Canada Post Stamp Honours Norman Jewison, Former Chancellor of Vic U

^{Norman Jewison is the fourth Vic graduate recognized with a stamp by Canada Post, joining Margaret Atwood, Northrop Frye and Donald Sutherland. (Source photo by Peter Bregg for HELLO! Canada)}

By Joe Howell 
 
Canada Post recently honoured acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison Vic 4T9 with the release of a new commemorative stamp. 
 
Jewison, who passed away in January at age 97, was one of Victoria College’s most distinguished graduates. He served as chancellor of Victoria University in the University of Toronto from 2004 to 2010, and the Jewison stream of Vic One, the award-winning first-year program at Victoria College, is named in his honour. He was nominated for Best Director three times at the Academy Awards: for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Moonstruck (1987).  

The stamp was unveiled on July 24 at an event hosted at the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, which was established by Jewison in 1988 and serves as an incubator for Canadian film talent. Comedian Rick Mercer and director David Cronenberg were among the speakers who paid tribute to Jewison at the launch party.

“As Canadian as maple syrup, as Canadian as a prairie sunset, and now we have as Canadian as Norman Jewison on a stamp—which may be the winning entry,” said Mercer, later telling CBC News that Jewison was a “class act” who “believed in young people.” 
 
“When saying goodbye, [Jewison] would always say ‘stay strong,’ because he knew how much strength you needed to do what we did,” Cronenberg told the audience. 

^{(Photo courtesy of Paul Gooch and Pauline Thompson)}

Professor Paul Gooch, who was president of Vic U during Jewison’s time as chancellor, was among the attendees at the unveiling. “It was quite joyful, because Norman was such a wonderful guy and people wanted to tell stories about his life,” said Gooch. “All of the speakers referred to the fact that he was a storyteller and didn’t want to preach, despite being very concerned about social justice issues. He was great on human follies and the prejudices that we have.” 
 
Gooch also recalled Jewison’s remarkable support of young people. “As chancellor, he loved to interact with the students,” said Gooch. “He had something he did occasionally called ‘Chat with the Chanc,’ where he would have a group of students over to his place on Gloucester Lane and just sit around talking.” 

Jewison is the fourth Vic graduate recognized with a stamp by Canada’s postal service, joining Margaret Atwood, Northrop Frye and Donald Sutherland. He was closely involved with the stamp’s creation and personally chose the image, which was taken at the CFC in 2007 by Peter Bregg for HELLO! Canada.  

“After the photo appeared in Hello!, Norm called me up and asked if he could use it elsewhere,” said Bregg. “I said yes with pleasure. For three or four years after that he’d send me a litre of maple syrup from his farm as a thank you, which I found quite sweet, no pun intended. I’ve seen the photo everywhere since then.”

^{(Photo of Peter Bregg by Andrew Williamson for Canada Post)}

“Because the launch event was held at the CFC, the post office had the idea to let people recreate the original photo,” said Bregg. “You got a 5-by-7-inch print of yourself in Norm’s seat taken from the same angle.” 
 
Asked about Jewison’s curious expression in the now-famous snap, Bregg politely declined to speculate what was on the director’s mind. “All I can say is he was a very pleasant man,” said Bregg. “He was so gracious. I’m glad he was aware of the stamp and chose that picture for it before he passed away.” 
 
Jewison’s commemorative stamp is now available online and at Canada Post locations across the country.