About the note
This is Canada’s last one‑dollar bill. It was replaced by a coin (the loonie) beginning in 1987. The image of the Queen was engraved by George Gundersen of the British American Bank Note Company (BABN) after a photograph by Anthony Buckley, then‑photographer for the Royal Family.
The scene on the back of the note was actually an accident. The logs spreading across the Ottawa River are the result of a broken log boom. The source photograph was taken in 1963 by Malak Karsh (brother of Yousuf) and is titled “Paper and Politics.” The tugboat in the foreground now sits by the river in a park behind the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec. The engraving on the bank note is by Charles Gordon Yorke of BABN. That day was also one of the very rare days during which there was no flag flying from the Peace Tower of Parliament Hill. Yorke added one to the engraving.
At a glance
- Portrait: Queen Elizabeth II
- Date of issue: June 3, 1974
- Last day of issue: June 30, 1989
- Signatures:
- Deputy Governors Ruston W. Lawson and John W. Crow
- Governor Gerald K. Bouey
- Dimensions: 15.2 cm x 7 cm
- Design: Thomas De La Rue Co. Ltd.
- Printer: British American Bank Note Company Ltd, Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd.
- Status: not legal tender
