Banknotes of the Canadian dollar are the banknotes or bills (in common lexicon) of Canada, denominated in Canadian dollars (CAD, C$, or $ locally). Currently, they are issued in $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 denominations. All current notes are issued by the Bank of Canada, which released its first series of notes in 1935. The Bank of Canada has contracted the Canadian Bank Note Company to produce the Canadian notes since then. The current series of polymer banknotes were introduced into circulation between November 2011 and November 2013. Banknotes issued in Canada can be viewed at the Bank of Canada Museum in Ottawa.
Currently produced series
The currently produced banknote series of the Canadian dollar both consist of polymer banknotes: the 7th series (Frontier), which was launched in 2011, and the 8th series (Vertical), which was launched in 2018.
Value Main colour Obverse portrait Reverse design Series year Issued 8th (Vertical) banknote series $10 Purple Viola Desmond Canadian Museum for Human Rights 2018 19 November 2018 7th (Frontier) banknote series $5 Blue Wilfrid Laurier Canadarm2 and Dextre 2013 7 November 2013 $10 Purple John A. Macdonald The Canadian passenger train 2013 7 November 2013 $20 Green Queen Elizabeth II Canadian National Vimy Memorial and poppies 2012 7 November 2012 $50 Red William Lyon Mackenzie King CCGS Amundsen in arctic waters, a map of Canada's North, and the word arctic in Inuktitut (, ) 2012 26 March 2012 $100 Brown Robert Borden Medical research, invention of the pacemaker, a DNA double helix, and a vial of insulin 2011 14 November 2011
On 6 May 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the $20 bill would be updated to feature the new king, Charles III. On December 16, 2024, it was announced that Terry Fox would be featured on the next edition of the $5 banknote, and that Wilfrid Laurier would instead be featured on the next $50 note. On 3 September 2026, the Bank of Canada revealed the new design of the vertical $20 banknote.
Production Notes are issued by the Bank of Canada, but the actual production of the banknotes is outsourced to the Canadian Bank Note Company in accordance with the specifications and requirements of the Bank of Canada. All wording on the notes appears in both of Canada's official languages, English and French. Banknotes were printed on paper composed of pure cotton. Cotton fibre was discontinued and replaced by a synthetic polymer starting in 2011, with the last of the paper banknotes being made available in November 2013.
Counterfeiting Efforts to reduce counterfeiting in recent years have sharply reduced the number of counterfeit notes in circulation. The number of counterfeit notes passed annually in Canada peaked in 2004, when 553,000 counterfeit notes were passed. Counterfeiting has decreased annually since that peak, with only 53,536 notes passed in 2010. The new Frontier series of banknotes significantly improves security primarily by using a polymer substrate to make up the note instead of the previously used fabric. Even as Canada's counterfeiting problem escalated, the shift to polymer was viewed as too expensive. A polymer note costs 19 cents to produce, compared to 9 cents for a typical cotton-paper note. All older cotton-paper banknotes prior to the 2013 polymer series are now considered unfit for circulation due to their lack of modern security features, such as a metallic stripe. Financial institutions must return the banknotes to the Bank of Canada, which will destroy them. Individuals may keep the banknotes indefinitely.
Counterfeiting is measured using a system borrowed from chemistry known as parts per million (PPM). Normally used to judge the potency of molecules in a solution, PPM in the counterfeiting sense refers to the number of fake banknotes found in circulation for every one million genuine notes. In 1990, Canada's counterfeit ratio was just 4 PPM, ranking its currency among the most secure in the world. By the late 1990s, the rise of powerful and affordable home computers, store-bought graphics software, easy-to-use scanners and colour ink-jet printers were breeding a new generation of counterfeiters. The number of fake Canadian notes rose as high as 117 PPM by 1997. In 2004 Canada's counterfeiting rate had ballooned to 470 PPM. In 2012, the counterfeiting rate had fallen to its lowest point, at 28 PPM. It has since started modestly rising to 36 PPM in 2014. The Bank of Canada's medium-term planning target is to stay below 30 PPM. Most G20 nations used 50 PPM as their benchmark to stay below.
History
The first paper money in Canada was issued by the colonial government of New France from 1685 to the British conquest. The colonial authorities used playing cards as the basis for the notes, denominated in French currencies. The first paper money in Canada denominated in dollars were British Army notes, issued between 1813 and 1815 in denominations between $1 and $400. These were emergency issues due to the War of 1812. The first banknotes were issued in 1817 by the Montreal Bank.
Chartered banks
Large numbers of chartered banks were founded in the 1830s, 1850s, 1860s and 1870s, although many issued paper money for only a short time. Others, including the Montreal Bank (later called the Bank of Montreal), issued notes for several decades. Until 1858, many notes were issued denominated in both shillings/pounds and dollars (5 shillings = $1 therefore 1 pound = $4). A large number of different denominations were issued, including $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, $20, $25, $40, $50, $100, $500, $750 and $1,000. After 1858, only dollar denominations were used. The Bank Act of 1871 limited the smallest denomination the chartered banks could issue to $4, increased to $5 in 1880. To facilitate purchases below $5 without using Dominion notes, some charted banks issued notes in unusually domesticated denominations, such as the $6 and $7 notes issued by the Molsons Bank in 1871. After Confederation, chartered banks were permitted to continue issuing notes until 1944. See An Act to amend the Bank Act, Statutes of Canada, 1944, chapter 30, section 61.
