Canada's postal service: A historical overview
Description for Infographic: Canada's postal service: a historical overview infographic
Canada's postal service: a historical overview infographic
This infographic is titled “Canada's postal service a historical overview”. It is organized as a timeline, showing major historical dates in Canada Post's history.
From its earliest days, the post office has continually evolved to serve the changing postal needs of Canadians…
1763: The first postal service established in what would later become Canada. Following the Treaty of Paris of 1763, in which Canada is ceded to Great Britain, Benjamin Franklin and John Foxcroft, joint Deputy Postmasters General for British North America, appoint Hugh Finlay as the first Postmaster at Québec. Appointed on June 10, 1763, Finlay established regular weekly delivery service between Québec and Montréal, via Trois-Rivières. The picture for this date is a 1763 Canadian stamp featuring a horse and rider.
1851: Canada's post office was created, 16 years before Confederation. The Province of Canada is given the official responsibility for the post office, until then administered by the British post office. It became one of the first departments to be formed in the new federal government. The picture for this date is a Canadian stamp, featuring a beaver.
1854: Installation of the first postal cars aboard trains. This greatly accelerated the movement of not only passengers, but mail and parcels as well. Railway delivery service lasted until 1971. The picture for this entry is mail being loaded aboard a Canadian train.
1867: Confederation and the creation of a Canadian post office network. The formal postal system established in each of the British North American colonies of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Upper and Lower Canada and British Columbia became the foundation of the Canadian postal system, establishing the first national network of post offices. The picture is an 1867 to 1967 Canadian stamp.
1918: The first official airmail flight in Canada, from Montréal to Toronto. Picture is of a mailbag being loaded aboard a small plane in Canada.
1963: Equipment that automatically segregates, stacks and cancels mail is installed in Winnipeg, the first of its kind in North America. Picture is a street map of Winnipeg.
1981: Canada Post becomes a Crown corporation. In that same year, Canada Post launches its national Santa Letter-writing Program. A special postal code was provided to Santa—H0H 0H0—to help sort and deliver his many pieces of mail. Picture is a child holding a letter addressed to Santa Claus.
Source: Canada Post Corporation
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