As a rule, however, the gaze of exclusion prevailed in the 19th century
and workers were not visible on stamps issued by the Dominion of Canada
during this period. The first sightings of workers on Canadian stamps
can be dated from 1929 and 1930, when we can identify several workers
who are engaged in bringing in the annual harvest of wheat. In the first
of these (#157) we observe the
preindustrial methods of harvesting that for several decades attracted
thousands of hired hands from across the country to the wheatfields at
harvest time; in the second image (#175)
we are witnessing the arrival of mechanized harvest methods.
Thus the two stamps stand at an important divide in the history of farm
labour.15 No hint here
of course, or later, of the collapse of agriculture or its human
consequences during the 1930s. The most important observation is that
in both cases the workers are subordinated to the main theme of the image,
which is the harvest itself and, in part, the mechanization of production.
The workers appear to be incidental to the larger story in these images.
Canada Scott 157
Stamp reproduced courtesy of Canada Post Corporation
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Canada Scott 175
Stamp reproduced courtesy of Canada Post Corporation
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In at least two later stamps the gaze of inclusion is more direct, as
agricultural labour is in the foreground. But in these cases the
intentionality is not markedly different, for the official subject matter
of the stamps is not the experience of work but the production of culture.
The 1969 stamp (#492), reproduces a
handsome early-20th-century portrait of farm labour that emphasizes
the equal labours of men and women; the occasion was a tribute to the
Québecois painter Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté.
Similarly, a powerful 1979 stamp (#817) shows a pioneer farmer
ploughing a field; this stamp was issued in honour of Frederick
Philip Grove's novel Fruits of the Earth (1933).
Canada Scott 492
Stamp reproduced courtesy of Canada Post Corporation
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The gaze of subordination is also apparent in the Bluenose
stamp of 1929 (#158), which is a tribute to the famous fishing
schooner that symbolized the maritime legacy of the east coast. The
fishermen who sailed this vessel are barely visible in this image.
However, by 1988 (#1228) the skipper at least had emerged from
below and overshadowed the vessel; interestingly Angus
Walters occupies a modest, and admittedly somewhat ambiguous, place in
labour history for his part in helping to lead a campaign by fishermen
and fishhandlers for higher prices in 1938; but this story remains
relatively unknown to admirers of the
Bluenose.16
Meanwhile, the gaze of inclusion had extended by 1951 to introduce the
generic east coast fisherman (#302),
here shown in romantic form on a rather rich one dollar stamp in his
oilskins hauling in his nets. No evidence here of the new production
methods and difficult choices facing the fishing communities at this
stage in their history. The whole image is garlanded by the harvests
of the sea, suggesting the inexhaustible bounty of the fishing
resources, which are themselves the intended subject matter of
the stamp.
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Canada Scott 302
Stamp reproduced courtesy of Canada Post Corporation
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In the narrative of resource exploitation and economic development,
therefore, workers are often present but are usually subordinated
to their work or to their machines. The contemporary fur trade is
represented in a 1950 stamp (#301), showing a work scene at a
snowbound encampment in the north woods; there was some objection
at the time that the scene was not entirely realistic due to the
enormous size of the
skins.17 Wheat and
oil, represented respectively by profiles of female and male figures,
are featured in a 1955 stamp (#355), which was issued to mark the
anniversaries of Saskatchewan and Alberta. A more naturalistic group
of workers appear as members of a survey crew in a 1961 stamp
(#391) promoting northern development. There is a tribute to the
pulp and paper industry in 1956 (#362); here the worker is almost
crowded out by the powerful image of the mill machinery. In the case
of the textile industry, a 1953 stamp (#334) reveals no signs at
all of human presence in the production process.
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