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The Bank of Canada (BOC) has unveiled a commemorative ten dollar banknote celebrating the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

The new $10 banknote was unveiled on Friday 7th April by the Bank’s Governor Stephen S. Poloz and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance Ginette Petitpas Taylor at a ceremony at the Bank’s head office in Ottawa. The note will be circulated on 1 June 2017.

The design

The design of the banknote, which is predominantly coloured purple, includes four portraits consisting of:

• Sir John A. Macdonald – a Father of Confederation and Canada’s first prime minister, 1867-73 and 1878-91,
• Sir George-Étienne Cartier – a principal architect of Canadian federalism and a proponent of Confederation as a means of safeguarding French Canada and other minorities
• Agnes Macphail – a champion of equality and human rights who, in 1921, became the first woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons, and
• James Gladstone, a member of the Kainai (Blood) First Nation whose Blackfoot name is Akay-na-muka, meaning “Many guns,” who committed himself to the betterment of Canada’s Indigenous people.

It is the first time a Canadian woman and an Indigenous Canadian have been included on a BOC banknote.

The reverse of the note includes five illustrations of Canada’s “natural beauty and unique landscapes”, including the mountainous peaks of The Lions, also known as the Twin Sisters, a wheat field from the Prairie provinces, the Canadian Shield, Cape Bonavista and the Northern Lights.

Speaking at the launch, Governor Poloz said

“This bank note is intended to captivate our imagination and instil pride in what we, as a nation, have accomplished. It celebrates the natural beauty and majesty of our land and some of the important parliamentarians who helped shape our great country.”

Security features

The note includes Kurz’s KINEGRAM ZERO.ZERO holographic foil incorporating the names of all of Canada’s provinces and territories and the date when they each entered Confederation, written in both English and French. An image of an owl can also be seen, representing the “Owl’s Bouquet” by acclaimed Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak (1927-2013). Canada’s national flag is also included in the foil design, as well as Canada’s coat of arms.

An optically variable ink security feature can be seen on the front of the note, thought to be SICPA’s SPARK® Live Sandune ink feature. It depicts an archway found within Canada’s Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, dedicated in 1927 to all Canadians who died in military service during the First World War.

Watch the Bank of Canada’s promotional film to see the commemorative banknote:

 Note: All imagery courtesy of the Bank of Canada

Related links:

Bank of Canada press release

Kurz press release