page_title: History of the Canadian dollar
section_title: Province of Canada notes
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Canadian dollar / Province of Canada government notes / Province of Canada notes
caption_attribution_description: English: Exhibit in the Bank of Montréal Museum - Bank of Montreal, Main Montreal Branch - 119, rue Saint-Jacques, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
context_page_description: Canada has an extensive history with regard to its currencies. Prior to European contact, indigenous peoples in Canada used items such as wampum and furs for trading purposes, which continued when trade with Europeans began.
  Wampum and beaver pelts were considered currency. During the period of French colonization, coins were introduced, as well as one of the first examples of paper currency by a western government. During the period of British colonization, additional coinage was introduced, as well as banknotes. The Canadian colonies gradually moved away from the British pound and adopted currencies linked to the United States dollar. With Confederation in 1867, the Canadian dollar was established. By the mid-20th century, the Bank of Canada was the sole issuer of paper currency, and banks ceased to issue banknotes.
  Canada began issuing its own coins shortly after Confederation. In the 20th century, Canada has issued many commemorative coins into circulation, temporarily replacing current coinage designs. There also exists a long history of numismatic coin issues.
context_section_description: In the 1850s, there were several bank failures which shook confidence in the security of banknotes in the Province of Canada: first the Colonial Bank and the International Bank in 1859, followed soon afterwards by the collapse of the Bank of Clifton and the Bank of Western Canada. The bank failures made their notes worthless, and the resulting scandal increased pressure on the government for greater bank regulation. In 1860, the provincial Minister of Finance, Alexander Tilloch Galt, proposed that the government issue bank notes, replacing notes issued by the private banks. The banks, fearing a loss of profits, opposed the proposal and the Government quickly withdrew it.
  Six years later, the proposal re-surfaced, this time driven by the government's need for money. It was having trouble raising loans either in Canada or in Britain and decided to issue provincial government notes as a way to raise money. The Provincial Notes Act authorized the Province to issue notes up to the value of $8 million, backed partly by gold and partly by government debentures. They were redeemable in either Toronto or Montreal. Unlike Galt's proposal six years earlier, the private banks were not required to give up their power to issue bank notes, although they were offered financial inducements to do so. Any bank which did so could then act at the government's banker and its notes were deemed to be government notes. Only the Bank of Montreal did so, enabling it to act as the government's note issuer. It resumed issuing its own notes five years later.
  The initial issue was based on Bank of Montreal notes, over-printed with "Province of Canada". The first issue by the Province itself was on January 1, 1867, just half a year before Confederation. The Province of Canada notes served as the basis for the notes later issued by the new country.
  The 1867 issue consisted of a one-dollar note, featuring Samuel de Champlain and Jacques Cartier, with the provincial coat-of-arms; a two-dollar note, featuring Britannia and allegorical figures; a five-dollar note, featuring Queen Victoria, an indigenous woman, a lion and a ship under sail; a ten-dollar note, featuring Columbus, symbols of transportation, and beavers; a twenty-dollar note, featuring Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and his wife Alexandra, Princess of Wales, as well as beavers building a dam; and a fifty-dollar note featuring Mercury, the Roman god of commerce.
caption: Bank of Montreal four-dollar note, 1859, over-printed as a Province of Canada note
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