Lotta on a stamp

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No Stamp for Lotta!

Dear fans of celebrated humanitarian, Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova, CC (1909-1990), I have some disappointing news to share.

A couple of years ago, I started a “Let’s put Lotta on a Stamp” petition that has now grown to include 1,420 signatories. In June of 2020, I made a proposal to the Stamp Advisory Committee of Canada Post as follows:

That Canada Post create an ongoing “Refugees to Canada Who Made a Difference” commemorative stamp series, launching this series in 2022 with a stamp honouring Dr. Lotta.

Today I have received an official response from Canada Post thanking me for my proposal and announcing Canada Post’s 2022 Stamp Program. Continue reading →

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Addendum: Let’s put Lotta on a Stamp!

Today is World Refugee Day and I would like to share a new idea that goes well beyond my original “Let’s put Lotta on a Stamp” idea.

In short, I have proposed to Canada Post that they create an ongoing “Refugees to Canada Who Made a Difference” stamp series, launching this series in 2022 with a commemorative stamp honouring Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova.

You can read the reasons for my proposal below, in correspondence with the Director of Stamp Services:

Continue reading →

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Let’s put Lotta on a Stamp!

My sincere thanks go out to the more than 1,300 individuals who signed the “Let’s put Lotta on a Stamp” petition.

I have just written a letter to the Stamp Advisory Committee of Canada Post proposing that a commemorative stamp be made in honour of Lotta Hitschmanova.

I will keep readers updated on any developments, as soon as I learn of them myself.

Here is my letter:

It is my great pleasure to propose to you that a Canadian commemorative stamp be created in the name of Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova, CC (1909-1990).

Here are a few of the reasons why I feel Dr. Lotta – as she affectionately came to be known – should be honoured in this way. Continue reading →

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Happy 110th Birthday, Lotta!

Today (Nov 28) we celebrate Lotta Hitschmanova’s 110th birthday with the news that over 1000 people have signed the “Let’s put Lotta on a stamp” petition.

Here is a sampling of the impact she had and why so many Canadians have signed this petition: Continue reading →

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Lotta Hitschmanova can help save the Sparks Street Mall

I wrote this letter to the editor on March 22, 2019 and have sent it to the Ottawa Citizen:

I read with interest this morning’s Ottawa Citizen article, “City’s public consultation yields Sparks Street vision,” and went down to 79 Sparks to check it all out.

I was disappointed to learn that there is no direct reference to Canada’s most famous address, 56 Sparks Street, nor to the celebrated woman who made this address so well known across Canada, Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova, CC (1909-1990).

Continue reading →

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Before there was Giving Tuesday there was Lotta Hitschmanova!

Lotta HitschmanovaIt is only fitting that we celebrate Lotta Hitschmanova’s birthday (Nov 28) on the day after “Giving Tuesday” (Nov 27).

Since for millions of Canadians in the 1940s through to the 1980s, EVERY day was Giving Tuesday, thanks to Lotta.

She planted the seeds of compassion and caring that have been nurtured and continue to thrive generation after generation.

If you remember Lotta, I encourage you to sign the petition I have started to request that Canada Post create a commemorative stamp in her honour.

Thank you Lotta for everything you did to make your adopted country a more caring society and Happy Birthday!

PS  Just received today was this testimonial from Kevin H:

“I am one of those tourists who went looking for 56 Sparks St Ottawa. It was around 2015 and my first summer trip to Ottawa. My main goal was to find 56 Sparks St, which I did, just a number above a door, but it was rewarding to actually see it. And Sparks St was amazing, stone covered and no vehicles. The buskers were fascinating. I highly recommend a visit to this historic street.”

David Rain

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Let’s honour Lotta on World Refugee Day

“I experienced personally how much it hurts to be hungry. To be a refugee, to be without a home, to be without country, to be without friends. And this is something dreadful; you have no more roots, you have no one to turn to.” – Lotta Hitschmanova

June 20, 2018. Today is World Refugee Day, a time to reflect on the millions of refugees and displaced persons around the world.

Humanitarian Lotta Hitschmanova was a WWII refugee who by her actions in the 1940s to 1980s planted the seeds of compassion in her adopted country and indeed around the world. She was a refugee who changed Canada for the better.

To honour her legacy, let’s sign the petition to put Lotta on a commemorative stamp!

Thank you for supporting this and for sharing it with others.

David Rain

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Globe and Mail letter to the editor: “A force for humanity”

This wonderful testimonial about Lotta Hitschmanova was published today in the Letters section of the Globe and Mail:

Re One Man’s Continuing Quest To Honour A Humanitarian (Jan. 23): The attempts to honour Lotta Hitschmanova on a commemorative postage stamp brought back memories of how she made the Unitarian Service Committee famous in Canada in the years after the Second World War, when so many were trying to survive in brutal circumstances.

I was a high school principal and invited her to address the student body in the late 1970s on one of her cross-country fundraising tours. She was a diminutive figure in her unique uniform and I heard some of the “cool” students snicker as she headed to the stage. She soon had them eating out of her hand, and the student council voted to donate the whole proceeds of the next school dance to the USC. Dr. Lotta was a force for humanity and deserves to be commemorated.

Kerry Johnston, Toronto

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Globe and Mail article: “In honour of Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova”

Photo credit: Dave Chan/Globe and Mail

Sincere thanks to Tu Thanh Ha for his excellent article in the Globe and Mail that features Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova, her biographer Clyde Sanger, supporter Bruce Cockburn and myself.

 

He spent a decade in Tanzania, teaching, co-ordinating rural development projects and earning a master’s degree in development studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. “A lot of what Lotta said started to make sense to me,” he said.

It is nice to see the spotlight shone like this on a refugee to Canada who made such an important contribution to her adopted homeland and who connected her new society so deeply to the far corners of the globe.

My hope is that this article will stimulate many others to further explore this fascinating part of Canadian social history.

And of course, launching a campaign to have Lotta’s iconic image on a Canadian postage stamp is now front and centre for 2018!

David Rain

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Breaking News: Lotta Hitschmanova was inspirational – Bank of Canada survey

It seems that Lotta scored very high indeed, in the recent Bank of Canada survey. She didn’t make it onto the Bank’s five woman short list, but the indicators are very strong indeed for some future recognition (another bill, a stamp perhaps?) for this Canadian social justice pioneer.

“The nominees included most frequently in a respondent’s top list were Elsie MacGill, Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova, Viola Desmond and Nellie McClung…. Continue reading →