Banknotes of the Canadian dollar

$1 banknote of the Colonial Bank of Canada issued in 1859

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 $1000. 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.

$1 Dominion of Newfoundland note issued in 1920

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.

25-cent Dominion of Canada note issued in 1900

$1 Dominion of Canada note issued in 1898

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 $1000. $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. $5 notes 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, $1000, $5000, and $50,000.[1] Issuance of all Dominion notes ceased in 1935, after the establishment of the Bank of Canada.

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.

$1 Bank of Canada note issued in 1935

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 $12 million 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.[2]

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.

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.

The third series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar issued by the Bank of Canada was the Canadian Landscape series.[11] The banknotes were designed in 1952 following the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne after the death of her father George VI.[12] 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.[12] The design changes were made to portray themes more typical of Canada.[13] 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.[14] This led to design modifications for all denominations. The second variant of the series was issued in 1956.[12]

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.

This was the last series to feature a $1 banknote, with the banknote replaced by a dollar coin – known as a loonie for its design of a loon on the obverse – in 1987; printing of the $1 banknote ceased in 1989. However, there was a 21-month period where both the $1 bill and coin were produced concurrently, from June 1987 to April 1989.[15]

In 1986 the Bank of Canada introduced new banknotes called the Birds of Canada series. The design on the back of each note features a bird indigenous to Canada with a background representing the typical landscape for that bird. The portraits on the front of the note were made larger than those of previous series, and a metallic patch was introduced on the larger notes. Each banknote weighs 1 gram (0.035 oz).[16] This series was the first to include a bar code with the serial number. This allows the visually impaired to distinguish notes with the use of a hand-held device that tells the note's denomination.

This was also the last series that the $2 and $1,000 notes were issued. The $2 note was withdrawn in 1996 and replaced by the $2 coin, known as the toonie. The $1,000 note was withdrawn by the Bank of Canada on 12 May 2000 at the request of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as part of a program to reduce organized crime.[16] At the time, 2,827,702 of the $1000 bills were in circulation; by 2011, fewer than 1 million were in circulation, most held by organized crime.[16]

Beginning in 2001, the Bank of Canada introduced a new series of notes called "Canadian Journey", featuring images of Canadian heritage and excerpts from Canadian literature. The $10 was first issued on January 17, 2001; the $5 on March 27, 2002; the $100 note on March 17, 2004, the $20 on September 29, 2004, and the $50 on November 17, 2004.

The $20, $50, and $100 notes introduce watermark security features for the first time on Canadian currency since the four-dollar Dominion notes; they also boast significantly expanded holographic security features. Also among the new features are a windowed colour-shifting thread woven into the paper, a see-through number, and enhanced fluorescence under ultraviolet lighting. These features are designed to help Canadians protect themselves by detecting counterfeit notes. All post-2001 series notes also include the EURion constellation, on both sides of the note. The new notes have a tactile feature, which is a series of raised dots (but not Braille) in the upper right corner on the face of each note to aid the visually impaired in identifying currency denominations.

The newer security features on the $20, $50, and $100 notes were added to an updated version of the $10 note released on 18 May 2005, and the Bank of Canada began issuing a $5 note with upgraded security features on 15 November 2006 as part of its ongoing effort to improve the security of Canadian bank notes. The illustrations on the front and back of the upgraded notes are the same as those on the $5 and $10 notes issued in 2001 and 2002.

The "Canadian Journey" literary excerpts are printed in English and French, with the English versions being:

• $5: The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places—the school, the church, and the skating-rink—but our real life was on the skating-rink. (Roch Carrier (born 1937) from his short story Le chandail de hockey (The Hockey Sweater))
• $10: In Flanders Fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row, / That mark our place, and in the sky / The larks, still bravely singing, fly / Scarce heard amid the guns below. (John McCrae (1872–1918), from his poem In Flanders Fields)
• $20: Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts? (Gabrielle Roy (1909–1983) from her novel La Montagne secrète (The Hidden Mountain))
• $50: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights (from Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948)
• $100: Do we ever remember that somewhere above the sky in some child's dream perhaps Jacques Cartier is still sailing, always on his way always about to discover a new Canada? (Miriam Waddington (1917–2004) from her poem Jacques Cartier in Toronto)

Canadian Journey banknotes (2004 style) incorporates background colour and consists of series years 2001, 2003, 2003A, 2004, 2004A and 2006. All the notes except the $100 note have additional series years 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2009A (some banknotes only). The $100 2009 series began issuing to the public in early 2010 and was printed in 2009 before they were issued. The 2004-2009 series of the $100 note was withdrawn from the circulation in November 2011. The $50 note was withdrawn on March 26, 2012 and $5–$20 notes would be withdrawn in the next 2 years before it will be officially announced.

Beginning in 2011, the Bank of Canada introduced a new series of polymer banknotes. The $100 note was issued on November 14, 2011; the $50 was issued on March 26, 2012; the $20 banknote was issued on November 7, 2012, and the $10 and $5 denominations were issued on November 7, 2013.

These are the first Canadian notes produced on polymer. In place of a watermark are two visual features: a translucent maple leaf and a transparent window. The leaf includes a security feature that, when viewed close to the eye with a single-point light source behind, produces a circular image displaying the note's denomination. The window is fringed by maple leaves; at its top is a smaller version of the portrait, and at its bottom a light-refracting metallic likeness of an architectural feature from the parliament buildings. The portraits on the face are more centred on the note. The backs of the notes introduce new cultural and thematic imagery, but the literary quotation is not continued. The polymer notes continue the tactile feature, from the Canadian Journey series.[17]

On International Women's Day 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that an "iconic" Canadian woman would be featured on one of the upcoming notes.[18]

On December 8, 2016, the Government of Canada and the Bank of Canada announced that civil rights activist Viola Desmond would replace Sir John A. Macdonald (who had been on the face of the $10 note since 1971) as the first non-royal woman to appear alone on a regularly circulated Bank of Canada note.[19] This note was released to the public on November 19, 2018.[20]

‡ Withdrawn from circulation. Currency withdrawn from circulation is still legal tender. Despite the introduction of new notes, older notes are still in use.

+ Two varieties were printed, the first with conventional serial numbers, the second with the double date "1867-1967" appearing twice instead. Neither type is scarce. Both varieties also have on the obverse a stylized maple leaf with the double date below it.[21]

All notes of 1954 series or later measure 152.4 mm by 69.85 mm (6 by 2¾ inches).

See also Withdrawn Canadian banknotes.