligent mammals.
The grey wolf, a
mammal familiar to most Canadians, is pictured on the 75 cent (second step)
domestic rate definitive stamp. In Canada, this animal can be found from the
Alaska border and Vancouver Island to Labrador on the eastern coast. Social
animals, grey wolves live in a group or pack where the male adult is dominant to
the adult female and her pups. Wolves communicate through postures and positions
of various body parts, by scent marking and through howling and other
vocalizations.
The international rate
definitive ($1.05) stamp features a beautiful white-tailed deer, the most
numerous and most widely distributed of all North America's large animals. Its
population is estimated at over 15 million, of which two and a half million live
in Canada. Its reddish summer coat turns into a grey-brown in the fall. The deer
gets its name from the characteristic white on its chin, throat, belly and
undertail. This undertail is used to communicate : it's an alarm signal and the
"flag" that most people see when a startled deer bounds away to
safety.
In 2001, the very popular and successful Picture Postage™ stamp will be
expanded and made more flexible. The gold frame introduced in April 2000
remains, but customers may now choose from two additional colours (silver and
mahogany) and two special frames : 'Love/Amour' and 'Christmas'. Frames can be
used in either horizontal or vertical format while size and shape remain
consistent with the 2000 format. Four of the original stickers will once again
be offered : thank you/merci, the maple leaf, a pen, and a heart, while a holly
sticker has been added for holiday greetings.
In addition to a change
in denomination, the designs of the Maple Leaf and Flag definitive stamps are
revised. The Queen Elizabeth II definitive, previously available with a red
background, has been changed to a blue background. This year, the newly-designed
definitive Canadian flag is depicted fluttering in the breeze, with an Inukshuk
visible in the background. An Inukshuk, previously depicted on the Nunavut stamp
in 1999, is a stone monument representing a human figure. Originally used to
scare caribou into an ambush, they are now used as markers to guide travelers. A
third domestic rate definitive stamp features an illustration of a maple leaf as
it evolves and changes over the seasons.
The design of the flag definitive stamp is by Gottschalk and Ash International
of Toronto while the Queen stamp was designed by Chris Candlish and Tom Yakobina.
The maple leaf stamp design is by Pierre-Yves Pelletier of Beloeil, Québec. The
newest definitives, the red-fox, the grey wolf and the white-tailed deer, were
designed by René Milot of Toronto, from oil on canvas paintings.
