We’re all familiar with physical money. It is defined as “the coins or bank notes that you use to buy things.” You’ve put it in your wallet, you’ve spent it, you’ve lost it, but where does it come from? The coins and notes come from two different places. The coins are minted by The Royal Canadian Mint and the bank notes are printed by the Bank of Canada.
We’re all familiar with physical money. It is defined as “the coins or bank notes that you use to buy things.” You’ve put it in your wallet, you’ve spent it, you’ve lost it, but where does it come from? The coins and notes come from two different places. The coins are minted by The Royal Canadian Mint and the bank notes are printed by the Bank of Canada.
Before physical money, people traded items with one another for the things they needed. Some Indigenous groups in Canada traded wampum, fur and some metals (like copper). As French and English colonizers came to Canada, the trade system began to change. Here’s a timeline of events to see how different coins and notes were introduced.
Physical money gained a lot of trust throughout the 1800s and 1900s. The Royal Canadian Mint (then Royal Mint) opened in Ottawa in 1908. By this time, all of the provinces and territories we know now (except Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut) had already signed on to become the Canada we know today. (Important note: Indigenous people weren’t part of these discussions.) The first coin was made: a 50-cent coin with King Edward VII’s (Queen Elizabeth II’s great-grandfather) picture on the back. King Edward VII’s son George V became king in 1910, and all Canadian coins were made with his picture on them.
The Bank of Canada opened in 1935 as Canada’s new central bank—this was Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) role from 1817 up until then. The print companies British American Bank Note Company and Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd. printed bank notes (and still do).
The first set of paper notes that were printed in 1935 looked old for that time. The Bank of Canada Museum describes it as “very much in a nineteenth century mode.” Even though it was a country all on its own, Canada was still close to the British, and the money’s design reflected that. There were 10 bills: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $25 (to celebrate King George V’s 25th year as king), $50, $100, $500 and $1000. The lower bills all had an image of a member of the Royal Family. Only the $500 and the $1000 bills had Canadian politicians, with Sir John A. Macdonald (Canada’s first prime minister) on the $500 and Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Canada’s first francophone prime minister) on the $1000 bill. The notes were available in full English and full French.
In 1937, King George V died, and his son Albert (royal name George VI) became king. Canadian money was reprinted with King George VI’s image. King George VI’s face was on all of the notes except the $100 and the $1000, which had Macdonald and Laurier. The $25 was not printed again. Each bill had a colour and featured both English and French.
When Elizabeth II became queen in the 1950s, the notes that were printed showed more of Canada’s identity. The 1960s-1970s notes had more details to stop counterfeiters from making fake ones. (Read more about their designs here.) Birds were added to the design in 1986. (Read more about that design here.) The $1 note was replaced with a $1 coin (a loonie) to save money. The $2 was removed in 1996 and also replaced with a coin (a toonie). In 2001-2006, the notes were designed by Canadians with the help of computers. The 2011 notes saw a major change: they were made using plastic (polypropylene).
The 2011 notes have a lot of security features. This makes it near impossible for people to make counterfeit copies. The notes are more Canadian than ever as they feature a lot of Canada’s accomplishments. They are also accessible for those who are blind or are partially sighted. The notes have these features: raised dots (not braille), to help those who are blind or partially sighted identify what they are holding large numbers that have a high contrast, and they are all different colours. (Read about all the interesting features here.)
The notes are dynamic. For Canada’s 150 celebration, the $10 note was changed to highlight important figures in Canada’s past. (Read more about that here.) One of the changes Canadians saw was Viola Desmond on the $10 bill. It marked the first time a person of colour was featured on a Canadian dollar bill. The Bank of Canada announced the change in 2016. They showed what it looked like on International Women’s Day in March 2018, and it was released in November. The $20 bill is reserved for the reigning monarch. After Queen Elizabeth II’s death in 2022, the Canadian government announced that they would change her picture to King Charles III’s. (You can read more about the new $20 bill here.)
Now that you have the history and recent information, here are some more facts about Canadian coins and bank notes:
- The Indigenous Advisory Circle gives the Bank of Canada “advice and recommendations on how Indigenous Peoples in Canada might be represented on future bank notes…”
- The Bank of Canada Museum has some old design ideas for bank notes here
- The name loonie ($1 coin) comes from the loon that is on it
- The toonie gets its name from being two loonies
- In 2012, the Government stopped producing and discontinued the use of pennies (the one-cent coin)
- The Royal Canadian Mint makes collector coins you can buy online
It’s interesting to know how money goes from being printed and minted into banks, stores and our wallets. You can look at money in a new way now that you’ve learned its history and know what companies are responsible for getting it to you.