Canadian stamp stories

Majestic snow-capped mountains and striking verdant vistas provide an idealistic setting for one of Canada's finest universities-the University of British Columbia (UBC). This institution of advanced learning has also earned an excellent reputation internationally. In 2006, for instance, Newsweek magazine listed UBC as 27th in its ranking of the World's 50 Top Universities. For the past four years, UBC has also been among the top 40 institutes in the world as ranked by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Although this very remarkable university turns 100 years old in 2008, its modest beginnings predate the turn of the 20th century. On April 26, 1890, An Act Respecting the University of British Columbia was passed "to establish one University for the whole of British Columbia for the purpose of raising the standard of higher education in the Province, and of enabling all denominations and classes to obtain academic degrees."

Surprisingly, in the years that followed the 1890 act, British Columbia's only public university education was actually offered by an institution located thousands of miles away-Montréal's McGill University. The affiliation was made possible by the Public School Act Amendment of 1894, which enabled any high school district to partner with an eastern Canadian university. It was not until 1908, and An Act to Establish and Incorporate a University for the Province of British Columbia that the foundation was established for what is today's UBC.

On March 7, 2008, Canada Post will celebrate UBC's centenary by issuing a domestic rate (52¢) stamp featuring the Walter C. Koerner Library-an impressive and prominent structure that's located in the middle of the campus. The school's colours figure prominently on the stamp. The building is rendered in blue, while "UBC" appears in golden yellow. The university's coat of arms features both colours.

"To many people, the library represents the heart of the university, which is one of the reasons we chose this particular building," says Susan Mavor of Vancouver's Metaform Communication Design. "The library's interesting multi-levelled facade also worked very well with our design-a 3-D graphic illustration treatment."

"Both of the university stamps featured in this issue of Details, sport a different more modernized look compared to previously issued school-themed stamps," says Alain Leduc, Manager of Stamp Design and Production at Canada Post. "The University of Alberta and The University of British Columbia stamps will also be showcased together on a gutter strip-one of Canada Post's newest and most popular products."