Canada Post to release Braille stamp in April

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

Pointe Claire resident Alan Dean is getting ready to celebrate. After about seven years of campaigning for a Braille postage stamp, Canada Post will be unveiling the country’s first-ever Braille stamp at the Montreal Association for the Blind (MAB) in Notre Dame de Grace on April 21, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the MAB’s first board meeting. “I’m just thrilled to bits,” Dean said.

Dean, who is totally blind himself, is a client at the MAB and initially made the request for a Braille postage stamp to celebrate the association’s centenary.

Canada Post media relations officer Nicole Lemire said the 52-cent stamp, which will be available across the country, celebrates guide dogs and has the rate printed in Braille. Along with the stamp, Canada Post will also unveil a commemorative envelope as a tribute to the MAB’s 100-year history, with the information printed in Braille as well. Founded by Montrealer Philip E. Layton — New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton’s grandfather — in 1908, the MAB is a private, non-profit rehabilitation centre serving blind and visually impaired people of all ages. It is also the oldest rehabilitation centre of its kind in Canada. “This is thanks in large, large part to Alan Dean. He’s a very tenacious man and he worked very hard on this,” said the MAB’s executive director Christine Boyle, adding she is very excited Canada Post will unveil the stamp and envelope at the MAB on Sherbrooke Street in NDG. “It just goes to show you what hard work can do. A lot of people worked toward the same goal. And I’m really proud to be associated with a step forward for the visually impaired.”

Dean, who collects Braille stamps himself, said a number of countries around the world have them, including England and Mexico. He hopes this first Canadian Braille stamp will lead to many more. “Any blind person can touch the stamp and – if they know Braille –they’ll know it’s a 52-cent stamp. Before, they wouldn’t know what stamp it was,” he said. “This is very exciting.”