Canada Special Event Cover #S70 - Hungarian Immigration 50th (2006)

The Picture Postage on this commemorative envelope bears the image of the Freedom Monument, erected for the 10th anniversary of the arrival of "the 56ers" in Wells Hill Park on the shores of Lake Ontario.

From the fall of 1956 through 1957, Canada welcomed and supported nearly 40,000 Hungarian refugees who fled their homeland following the failed Hungarian Revolution. This was Canada's first large-scale reception of refugees. Arriving on one of the many chartered flights or ships organized by the Canadian government, these thousands of immigrants shared the anxiety of leaving family and friends behind and the excitement of building a new life.