One group of workers who consistently attract the attention of post
offices, both in Canada and elsewhere, are the postal workers
themselves. They can be found on stamps as early as 1953, when the
post riders of 18th-century Québec were commemorated (#413).
The post is also the subject of a series of six stamps from 1974
documenting various phases of contemporary postal operations
(#634-639). Here perhaps we are
beginning to see the more general
gaze of inclusion give way to a more direct gaze of assertion. In some
respects the intentionality may be indirectly related to the unhappy
labour relations climate of the 1970s at the post office, where large
battles were being fought over technological change and labour rights.
Although this was a time of considerable conflict over technological
change in the post office, the image of the postal worker
seems to be thoroughly unaffected by such matters. We are forcefully
reminded of this situation by one of two unique stamps issued by the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers in 1975. During the course of that
year's labour conflict, the postal workers undertook to provide some
limited service for which they issued alternate stamps under the title
"Worker-Controlled Messenger Service."
Canada Scott 636
Stamp reproduced courtesy of Canada Post Corporation
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"Worker-Controlled Messenger Service," 1975
Issued by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
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Another group of workers are honoured on four stamps issued in 1991.
These stamps paid tribute to a number of "Dangerous Occupations"
(#1330-1333), including ski patrols,
police, fire-fighting, and search and rescue. Again, this must be
considered a limited assertion of the working-class presence.
Certainly experts on workplace health and safety will ask whether
these are thought to be the only or even the most dangerous of
occupations for Canadian workers.
Canada Scott 1332
Stamp reproduced courtesy of Canada Post Corporation
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In a category of their own are a group of near-legendary individuals
who have achieved larger than life reputations. In 1992 the group
included, besides Laura Secord who has a somewhat different status,
the Ottawa Valley lumberman Joseph Montferrand, the Newfoundland
seafarer William Jackman, and the Prairie guide Jerry Potts
(#1432-1435). All of these are
actual historical figures, ratified as such by the Dictionary
of Canadian Biography, but they are smuggled into the
postal issue under the formal classification of Canadian folklore.
The same transaction takes place also in 1993 (#1491-1494) where
several workers, including the men who sang "Les Raftsmen"
on the timber drives and the fishermen who sang "I's the
B'y" in the outports, are represented under the classification
of folk song. And if hockey players can be considered part of
labour history, they too can be found on stamps celebrating the
75th anniversary of the National Hockey League in 1992
(#1443-1445); certainly we now know that hockey players in
the 1950s and after have been engaged in some difficult off-ice
struggles against the league owners.
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Canada Scott 1435
Stamp reproduced courtesy of Canada Post Corporation
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We may also pause here to consider the presence of individuals whose
lives can be read, at least in part, as chapters in the larger
working-class experience. We might consider including here such
figures as Alexander Mackenzie (#319), the apprentice stonemason,
or David Thompson (#370), the Hudson's Bay Company apprentice,
both of whom went on to larger prominence in Canadian history. We
might also make claims for individuals who gained world reputations
through their work, such as the champion oarsman Ned Hanlan (#862)
and the renowned soprano Emma Albani (#860).
Consider as well the cases of those who were connected to various
causes of popular democracy and the left in Canadian history. The
gaze of assertion here includes individuals such as Louis Joseph
Papineau (#539), Louis Riel (#515), Josiah Henson (#997),
and Gabriel Dumont (#1049) - but not William Lyon Mackenzie. It
also includes Norman Bethune
(#1254-5)22 and
Agnes Macphail (#1293) - but not J.S. Woodsworth.