About the note
Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, is shown on the face of the 10‑dollar note, as he has been since 1971. It is one of two portraits engraved for this series by Jorge Peral, art director of the Canadian Bank Note Company. Peral also served as the designer of the entire series. The portrait engraving is based on a photograph by Harold M. Daly who photographed Macdonald many times, especially in his later years. The architectural illustration next to Macdonald is from a pen‑and‑ink drawing of the Parliamentary Library at the back of Parliament Hill’s Centre Block.
The theme of the back of this note is Remembrance and Peacekeeping. The poem fragment is from In Flanders Fields, written in 1915 by Lieutenant‑Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian field surgeon in the First World War. The poignancy of the poem, and its immediate popularity, have given it icon status in Commonwealth nations. It was instrumental in creating the poppy as an international symbol of peace and remembrance.
Due to increased counterfeiting, this note was reissued in 2005 with extra security features already featured on the $20, $50 and $100 notes: holographic stripes, ghost images and see‑through numbers.
At a glance
- Portrait: Sir John A. Macdonald
- Date of issue: January 17, 2001 (modified: May 18, 2005)
- Last day of issue: May 17, 2005 (modified version: November 6, 2013)
- Signatures:
- Deputy Governors Malcolm D. Knight and W. Paul Jenkins
- Governors Gordon G. Thiessen, David A. Dodge and Mark J. Carney
- Dimensions: 15.2 cm x 7 cm
- Design: Canadian Bank Note Co. Ltd. (Jorge Peral)
- Printer: BA International Inc., Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd.
- Status: legal tender
