A taste of tradition: Canada Post serves up sugar shack stamps

Canada Post unveils two new stamps celebrating Quebec’s sugar shacks.

Canada Post has unveiled two new stamps celebrating a distinctly Quebec tradition — the sweetly beloved sugar shack.

The new stamps, depicting the sugaring-off season in illustration, were presented in Montreal at the Cabane Panache Festival.

“The traditions surrounding sugaring-off season are so important in Quebec that they are officially part of the province’s intangible heritage,” said Canada Post in a press release.

“Indigenous Peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, including the W8banakiak (Abenakis), the Anishinaabeg (Anishinabe), the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and the Mi’gmaq (Mi’kmaq) were producing maple products long before the arrival of European settlements.”

The Indigenous communities shared their ancestral knowledge with early French colonists, who adapted their methods over time.

In the 1850s, the early iterations of what would become the modern sugar shacks began to appear.

They were small shelters where maple sap was boiled, eventually becoming social gathering places.

Since a significant part of syrup production has been automated, and although sugar bushes have grown in size, artisanal techniques are still in practice.

Quebec now produces 90 per cent of Canada’s maple syrup and 70 per cent of global production.

The stamps, booklet and Official First Day Cover were illustrated by Gérard DuBois and graphic design firm Paprika.

Canada Post says the illustrations were inspired by popular commercial and advertising art from the 1940s and 1950s, evoking colourful scenes of people sharing a meal and enjoying some time outside.

The stamps are available at canadapost.ca and at retail outlets across the country.