News Releases

Sharing the pride… Canada Post delivers its Vancouver 2010 Winter Games stamps

Jan. 13, 2009

VANCOUVER - In just over a year, athletes from more than 80 countries will come together to showcase their skills, learn from their peers and claim their sport’s ultimate bragging rights. As Canada prepares to welcome the world, Canada Post invites all Canadians to share the pride.

Canada Post, an Official Supplier for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, today unveiled their starting Olympic and Paralympic stamp line-up. The 10 stamps are part of a three-year program that, upon its completion, will be among our country’s most significant philatelic milestones. In 2010, Canada Post plans to issue additional stamp designs honouring the Games.

For the first time in Canada’s postage stamp history, the country’s definitive stamp roster – almost a billion stamps – will focus on one theme. “As these stamps find their way across this country, to the United States and around the world, people will know that Canada is the very proud host of the 2010 Winter Games,” says Moya Greene, President and CEO of Canada Post. “As a company so closely connected to the daily lives of all Canadians, we’re thrilled to bring this level of awareness to the Games and we are honoured to share the pride in delivering the 2010 Winter Games with all of Canada and our employees.”

The Honourable Rob Merrifield, Minister of State (Transport) and Member of Parliament for Yellowhead (AB), participated in the unveiling, noting the stamps convey the excitement and honour we feel to be hosting this world-class event for only the second time in its history. “With their vibrant designs, Canada Post’s 2010 Winter Games stamps capture the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, as well as the people, places and character of the host nation—our beloved Canada. I thank Canada Post for showing their Olympic spirit and support for our athletes with these wonderful stamps.”

“The 2010 Winter Games offer Canadians a unique opportunity to unite our country and share our spirit and culture with the world,” said John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). “Canada Post, with its 2010 stamp program, will help us to celebrate both our passion for sport and the diversity of cultures and perspectives that make up our nation, and will play an important role in delivering the spirit of the Games throughout Canada and to the world.”

The stamps were unveiled at Vancouver’s main post office to an enthusiastic crowd including grade 1 and 2 students from Grandview Elementary School and Canada Post Freestyle Team athletes Audrey Robichaud, Vincent Marquis and Warren Tanner, all medal hopefuls at these Games, and the stamps’ designers. Also attending was postal employee Donna-Marie Gurr, a swimmer who won the bronze medal for the 200m Backstroke at the Munich 1972 Olympic Summer Games.

The event’s highlight came as beloved Vancouver 2010 mascots Sumi, Quatchi and Miga, unveiled life-size enlargements of their stamps, to the delight of the whole audience!

About the stamps

From iconic sports imagery to the beloved Vancouver 2010 mascots, 2010 Winter Games-themed stamps will grace the majority of Canada’s mail, truly delivering the pride of a nation ready to welcome the world.

Sports of the 2010 Winter Games

To celebrate Canada’s proud role as host of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Canada Post issued a set of five PERMANENT^TM domestic rate stamps. The stamp designs, by John Belisle and Kosta Tsetsekas of Signals design Group (Vancouver, BC), were inspired by Olympic imagery from the 1940s and 1950s, and feature athletes in action with a strong emphasis on movement. Five Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games sports are showcased: curling, snowboard, freestyle skiing, bobsleigh and ice sledge hockey. The energy implicit in these vibrant stamps conveys the excitement of hosting this world-class event.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Games mascots and emblems

Olympic and Paralympic emblems and mascots capture the values of the Games as well as represent the people, geography and spirit of Canada, the host country. This set of five stamps, with design co-ordination by Tandem Design Associates Ltd. (Richmond, BC), features the dramatic symbols of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. One of the two PERMANENT^TM domestic rate stamps depicts the official Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games emblem, while the other features the Paralympic emblem. The other three designs—a United States rate (98¢), an International rate ($1.65) and an Oversize rate ($1.18)—showcase the whimsical trio of Vancouver 2010 mascots: Miga, Quatchi and Sumi.

The stamps, with the exception of the Sumi issue, are available now at post offices across Canada. The Sumi stamp will be on sale February 12.

Additional information about Canadian stamps can be found in the News section of Canada Post's website, and photos of these new stamps are also available. Stamps and other products will be available at participating post offices, or can be ordered online by following the links at Canada Post's website www.canadapost.ca, or by mail order from the National Philatelic Centre. From Canada and the USA, call toll-free: 1 800 565-4362, and from other countries, call: 902 863-6550.