Canada Post is proud to announce the release of its annual Remembrance Day stamp issue, honouring the contributions of the farmerettes and Soldiers of the Soil during the First and Second World Wars.
The two-stamp set commemorates the young men and women who stepped up to support Canada's agricultural efforts when the country and its allies needed them most.
The two world wars were not only won by troops on the battlefield. Civilians on the home front were instrumental in producing food, ammunition and other supplies for the war effort.
Canada played a lead role in producing food for Britain and the Allied troops during both wars. This was achieved with the help of different federal and provincial programs that recruited youth to work the farm fields at home after thousands of Canadian men left to serve in the battlefields of Europe.
This year's Remembrance Day stamp issue honours participants of two of those programs: the farmerettes and the Soldiers of the Soil.
Farmerettes
During the First World War, the Ontario government created the Farm Service Corps, which recruited high-school girls to work on farms in 1917 and 1918. These workers were known as farmerettes. More than 20,000 girls participated in a similar initiative called the Ontario Farm Service Force's Farmerette Brigade during the Second World War.
Farmerettes worked in farms, orchards and canneries for up to 10 hours a day, producing food for Canadians and the war effort. They paid their room and board from their hourly wage and supplied their own personal items – including work clothes.
Soldiers of the Soil
Created by the federal government in 1918, the Soldiers of the Soil initiative recruited teenaged boys to work on farms for the remainder of the First World War. More than 22,000 young Canadians enrolled in the program.
Participants planted, tended and harvested fruits and vegetables, helped with the haying and cared for livestock. At the end of their term, they were "honourably discharged" and awarded a bronze lapel badge of honour, often at a community ceremony acknowledging their wartime contribution.
About the stamps
The two stamps feature archival photos of participants in the national Soldiers of the Soil initiative and the Farmerette Brigade of the Ontario Farm Service Force at work in the fields.
The Soldiers of the Soil photo shows a group of young boys harvesting flax in a field near Willowdale, Ontario, around 1917. In the farmerettes photo, four members of the Farmerettes Brigade take a break from hoeing celery in Thedford, Ontario, in 1945.
Soldiers of the Soil
Created by the federal government in 1918, the Soldiers of the Soil initiative recruited teenaged boys to work on farms for the remainder of the First World War. More than 22,000 young Canadians enrolled in the program.
Participants planted, tended and harvested fruits and vegetables, helped with the haying and cared for livestock. At the end of their term, they were "honourably discharged" and awarded a bronze lapel badge of honour, often at a community ceremony acknowledging their wartime contribution.
About the stamps
The two stamps feature archival photos of participants in the national Soldiers of the Soil initiative and the Farmerette Brigade of the Ontario Farm Service Force at work in the fields.
The Soldiers of the Soil photo shows a group of young boys harvesting flax in a field near Willowdale, Ontario, around 1917. In the farmerettes photo, four members of the Farmerettes Brigade take a break from hoeing celery in Thedford, Ontario, in 1945.
Printed by Lowe-Martin, the issue includes a booklet of 10 Permanent™ domestic rate stamps, two Official First Day Covers and a pane of six stamps.
The Soldiers of the Soil stamp is cancelled in La Rivière, Manitoba, a farming area where some participants were sent. The Farmerettes stamp is cancelled in St. Catharines, Ontario, where many farmerettes worked.