The Royal Canadian Mint () is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under an act of parliament referred to as the Royal Canadian Mint Act. The shares of the mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada.
The mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactures circulation coins on behalf of other nations. The mint also designs and manufactures precious and base metal collector coins; gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bullion coins; medals, as well as medallions and tokens. It further offers gold and silver refinery and assay services.
The mint serves the public's interest but is also mandated to operate "in anticipation of profit" (i.e., to function in a commercial manner without relying on taxpayer support to fund its operations). Like private-sector companies, the mint has a board of directors consisting of a chair, the president and CEO of the mint, and eight other directors.
History
For the first fifty years of Canadian coinage (cents meant to circulate in the Province of Canada were first struck in 1858), the coins were struck at the Royal Mint in London, though some were struck at the private Heaton Mint in Birmingham, England. As Canada emerged as a nation in its own right, its need for coinage increased. In 1890, building a branch of the Royal Mint in Ottawa was proposed and was eventually authorized in 1901.
The Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint was officially opened on January 2, 1908. During a short ceremony, Lord Grey and his wife, Lady Grey, activated the presses. The first coin struck was a 50-cent coin. When the facility first opened, it had 61 employees. Three years later, the mint began refining gold by electrolysis in its assay department. This method proved to be too time-consuming, and, in 1915, the mint introduced a new chlorination process developed in Australia to reduce processing times and increase the mint's gold refining capacity. In 1931, Canada became an independent dominion of the British Empire and the assets of the mint were transferred to the Canadian government. In December 1931, the mint was established as the Royal Canadian Mint and as a branch of the Department of Finance via an act of Parliament.
In 1960, Master of the Mint Norval Alexander Parker proposed a new facility to expand minting capacity. At this time, the Ottawa mint had reached capacity, while a large number of Canadian 10¢ coins were produced in the Philadelphia Mint in the United States and all numismatic coins were produced in Hull, Quebec. A 1968 study also showed that the Ottawa Mint facility was antiquated. Funds were allocated for a new facility, but no space within Ottawa was found.
In April 1969, the Royal Canadian Mint was reorganized as a Crown corporation via the Royal Canadian Mint Act for the purpose of minting coins and associated activities. As a Crown corporation, the mint was no longer a branch of the Department of Finance but operated autonomously with its own board of directors and increased decision-making powers.
Then, in February 1970, Supply and Services Minister James Richardson proposed building the mint's new facility in Winnipeg. This was controversial because the minister was himself from Winnipeg, and the facility would be more than from the Ottawa facility. A study showed that the proposal had merit because raw materials could be purchased from a supplier in Alberta, rather than a competitor outside of Canada. Eventually, it was agreed in December 1971 that the mint would build a facility in Winnipeg. In 1972, the land was purchased and construction began, and by 1976 the facility was officially opened.
In March 2012, the Canadian government decided to cease the production of pennies. The final penny was minted at the RCM's Winnipeg plant on the morning of May 4, 2012.
In April 2012, the mint announced it was developing MintChip, a digital currency to allow anonymous transactions backed by the Government of Canada and denominated in a variety of currencies. On January 12, 2016, MintChip was sold to Toronto-based nanoPay.
In 2021, reports of racism and sexual harassment at the mint surfaced. A subsequent external report described the workplace culture as "toxic".
Operations and institution
Traditionally, the president of the Royal Canadian Mint is known as the master of the mint. Since 2018, Marie Lemay has held that position. The board of directors, through the chair, is accountable to the minister of finance. The minister serves as the link between the mint, Cabinet and Parliament.
The mint was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc. from 2007 to 2010.
Organizational structure
The Royal Canadian Mint is a Crown corporation and operates under the Royal Canadian Mint Act. In serving the public's interest, a Crown corporation has greater managerial independence than other government entities, meaning it may operate in a commercial manner. Like private sector companies, the mint has a board of directors composed of a chairman, the president and CEO of the mint and eight other directors.
Traditionally, the president and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint is known as the master of the mint. The president is Marie Lemay (appointed in 2019), and the chairman of the board is Phyllis Clark. In reverse chronological order, the people who have been the mint's master engraver are: Cosme Saffioti, Sheldon Beveridge, Ago Aarand, Walter Ott, Patrick Brindley, Myron Cook, and Thomas Shingles.
