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    A diverse group of 4 young children playing a board game.

    Playing with Economy

    There might be only a handful of basic game formats, but there is an infinity of variations—a surprising number of which require the skills we need to manage our daily economic lives.

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    Money: Past, Present and Future

    Explore the history of money in Canada and around the world using an inquiry approach.

    Understanding Money: Common Questions

    Ever wondered who decides what goes on Canadian coins or bank notes? Or why our coins have certain names and our notes are different colours? Use this guide to help answer some of your money-related questions!

Notice of Temporary Closure

The Bank of Canada Museum remains closed due to COVID-19. Our museum experience is highly interactive, and our top priority is the safety of our staff and visitors. We look forward to welcoming you again once it is safe for us to reopen.

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A New Ten on the Block

By: Graham Iddon


June 9, 2017

The Canada 150 bank note is issued!

The public reveal of our new Canada 150 bank note design (we call it the C150), with its various ceremonies and crowd of dignitaries, was a pretty big deal (see the blog). The media event surrounding the same note’s release into circulation, (or “issue” as we like to call it) was, by contrast, a much quieter affair. Such things usually are. (No astronauts were involved—see the issue of the Polymer $5)

The new C150 $10 bill. As richly detailed a note as you’d hope to find.

In a modern twist, Governor Stephen S. Poloz took a “selfie” while holding a C150 note before meeting up with the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor for the main photo‑op. Petitpas Taylor is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and was representing the Honourable Bill Morneau at the event.

It was a two-part photo-op: the Governor and Petitpas Taylor posed across the street from the Bank holding notes and then walked the two blocks to a gift shop on Sparks Street to place those notes into circulation. The only slight drama arose from the weather. Not only did the wind play havoc with our subjects’ hair, but clouds kept passing over the sun, making the photographers sweat a bit as they coped with the constantly changing light. But Governor Poloz and Petitpas Taylor nevertheless braved the gusts, posing cheerfully with their new C150 bank notes.

There then followed the curious spectacle of a gaggle of media hurriedly lugging all their gear down Sparks Street and cramming themselves around the cash desk of a nearby gift shop. Mr. Poloz strolled in and bought some maple candy and Ms. Petitpas Taylor chose some soap. Both paid with crispy, new C150 notes, of course. When the dignitaries left, cameras crowded around the sales desk, while their owners made the clerk (who was a good sport about it) repeatedly take the bill out of the register and put it back again.

Bank of Canada Governor Stephen S. Poloz selfies with the new note from the Bank’s atrium.

We had a satisfying turn out of both print and broadcast media.

The official C150 bank note issue image shows the 7 story graphic on the side of the Bank’s head office complex.

Ms. Petitpas Taylor buys an item in a gift shop and puts a C150 bank note into circulation.

After the Governor and the Parliamentary Secretary have left: the gift shop clerk’s star turn.

In my last blog about this note, I spoke about the portraits. Now, as promised, I’ll chat about the more than a dozen other visual elements on the back and front. From the public consultations that informed the design, it was clear that Canadians’ identification with the landscape remains very strong. Back in 1954, the Bank’s Canadian Landscape series of notes promoted Canadian identity through its regional landscapes, featuring big vignettes that beautifully captured a broad snapshot of our vast country. Mind you, the designers had eight notes to work with.

The 1954 Canadian Landscape series were our first bank notes to project a clear sense of Canadian nationalism.

The C150 design team didn’t have the luxury of such a vast canvas and was challenged to represent Canada’s wildly diverse regions on the back of just one note. The resulting note’s five gorgeous landscapes manage to elegantly showcase almost all geological regions of Canada. We’re just that much more efficient these days.

The Lions, or the Twin Sisters, above Capilano Lake are visible from most parts of Vancouver.

bank note image: wheat

Representing the Prairies, this wheat field is outside of Regina, Saskatchewan.

Part of the vast Canadian Shield, this is the Kipawa River in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue area of Quebec.

These fearsome rocks guard the shores of Cape Bonavista, in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Above all is the North, represented by the aurora borealis as seen from Wood Buffalo National Park on the Alberta/Northwest Territories border.

