What to know
- Canada Post’s 2026 Places of Pride collection honours Toronto’s The 519 alongside three other significant 2SLGBTQ+ spaces across Canada.
- The recognition comes as The 519 celebrates its 50th anniversary and continues to provide advocacy, counselling and community services.
- Executive project director Roxanne Duncan says the honour reflects both the centre’s history and its ongoing commitment to serving vulnerable community members.
- To mark the milestone, The 519 has launched its “Postcards to the Future” project, inviting people to share messages of hope, love and pride with future generations.
As The 519 celebrates 50 years of serving Toronto’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community, the beloved Church-Wellesley Village institution is receiving a national honour: a place in Canada Post’s 2026 Places of Pride stamp collection, recognizing some of the country’s most significant Queer landmarks and moments in history.
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Canada is recognized around the world for its historic advances in 2SLGBTQ+ rights and freedoms. Across the country, community spaces, bookstores, festivals and gathering places have played a pivotal role in that history, serving not only as safe havens but as centres for activism, advocacy and cultural change.
Places of Pride, the annual campaign by Canada Post honouring some of the Queer places of relevance throughout the country, has released its 2026 collection. Illustrated by local artist Tim Singleton, who also designed last year’s series, this year’s collection features four different spaces, including one close to Queer Torontonians’ hearts: The 519.
Toronto: The 519
Located at 519 Church St. in Toronto’s Gay Village, The 519 is a beloved community centre offering a large portfolio of services and programming for the Greater Toronto Area’s diverse 2SLGBTQIA+ community. This includes everything from newcomer support to family programming, meal services, and sports activities.
Historically, the community centre has been a hub for activism, where community members organized in the fight for Queer liberation. It has also been the site of hundreds of community events, including vigils, fundraisers, and memorials.
This year, in addition to being recognized as one of Canada Post’s places of Pride, The 519 is also celebrating its 50th anniversary.
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“The 519 started as a community gathering space in a very different Toronto,” The 519’s 50th anniversary project director, Roxanne Duncan, told Queer & Now, adding that a lot has changed since they first opened their doors in 1976.
Despite this, Duncan explains, the fight continues.
“Along with our fellow Places of Pride honourees, we understand that Pride is a protest and that the fight for Queer liberation is far from over,” Duncan shared. “As we celebrate our 50th anniversary under the banner ‘Never Stop Serving,’ we remain dedicated to advocacy, counselling, and providing safe spaces for the most vulnerable members of our community.”
“While we celebrate 50 years of service, we know that the needs of our community are evolving, not disappearing. Whether it’s providing support for kids, caregivers, and older adults; advocating for trans rights; or simply a safe place to gather, our commitment to service is continuous.”
Duncan says it’s an honour to be recognized as one of Canada Post’s Places of Pride this year, as the organization celebrates five decades of service to the Queer community in Toronto. To mark the anniversary, The 519 is running a community art project called Postcards to the Future.
The project invites participants to share a message with future generations of The 519 and Canada’s 2SLGBTQ+ community on a series of postcards designed by local artists.
“We hope people will use these beautiful, limited-edition stamps to send their messages of hope, love, and pride from across the country,” Duncan explained.
Those interested in participating can learn more on The 519’s website.
Vancouver: Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium
Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium, located in Vancouver, is also featured on a stamp in this year’s collection. First opening its doors to the community back in 1983, the shop was founded by a couple, Bruce Smyth and Jim Deva, and their friend Barb Thomas.
Specifically designed to serve the Vancouver 2SLGBTQ+ community, Little Sister’s sells Queer books, magazines and other 2SLGBTQ+ media. Because of this, soon after opening, the business became the target of Canada Customs, which started seizing materials deemed “obscene” at the border. This included materials on Queer health, relationships and identities. These seizures led to a community rally on Dec. 17, 1986, which saw the shop gain both media attention and the support of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
Following a long legal battle, AKA Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium v Canada, in 2000 the Supreme Court of Canada determined that the bookshop’s Charter rights to equality and freedom of expression had been violated. The store continues to serve Vancouver’s Queer population today.
“For the past four decades, Little Sister’s has been a place where the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in Vancouver can embrace their identity, find community and celebrate the beauty of being Queer,” current Little Sister’s owner Parmjot Gill told Queer & Now.
“As the first Queer bookstore to open in Western Canada, we were one of the few places that 2SLGBTQIA+ people could go to see themselves represented in literature,” Gill continued. “When the AIDS crisis happened, we acted as a sanctuary where people came to, including those who had just received a positive diagnosis, to find resources and be supported during this time of significant marginalization.”
Over four decades after first opening up shop, the store continues to be a place where 2SLGBTQ+ communities go to feel seen, explore their identity and be comfortable in their sexuality. Reflecting on their history of having packages seized by Canada Customs, Gill shared what it means to have the store honoured with a stamp.
“Our shipments were seized by Canada Customs on the grounds that Queer content was obscene,” Gill explained. “Now, we’re on a stamp that people can use to send their own packages and letters. It’s a real full circle moment.”
The owner says that this speaks to the incredible work of the founders of Little Sister’s.
“We hope that this stamp will help younger generations learn about the people and the movements that helped secure the rights that we as queer people enjoy today.”
Saskatoon: Metamorphosis Festival
An iconic festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan that happened in the Prairie city in the late 70s is also a 2026 honouree. Metamorphosis Festival, widely considered the first celebration of 2SLGBTQ+ culture in Western Canada, was held on Thanksgiving weekend of 1978 and put on by various local community groups looking to drive change for Queer communities.
Canada Post says the event garnered a crowd of about 200 people, celebrating art and culture over four days with dancing, live music, workshops and other activities. Festival-goers also banded together for a march to Saskatoon City Hall on the Saturday, while a Thanksgiving feast was held on the Sunday.
“The transformation of a butterfly – metamorphosis – is a remarkable symbol for this festival, for the celebration, because it was what was really happening with us,” Lorna Boschman, who performed at the first Metamorphosis Festival, told Canada Post. “There were seeds of change that we were feeling. Then we all got together and all of a sudden a transformation started to happen. The community actually expanded by coming together.”
Halifax: The Turret
Located on the top floor of 1558 Barrington St., a building known for the turret that hangs over the street below, The Turret was a Queer nightclub that gave 2SLGBTQ+ communities in the Nova Scotian capital a safe place to gather from 1976 to 1982.
“There weren’t any general Gay clubs in Halifax,” Robin Metcalfe, former chair of the Gay Alliance for Equality, told Canada Post. “There were some bars that would tolerate us if we weren’t acting ‘too Gay’. We couldn’t hug or dance together. The Turret was a space of empowerment in the queer community.”
In addition to serving as a place to drink, dance and meet other Queer people, the bar was owned and operated by the Gay Alliance for Equality and became a centre for activism, hosting meetings, workshops and conferences.
“The Turret qualifies as one of the most important Queer sites in Canada,” Metcalfe said. “Because it represents a moment of power and real struggle.
The building was also, at one point, home to the Alternate Book Shop, Halifax’s first bookstore dedicated to the 2SLGBTQ+ community. The store was founded by local Queer rights activist Tommy Burns, who was also a major player in the Gay Alliance for Equality, in 1975 and operated through 1983.
The Places of Pride 2026 collection is now available to order, with a booklet of eight stamps priced at $9.92.
Last year’s collection, also illustrated by Tim Singleton, featured Club Carousel, Calgary’s first gay bar, Montréal’s Gay Bar Truxx, Toronto’s Hanlan’s Point Beach, and the 3rd North American Native Gay & Lesbian Gathering in 1990 held near Beausejour, Manitoba.
