About the note
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, whose portrait is on this note, was Canada’s first French-Canadian Prime Minister, in office from 1989–1911. His engraved image was created by Czeslaw Slania. Slania was a world‑renowned engraver who, in his day, was the world’s most prolific stamp engraver. The source image came from Library and Archives Canada, but the photographer is unknown. The architectural illustration next to Laurier is from a pen‑and‑ink drawing of the east entrance of Parliament Hill’s West Block.
The theme for the back of this note is Children at Play. Because it is a winter image, the note has a quotation from Roch Carrier’s short story, Le chandail de hockey (The Hockey Sweater). The story tells the tale of young Roch growing up in a hockey‑mad Quebec village. When his mother orders him a new hockey sweater, he is mistakenly sent a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey—to his great humiliation.
Due to increased counterfeiting, this note was reissued in 2006 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 Wilfrid Laurier
- Date of issue: March 27, 2002 (modified: November 15, 2006)
- Last day of issue: November 14, 2006 (modified version: November 6, 2013)
- Signatures:
- Deputy Governors Malcolm D. Knight, W. Paul Jenkins and Tiff Macklem
- Governors David A. Dodge and Mark J. Carney
- Dimensions: 15.2 cm x 7 cm
- Design: Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd. (Jorge Peral)
- Printer: BA International Inc., Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd.
- Status: legal tender