Apparently not satisfied with the four portraits on the front and five landscapes on the back of the bill, the C150 team included another ten visual elements to further represent Canada’s culture, history and land—and further frustrate counterfeiters, of course. These elements are applied via a number of security printing methods employed by the Canadian Bank Note Company. Vignettes such as the arrow sash patterns at the top and bottom or the Hall of Honour are lithographic prints, while the features such as those in and around the large transparent window are printed using metallic, colour-shifting inks. These inks change colour when you tilt the bill and make the maple leaves at the bottom of the window appear to be three dimensional. Good old-fashioned intaglio printing originating from steel engravings was used for the portraits and landscapes, recognizable by lightly brushing your fingertips across their raised surfaces.

The pattern along the top and bottom of the bill is that of the Assomption Sash; as traditionally worn by Métis and Habitants.

bank note image: gothic window

An arch from the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower is printed in metallic ink. The Hall of Honour in the Centre Block is in the background.

Kenojuak Ashevak’s Owl’s Bouquet and our coat of arms are rendered as colour-shifting holographic images in the large clear window.

In fact, so rich in detail is this note that you really ought to see it up close on the Bank of Canada’s website. There you’ll find a beautiful, fun and fascinating webpage with an interactive note you can flip over and inspect. You will also find background information on all the imagery along with a couple of really slick videos.

Better still, pick up a C150 note for yourself at your friendly, neighbourhood financial institution. If, like some of us, you are planning to keep the note, get two so you can spend one. It is money, after all, and it won’t commemorate anything while stored in your sock drawer.

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

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November 8, 2019

Private Atkinson’s War

By: Graham Iddon


Private Edward Atkinson’s example of trench art is what is called a “love token”—a souvenir made from a coin. It’s one man’s personal wartime experience expressed through a pocket-sized medium.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection, History
September 16, 2019

For Teachers: National Teachers Survey

By: Heather Montgomery


The Bank of Canada Museum would like to hear from teachers across Canada to help design new online resources for economic literacy.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Education
September 9, 2019

Bank Note/Billet de banque

By: Graham Iddon


The first Canadian paper money was issued in 1817, and for the next 120 years, the vast majority of Canadian bank notes were only in English.
Content type(s): Blog
July 18, 2019

RCNA Convention, 2019

By: David Bergeron


Bank of Canada Museum will be at the 66th annual convention of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association (RCNA).
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection, News and events
July 8, 2019

Landscape Engraved

By: Graham Iddon


Retaining the landscape format but showing human activity and intervention transformed the imagery into an extended portrait of Canada and Canadians.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection
May 24, 2019

The Hunting of the Greenback

By: Graham Iddon


During World War Two, the Bank created the Foreign Exchange Control Board (FECB). One of its major tasks was to find as many US dollars as possible to pay for American imports.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): About us, History
May 15, 2019

What goes up…

By: Graham Iddon


Economic bubbles continued to pop up regularly throughout history, and still do today.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): History
April 25, 2019

Welding with Liquid

By: Stephanie Shank


In heritage conservation, broken metal objects can be reassembled with an adhesive most commonly used for repairing glass and ceramics.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection
April 22, 2019

Conserving the Spider Press

By: Stephanie Shank


Used extensively in the 19th century, this type of hand-operated press printed secure financial documents using the intaglio method.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection
April 1, 2019

How Does $ = Dollar?

By: Graham Iddon


How on earth did an “S” with a line or two through it come to represent a dollar? Any ideas? No? That’s OK, you’re in good company.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection, History
March 29, 2019

TTC Tokens and the Proposed 1978 Cent

By: David Bergeron


In 1977, the Royal Canadian Mint wanted to reduce the size of the penny in response to the rising price of copper. Little did the Mint know that the Toronto Transit Commission’s reaction would force the cancellation of the program.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection
March 8, 2019

The Vertical Note That Almost Was

By: Graham Iddon


The printing firms’ design teams went to work and came back with a surprising result: vertical notes.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection
February 19, 2019

The Coming of the Toonie

By: David Bergeron, Graham Iddon


The life expectancy of a two-dollar paper note was about a year. But coins can last for more than 10 years.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection
February 8, 2019

The Canadian Roots of the “Greenback”

By: Graham Iddon


Successfully counterfeiting a bank note in the mid-19th century required an engraver with reasonably high talent and very low ethics.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection
January 30, 2019

What’s Up Next for 2019?

By: Graham Iddon


Instead of bragging about our visitor statistics and the popularity our programming (both great!), we’ll talk about what’s coming up for early 2019.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): News and events
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K1A 0G9, CANADA
613-782-8914

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