This souvenir sheet features three stamps honouring the remarkable knowledge/language keepers in the 2025 edition of the Indigenous Leaders series: Julia Haogak Ogina, Bruce Starlight and Sophie McDougall.

Good to know

The Indigenous Leaders series recognizes the outstanding achievements and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders. The 2025 issue pays tribute to three remarkable knowledge/language keepers:

Julia Haogak Ogina – Inuit
Bruce Starlight – First Nations
Sophie McDougall – Métis

The souvenir sheet is the only way to purchase one of each of the new Permanent™ stamps in a single product.

About the Indigenous Leaders series

The Indigenous Leaders series, launched in 2022, highlights the contributions of modern-day First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders who dedicated their lives to preserving their culture and improving the quality of life of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

About the Indigenous Leaders

Julia Haogak Ogina

Witnessing the erosion of her Inuit heritage spurred Julia Haogak Ogina (b. 1962, Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories) to devote her life to revitalizing the culture and languages of her ancestors. As colonization fragmented families and undermined traditions, she noticed that lessons once learned through singing, dancing and storytelling were gradually being lost.

Ogina worked with anthropologist Richard G. Condon on The Northern Copper Inuit: A History (1996) to document the rapid pace of socio-economic change experienced by her community. In 2017, the accomplished drum dance teacher and leader helped publish Huqqullaarutit Unipkaangit (Stories Told through Drum Dance Songs). The project involved a decade-long consultation with Elders to retrieve forgotten drum dance songs – which she sees as a conduit for ancestral knowledge and “a window into all the strengths of our people.”

In nearly two decades with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, Ogina has contributed to the creation of a regional language framework and programs promoting oral learning and knowledge transfer. In 2020, she was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal for her efforts to protect and promote Inuit culture and traditions.

Bruce Starlight

Known as Dit'óní Didlishí (Spotted Eagle), Bruce Starlight is one of the last fluent speakers of the Tsúut'ínà language. Born in 1947 on the Tsúut'ínà Nation near Calgary, Alberta, the Elder and Knowledge Keeper has worked hard for more than five decades to save his language and culture from extinction.

Although he had to leave high school to help support his family after his father died, Starlight went on to study linguistics at the University of Calgary later in life. Frustrated by a lack of support for the teaching of Tsúut'ínà, he began to document its alphabet, words and phrases. Starlight founded the Tsúut'ínà Gunáhà Násʔághà – an institute dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of his mother tongue – and served as language commissioner for the Tsúut'ínà Nation.

Also an accomplished teacher and speaker, he has developed extensive materials for Tsúut'ínà instruction, including dictionaries and recordings. Starlight recently collaborated on a collection of traditional narratives and historical accounts in Tsúut'ínà and a Tsúut'ínà-to-English glossary. He is still active as a cultural mentor, adviser and ambassador. In 2023, he received an honorary doctorate from Mount Royal University.

Sophie McDougall

Sophie McDougall (née Margaret Sophie Boyer, 1928-2023) shared extensive knowledge of her Métis culture and language with generations of students and community members over her long life. She was born in St. Louis, Saskatchewan – a descendant of one of the area’s original settlers. As a Métis woman, McDougall experienced discrimination at teachers’ college but faced it with courage and determination. She graduated at age 17 and spent many years as a devoted schoolteacher.

An Elder with the Prince Albert Métis Women’s Association in Saskatchewan for 20 years, she translated books and other materials into Michif, the traditional language of the Métis. Michif is categorized as critically endangered by UNESCO.

McDougall was a dedicated Language Keeper who also worked with many organizations in Prince Albert to document and teach the regional dialect Michif French. She appeared in the YouTube series Métis Women Stories when she was in her late 80s and later contributed to the creation of the Learn Michif French app. In 2023, McDougall received the Order of Gabriel Dumont Gold Medal in recognition of her lifetime of service to the Métis of Canada.

About the design

The souvenir sheet features a background photograph of a night sky and treetops illuminated by the northern lights, and the three stamps in this year’s Indigenous Leaders issue.

Product # 404296145

Indigenous Leaders souvenir sheet of three (2025)