Each booklet includes six Permanent™ stamps featuring Anishinaabe Elder and world-renowned water-rights activist Josephine Mandamin.

The stamp is one of three in the 2024 Indigenous Leaders issue, the third set of stamps in the Indigenous Leaders series.

Good to know

The Indigenous Leaders series recognizes the outstanding achievements and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders. The 2024 issue pays tribute to three remarkable women:

• Christ Belcourt, Métis visual artist and environmentalist

• Elisapie, award-winning singer-songwriter, actor, director, producer and activist

• Josephine Mandamin, Anishinaabe Elder and world-renowned water-rights activist

About the Indigenous Leaders series

The Indigenous Leaders series, launched in 2022, highlights the contributions of modern-day First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders who dedicated their lives to preserving their culture and improving the quality of life of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

About Josephine Mandamin

Known as Grandmother Water Walker, Anishinaabe Elder Josephine “Biidaasige” Mandamin (1942-2019) trekked more than 25,000 kilometres – including around all five Great Lakes – to raise awareness of the need to preserve the sacred, life-giving gift of water.

The residential school Survivor and fourth-degree member of the Three Fires Midewiwin Society was born on Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, and lived most of her life in Thunder Bay, serving as a spiritual adviser and healer.

In 2002, she and a group of other Anishinaabe women founded the Mother Earth Water Walk movement to encourage people to protect water from pollution and other threats. Between 2003 and 2017, she led walks along the shores of waterways in Canada and the United States – singing, praying, and sharing the traditional ceremonies and knowledge of her people.

Her many honours included the Meritorious Service Cross, for her contributions to Indigenous leadership and reconciliation, and the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation.

Mandamin’s legacy lives on through community water walks and the dedicated Anishinaabe women she mentored, who continue to carry out her work and share her powerful message of environmental conservation.

About the design

The booklet cover features a photograph of Josephine Mandamin and a stylized illustration of water, the circle representing the interconnectedness of water and life.

The inside of the booklet features six stamps, a quote from Mandamin, a stylized illustration of water, and the copper pail she often carried on her walks.

Product # 414258111

2024 Indigenous Leaders – Josephine Mandamin booklet of 6 Permanent™ stamps