The government department responsible for the Royal Canadian Mint is the Department of Finance. There are 10 members of the mint's board of directors, and 12 members on its executive team.Royal Canadian Mint 2009 Annual Report, page 27 The Royal Canadian Mint has four lines of business: Bullion and Refinery Service, Canadian Circulation, Foreign Business, and Numismatics.Royal Canadian Mint 2005 Annual Report, page 10
+Masters of the mintNameTermJames Bonar1908–1919Arthur H.W. Cleave1919–1925John Honeyford Campbell1925–1937Henry Edward Ewart1938–1944Alfred Percy Williams1946–1947 (acting)Walter Clifton Ronson1947–1953Alfred Percy Williams1954–1959Norval Alexander Parker1959–1968E.F. Brown1968–1970 (acting)Gordon Ward Hunter1970–1975Yvon Gariepy1975–1981D.M. Cudahy1981–1982 (acting)James C. Corkery1982–1986M.A.J. Lafontaine1986–1993M.R. Hubbard1993–1994Danielle Wetherup1994–2002Emmanuel Triassi2002–2003 (acting)David C. Dingwall2003–2005Marguerite Nadeau2005–2006 (acting)Ian Bennett2006–2014Marc Brûlé2014–2015 (acting)Sandra Hanington2015–2018Jennifer Camelon2018–2019 (acting)Marie Lemay2019–present+Board of directorsNameYear appointedPhyllis Clark (chairman)2018Serge Falardeau2017Pina Melchionna2019Cybele Negris2017Gilles G. Patry2018Barry M. Rivelis2019Evan Price2023Cindy Chao2023Kevin Darling2023
Facilities Ottawa facility
The Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint was officially opened on January 2, 1908, by Lord Grey and his wife, Lady Grey.
When the facility first opened, it had 61 employees.The CN Journal, The Official Publication of the Canadian Numismatic Association, Markham, Ontario, Vol. 53, No. 1, January–February 2008, p.29 The last surviving member of the mint's original staff was Owen Toller. He started in the mint as a junior clerk and retired as an administrative officer after 45 years of service on January 6, 1953. Toller died in November 1987 at the age of 102.
In 1979, the Royal Canadian Mint building in Ottawa was designated a National Historic Site, on the grounds the building is representative of the federal government's approach to using the Tudor-Gothic architectural style to create a distinctive identity in Canada's capital, and of the patriation of control over Canada's currency from Britain.
Winnipeg facility
The mint facility in Winnipeg was officially opened in 1976. The new facility was completely different in appearance from the facility in Ottawa. Architect Étienne Gaboury designed a striking triangular building that rises up dramatically from the surrounding prairie. Gaboury was design architect, in collaboration with the Number Ten Architectural Group led by partner-in-charge Allan Hanna.See: Isadore (Issie) Coop
The Winnipeg facility produces circulation coins for Canada and other countries, while the Ottawa facility concentrates solely on collector coins.
Financial revenues
+Revenue by business line (in millions of $)Business line20042005200620072008200920102011201220132014Canadian circulation63.4111.2131.2174.3186.5185.3133.1136.7152.5133.4123.9Foreign coin25.143.825.3115.098.765.039.834.030.378.272.8Canadian numismatic52.656.556.756.367.572.371.393.0145.1167.0177.3Bullion and refinery183.9224.4280.7286.31,039.61,700.01,965.42,895.72,255.42,996.52,069.2
Security
Royal Canadian Mint Protective Services employs full-time and casual security officers who are responsible for the security and inspection of RCM facilities. They wear a distinctive black uniform with body armour and carry a 9 mm Glock Model 17 while on duty. Their duties include:
Operating x-ray machines Inspection of garbage in high-security production area CCTV monitoring Access control Monitor shipments received and dispatched from RCM facilities Security escorts Parking management Evacuations
Recent issues concerning Royal Canadian Mint assets include: In 2000, the Royal Canadian Mint lent a series of the new plated 10¢, 25¢ and 50¢ issues to the vending industry for testing purposes. These coins were issued with the letter P below the Queen's effigy. Some of these coins were not returned to the RCM by the vendors and it is possible some were sold to collectors at a considerable premium. On June 2, 2009, the Auditor General of Canada reported a discrepancy between the mint's 2008 financial accounting of its precious metals holdings and the physical stockpile at the plant on Sussex Drive in Ottawa. A review released on December 21 said that all of the misplaced gold was fully accounted for. A previously unaccounted was attributed to estimation errors, and a further was recovered through an extensive refining of slag within the mint.
Coin markings, including mint marks and privy marks
A – Used on 2005 palladium test coin to signify the coins were struck from Lot A. B – Used on 2005 palladium test coin to signify the coins were struck from Lot B. C – Placed on sovereigns produced at the Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint, between 1908 and 1919. Dot – In December 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in favour of his brother, who became King George VI. The problem was that the Royal Mint had been designing the effigy of King Edward VIII, and now a new effigy had to be created. The 1¢, 10¢ and 25¢ pieces in 1937 were struck from dies with a 1936 date on the reverse. To distinguish that these coins were issued in 1937, a dot mint mark was placed on the 1936 dies, beneath the year. These coins fulfilled demand for coins until new coinage tools with the effigy of King George VI were ready. While the 10¢ and 25¢ coins are more common, the 1¢ coins are rare, with about a half-dozen known to exist. The dot after the date on the 1937 5¢ coin is a minting error caused by a chip in the master dies. H – Used to identify coins that were struck for Canada by the Birmingham Mint, also known as the Heaton Mint, until 1907. Innukshuk – All circulation coins for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics have the Innukshuk mint mark on the obverse of the coin. International Polar Year – The obverse of the 2007 International Polar Year $20 numismatic coin has the logo for the International Polar Year on the obverse of the coin. Man Becomes Mountain (Symbol of Paralympics) – All circulation coins for the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics have the Paralympic Games logo on the obverse of the coin.