To celebrate 100 years of educating Canadians to save lives, Canada Post today issued a domestic rate stamp honouring the Lifesaving Society. The Lifesaving Society's singular focus is to prevent drowning and water-related injuries through training programs.

"Canada Post has paid a great honour to the centenary of the Lifesaving Society." said Timothy Feher, the Society's national CEO. "We are celebrating 100 years of service to Canadians as the authority for lifeguard training, aquatic safety standards, research and technical innovation and public education for drowning prevention. It is an extraordinary legacy that we can be proud of in Canada. The fact that the stamp is being released during the Society's National Drowning Prevention Week, serves to underscore the importance of this issue among Canadians in all communities across the country."

While swimming was extremely popular across Europe during the late 19th century, little focus was paid to the instruction of lifesaving, making drowning a common form of death. Fortunately, William Henry, a renowned swimming champion in the 1880s and 90s, recognized the need to develop and teach lifesaving programs and started a movement that would be felt across the ocean. In 1894, Arthur Lewis Cochrane was named a Royal Lifesaving Society's Honorary Representative in Canada and brought home the lifesaving skills he had learned in England. Through his efforts, the Ontario Branch of the Society was established on Dec. 10, 1908. Little did Cochrane suspect that the 18 Upper Canada College students who earned the first Bronze Medallions in Canada were the vanguard of over 7 million Canadians who would come to hold the Society's award.

Designer Derwin Goodall wanted to create an "inviting" stamp.The cool crisp white frame mixes with an airy outdoor scene and projects the Lifesaving Society's goal of encouraging water safety and swimming skills. The action photographs in the background illustrate two kinds of water rescue while the lifeguard on the forefront represents the more than 500,000 Canadians who train in Lifesaving Society programs each year. "I wanted a fresh and lively look to convey some of the energy and responsiveness involved in lifeguarding as well as the confidence you need to really take care of people," said Goodall.