Private First Day Covers
1. 1976 Olympic Games, Team Sports and Gymnastics
Three Olympic game semi-postals featuring team sports and gymnastics started Canada Post's 1976 stamp schedule on January 7.
David Pritchard
2. 1976 Olympic Games, Arts & Culture Programme
By a special amendment of the Olympic organization's by-laws, the Arts and Culture Programme of the XXI Olympiad was the entire responsibility of the host country for the first time in the history of the games. Montreal presented to the world a showcase of Canadian accomplishments representing lifestyle and culture from coast to coast, and featuring the very best talent in plastic arts, graphic arts, performing arts and handicrafts. Concerts, pageants and exhibitions featuring all these disciplines were held throughout the entire month of July, starting one week before the athletic events, in all the most prestigious locations in and around the Olympic site in Montreal, as well as in Kingston and Ottawa. Three stamps were issued on February 16, 1976, promoting the Olympic games Arts and Culture Programme.
3. XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck, 1976
The 1976 Winter Olympic Games were held in Innsbruck, Austria, from 4 February to 15 February. The Innsbruck Winter Games stamp, issued on February 6, 1976, was designed by Rolf Harder who studied both Fine Arts and Graphic Arts at the Academy in Hamburg, and worked professionally in that city before coming to Canada in 1955. Harder created a graphic design using the official Innsbruck Olympic Symbol combined with a stylized snow crystal.
David Pritchard
4. 1976 Olympic Games, Site
Canada Post issued two high value stamps ( $1 and $2) on March 12, 1976, portraying buildings from both the old and the new Montreal.
David Pritchard
5. Habitat
Habitat was the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements held from May 29 to June 11, 1976, in Vancouver. A 20 cent stamp was issued on May 12, 1976, to publicize the event.
6. United States Bicentennial, Benjamin Franklin
In celebration of the United States Bicentennial, the Canada Post Office and the United States Postal Service simultaneously issued stamps of a common design featuring Benjamin Franklin, a Postmaster General of British North America and a founding father of the United States. Benjamin Franklin contributed to the Canadian postal system by opening post offices in Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City.
Issued on June 1, 1976, the United States Bicentennial stamp features a portrait of Franklin. The background is an adaptation of an early engraved map of British North America showing important places to early postal history in North America and include the three Canadian post offices established by Franklin.
David Pritchard
7. Royal Military College, 1876 - 1976
A se-tenant pair of stamps was issued on June 1, 1976, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Royal military College.
Royal Trust
8. Olympic Games, Ceremonies
Three Olympic Ceremonies stamps designed by Peter Swan were released on June 18, 1976.
David Pritchard
9. Olympiad for the Physically Disabled
In August, 1976, approximately 2,000 handicapped athletes from as many as eighty-three countries arrived in Toronto to compete in the Olympiad for the Physically Disabled. The commemorative stamp, issued on August 3, 1976, featured a mixed-media painting by Tom Bjarnason, internationally-known Toronto illustrator.
10. Robert W. Service, Sam McGee
Germaine Guèvremont, Le Survenant
The 1976 Canadian Authors series was issued on August 17, 1976.
11. Indians of Canada, Iroquoians
Four stamps celebrating the Iroquoians were issued on September 17, 1976.
12. Christmas, Stained Glass Windows
The 1976 Christmas set of three stamps was issued on November 3, 1976.
13. Ships of Canada, Inland Vessels
The final stamp issue of the year consisted of four stamps featuring inland vessels issued on November 19, 1976.