Colonial governments
Before Canadian Confederation, dollar-denominated notes were issued by the governments of the Colony of British Columbia, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Of these, the Province of Canada, established in 1841, was the most prolific issuer of paper money. Notes were produced for the government by the Bank of Montreal between 1842 and 1862, in denominations of $4, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. In 1866, the Province of Canada began issuing its own paper money, in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 and $500. The Dominion of Newfoundland issued notes denominated in Newfoundland dollars from 1901 until it joined Confederation in 1949.
Government of Canada
For a temporary period following Confederation in 1867, Province of Canada notes served as the Dominion of Canada's first national currency, and notes were dispatched from Ontario and Quebec to the other provinces. In 1870, the first Dominion of Canada notes were issued in denominations of 25¢, $1, $2, $500 and $1,000. $50 and $100 notes followed in 1872. The bulk of later government note production was of $1 and $2 notes, with a $4 denomination added in 1882. Notes of $5 were issued starting in 1912. The last 25¢ notes, known as shinplasters due to their small size, were dated 1923. Special notes called Bank Legals were issued by the Dominion of Canada only to banks for transferring large sums of money in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $50,000. Issuance of all Dominion notes ceased in 1935, after the establishment of the Bank of Canada.
Other public issuers Some municipalities also issued dollar-denominated notes. This was most prevalent in the 1930s, when depression scrip was issued in an attempt to alleviate the effects of the Great Depression on local citizens. The province of Alberta also launched its own scheme in 1936 by issuing prosperity certificates.
Bank of Canada In 1934, with only ten chartered banks still issuing notes, the Bank of Canada was founded and began issuing notes in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $25, $50, $100, $500 and $1000. In 1944, the chartered banks were prohibited from issuing their own currency, with the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Montreal among the last to issue notes. Since then, the Bank of Canada has been the sole issuer of banknotes denominated in Canadian dollars. A liability of more than $12million remains on the Bank of Canada's books up to the present day, representing the face value of Dominion of Canada, provincial, and chartered bank notes still outstanding.
Withdrawn denominations
The 1935 series was the only series to have included $25 and $500 denominations. Both denominations were short lived. The $25 note was withdrawn on 18 May 1937. Stacks of unissued 1935 $500 notes were destroyed in February 1938, and issued $500 notes were recalled and withdrawn from circulation five months later.
Some of the most significant recent developments in Canadian currency were the withdrawal of the $1, $2, and $1,000 notes in 1989, 1996, and 2000 respectively. The $1 and $2 denominations have been replaced with coins, colloquially referred to as the "loonie" and "toonie" respectively, with the loonie simultaneously replacing the $1 bill as well as the preceding Voyageur dollar coin, the latter of which remains legal tender. In 2000, the $1,000 note was removed at the request of the Solicitor General of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as it was reported that they were largely being used for money laundering and organized crime.
List of Bank of Canada banknote series
1935
The Bank of Canada was created in 1934 and given responsibility, through an Act of Parliament, to regulate the country's money supply and to "promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada." Accordingly, it was given the exclusive right to issue bank notes in Canada. On 11 March 1935, the Bank of Canada issued its first series of bank notes.
1937
The creation of a second series of bank notes, only two years after the first issue, was prompted by changes in Canadian government legislation requiring the Bank of Canada to produce bilingual bank notes. Another contributing factor was the death of King George V on 20 January 1936, and the subsequent abdication of Edward VIII.
1954 Canadian Landscape
The third series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar issued by the Bank of Canada was the Canadian Landscape series. The banknotes were designed in 1952 following the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne after the death of her father George VI. Her portrait appeared on all denominations in the series. The banknote designs differed significantly from the 1937 series, though the denomination colours and bilingual printing were retained. The design changes were made to portray themes more typical of Canada. This was the first series to include the Canadian coat of arms, which appeared centrally in the background of the obverse.
The banknote series became known as the "Devil's Head" series, because the hair behind the Queen's head looked somewhat like a grinning demon.Bank of Canada values and prices of 1954 with the devil's face banknotes This led to design modifications for all denominations. The second variant of the series was issued in 1956.
1969 Scenes of Canada
Because of a growing concern over counterfeiting, the Bank of Canada began to release a new series of bank notes in 1969.
This series represented another complete departure in design from earlier issues: colourful, wavy patterns were introduced; a new series of Canadian scenic vignettes was created; portraits of former Canadian prime ministers were re-introduced. Both Laurier and Macdonald were on the 1935 and 1937 series, but now joined by King and Borden.