The Official First Day Cover features a stamp honouring Anishinaabe Elder and world-renowned water-rights activist Josephine Mandamin.

The stamp is one of three in the 2024 Indigenous Leaders issue, the third set of stamps in the Indigenous Leaders series. It is cancelled in Wiikwemkoong, Ontario, where Mandamin was born.

Good to know

The Indigenous Leaders series recognizes the outstanding achievements and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders. The 2024 issue pays tribute to three remarkable women:

• Christi Belcourt, Métis visual artist and environmentalist

• Elisapie, award-winning singer-songwriter, actor, director, producer and activist

• Josephine Mandamin, Anishinaabe Elder and world-renowned water-rights activist

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 Josephine Mandamin

Known as Grandmother Water Walker, Anishinaabe Elder Josephine “Biidaasige” Mandamin (1942-2019) trekked more than 25,000 kilometres – including around all five Great Lakes – to raise awareness of the need to preserve the sacred, life-giving gift of water.

The residential school Survivor and fourth-degree member of the Three Fires Midewiwin Society was born on Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, and lived most of her life in Thunder Bay, serving as a spiritual adviser and healer.

In 2002, she and a group of other Anishinaabe women founded the Mother Earth Water Walk movement to encourage people to protect water from pollution and other threats. Between 2003 and 2017, she led walks along the shores of waterways in Canada and the United States – singing, praying, and sharing the traditional ceremonies and knowledge of her people.

Her many honours included the Meritorious Service Cross, for her contributions to Indigenous leadership and reconciliation, and the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation.

Mandamin’s legacy lives on through community water walks and the dedicated Anishinaabe women she mentored, who continue to carry out her work and share her powerful message of environmental conservation.

About the design

The front of the Official First Cay Cover features a photograph of Mandamin and a stylized illustration of water, the circle representing the interconnectedness of water and life. It also includes the text “Josephine Mandamin” and the Josephine Mandamin stamp, cancelled in Wiikwemkoong, Ontario – where Mandamin was raised.

The stamp was cancelled on June 21, which is National Indigenous Peoples Day. The cancel is a stylized image of the ripples emanating from a droplet of water. The dynamic rings reference Mandamin’s work to protect water, rippling outward from the centre in the same way that her legacy continues to inspire.

Product # 414258131

Indigenous Leaders – Josephine Mandamin: Official First Day Cover