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    Army bills: Funding the War of 1812

    In 1812, British North America had no banks and little currency. With the prospect of war drying up supplies of coins, the government of Lower Canada decided to issue legal tender notes called “army bills” to pay for troops and supplies.

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    Needs or wants? That is the question!

    Do you need it, or do you want it? That’s an important question to ask before buying anything. This activity is designed to teach kids how to prioritize their needs and wants, and how to make informed choices when shopping.

    Teaching the green economy

    From windmills and solar panels to electric cars, signs of the green economy are all around us. Check out our resources for how to teach about the green economy.

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  • The Museum Blog

Museum Reconstruction - Part 6

By: Graham Iddon


March 7, 2017

Summer 2017

Ottawa’s own 2017 logo is seen all over the city.

For anybody living in Ottawa, to be unaware that Canada will turn 150 years old on 1 July is like being unaware that the sun is up. Like a proud homeowner with company coming for dinner, the city is in a frenzy of construction to put its major infrastructure in ship‑shape before the celebrations begin. It seems the entire downtown is under construction. Serious traffic delays, closed thoroughfares and historic buildings covered in scaffolding are a given but we’re pretty confident it will all pay off in time—touch wood.


Drivers weren’t the only people making detours in Ottawa this past fall.



It might be simpler if everybody downtown wore hard hats and safety boots these days.


Also “under construction,” to various degrees, are four major museums in Ottawa: the Canadian Museum of History, the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Canadian Museum of Nature and our very own Bank of Canada Museum. OK, we’re not sure that we bat in the same league as the other three institutions but we do have “national” aspirations. One thing is for sure, though: all four of us have every intention of opening our new galleries (or whole new museums!) to the public this year. The Museum of History is the only one audacious enough to have an online clock counting down to its new gallery opening, but I can honestly say that we are trying our very best to also open our doors to the public during the summer of 2017.


When Parliament Hill’s West Block is ready for business later this year, it will have been in renovation for 10 years.



Staying open during renovations is a challenge for many of us, like the National Arts Centre, working towards a 2017 opening.


Aligning our schedule with the sesquicentennial is a great opportunity to jump onto a very noisy bandwagon of public events. Ottawa will be inundated with a tsunami of tourists next summer. When better to open our new museum then when we have a ready‑made audience of enthusiastic tourists visiting the immediate vicinity of our door step?

And we’re not the only ones at the Bank of Canada getting into the spirit of 2017. By the early spring, the Bank will have unveiled the design of our newest commemorative bank note. Slated to be in circulation in time for the Canada 150 events, it will, of course, be celebrating Confederation. The Museum will partner with the Bank’s Currency Department in a number of ways to promote this new note. Look to our blog pages for more information.


The Museum’s impressive entrance pyramid is at Bank and Wellington. Construction is on time.



It’s a good address with impressive neighbours.


So how’s the Bank of Canada Museum progressing? Everything seems to be ticking along just fine, thanks. The Collections team has been working flat out to pull together a magnificent permanent exhibition from their vaults and drawers. This includes a series of collection “startifacts”—showpieces that act as ambassadors for each subject zone in the Museum, tying the artifacts to the exhibitions on the main floor. The team found something substantial to say about more than 100 of those artifacts, along with a few technical points about all 1,400 of them. The rest of the exhibition content is reaching the final stages of approval, and much of the final text has already been through its rigorous editing process. Also approved and well launched on the drawing boards are most of the exhibition designs, the interactive content and all the colours, materials, surfaces and lighting that make up the interior infrastructure.

And we now even have an address. “Wait, you didn’t have an address?!” Yes, that seems ridiculous but the Museum’s new entrance, though clearly part of the Bank of Canada’s head office complex, is half a city block from the Bank’s official address. If we published our address as 234 Wellington Street, we’d have some very annoyed visitors on our hands, if they ever arrived at all. So we went to Ottawa City Hall and got an address for our own doorway at Bank and Wellington Streets.

So where are you going to be this summer? Visiting Ottawa—at 30 Bank Street, of course.

We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s): Blog posts

The Museum Blog

June 16, 2022

Army bills: Funding the War of 1812

By: David Bergeron, Graham Iddon


In 1812, British North America had no banks and little currency. With the prospect of war drying up supplies of coins, the government of Lower Canada decided to issue legal tender notes called “army bills” to pay for troops and supplies.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy, History
May 5, 2022

Between tradition and technology

By: Graham Iddon


Collage, man at an easel, paintings of birds and a goose illustration with comments written on it.
What was proposed was a complete about-face from the philosophy behind recent security printing. If photocopiers could easily deal with the colours and designs of the current series, then the next series should be bold and simple.
Content type(s): Blog posts
April 21, 2022

Teaching the green economy

By: Adam Young


From windmills and solar panels to electric cars, signs of the green economy are all around us. Check out our resources for how to teach about the green economy.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Business and careers, Economy, Geography, Science, Social studies Grade level(s): Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
April 4, 2022

Talk to your kids about money

By: Heather Montgomery


Collage, ceramic pig on background of a bank book and a stamp folder with kids on it.
Introduce important financial skills to your children, and help them plan for their futures with free resources from the Bank of Canada Museum and others.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Financial literacy Grade level(s): Early childhood / Kindergarten, Grade 01, Grade 02, Grade 03, Grade 04, Grade 05, Grade 06, Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
March 3, 2022

Teaching inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic

By: Heather Montgomery


COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on the economy: closing businesses, driving down demand and interrupting supplies. With news stories and popular culture addressing inflation and supply chain issues, now is the perfect time to explain this key economic concept to your high school students.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy Grade level(s): Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
February 3, 2022

Queen of the bank notes

By: Graham Iddon


Few of us have ever met her, and it’s likely none of us are even remotely related to her. Yet, Canadians have carried her picture in their wallets for generations now. She’s Queen Elizabeth II and has been our monarch for over 70 years.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): History
December 22, 2021

New acquisitions–2021 edition

By: David Bergeron


The Bank of Canada Museum is responsible for the National Currency Collection, and part of its mandate is to foster and develop that collection. Despite the challenges of collecting during a pandemic, curators at the Bank of Canada Museum have acquired some unique artifacts—including some that document the pandemic itself.
Content type(s): Blog posts
December 2, 2021

The true value of money

By: Graham Iddon


Photo collage, old bank notes and coins, gold nuggets and a computer component.
What is money—when you really stop to think about it? To understand how money works, and what it ultimately represents, we need to strip it down to its very basic function.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy Grade level(s): Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
November 16, 2021

The 1911 silver dollar

By: David Bergeron


In front of a set of coins in a case, two coins, one lead, one silver, each with identical wreaths of maple leaves.
The 1911 silver dollar has a history to match its prestige, and it now has a permanent home in the National Currency Collection of the Bank of Canada Museum.
Content type(s): Blog posts

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