This section features materials to help you get to know the new polymer bank notes and learn how to verify their security features.
Polymer notes feel different than paper notes, and will take a little getting used to, but are just as easy to use.
With the $100, $50 and $20 polymer notes already circulating, Canadians are quickly adapting. But since new polymer notes will be a common sight for the next few years as they replace their paper counterparts, here are some tips for handling all those brand new notes.
Just handed several new notes?
To help the notes last longer:
What if a retail clerk refused to take your $20 bill, thinking that it was a counterfeit? You’d probably feel embarrassed.
But you shouldn’t be offended. That clerk actually did you—and all of us—a favour. Routinely checking the security features of all notes protects everyone. It allows businesses to intercept counterfeit notes and keep them out of the cash flow and out of your change.
The Bank of Canada offers free, postage-paid materials, but reserves the right to limit quantities.
The Bank may contact the requestor prior to shipping to verify that certain audience-specific resources are destined for the right users.
Articles on a variety of topics which tell the story of our Canadian bank notes.
February 2013 – New Look, New Feel: Your New Bank Notes
November 2012 - Shiny, modern and smooth: our new polymer bank notes
September/October 2012 – Phasing the $20 Polymer Notes into Your Wallet
August 2012 - Canada’s New Polymer $20 Note - A Means to Remember
June 2012 - Don Your Red, White . . . and Green?
June 2012 (special edition) - Is Your Business Ready for Polymer Notes?
April/May 2012 - Introducing Canada’s Polymer $20 Note
March 2012 - Here Comes the New Polymer $50 Note
January 2012 - Polymer Notes—A Green News Story
December 2011 - Be Cash Aware this Holiday Shopping Season
November 2011 - Canada’s First Polymer Bank Note—See and Feel It for Yourself
October 2011 - How Money Flows—Distributing Canada’s Polymer Bank Notes
September 2011 - A Print Job Like No Other—Producing Canada’s Polymer Bank Notes
August 2011 - Uniquely Canadian—Designing Canada’s Polymer Bank Notes
July 2011 - Leading the Charge—Researching and Developing Canada’s Polymer Bank Notes
June 2011 - Introducing Canada’s New Polymer Notes
May 2011 - Raising the Curtain on Canada’s New Polymer Notes
April 2011 - Change for the Better—Canada’s New Polymer Notes
March 2011 - A Little Fraud Awareness Goes a Long Way
February 2011 - Where Money Talks—Canada’s Currency Museum
January 2011 - New Year’s Resolutions that Aren’t Phony
December 2010 - Funny Money and Holiday Shopping—No Laughing Matter
November 2010 - The Currency Journey: How Your Money Travels
October 2010 - More Than Meets the Eye
September 2010 - The Many Faces of Canada’s Currency
The Bank regularly surveys Canadian businesses and citizens to better understand how and why cash is used by assessing awareness, attitudes, and behaviours with respect to bank notes.
Survey results allow the Bank to monitor its progress, to identify potential issues or opportunities, and to adapt its programs, tools, and services as needed.
This survey aims to measure Canadians’ awareness of the new series of polymer bank notes. Respondents were asked if they recalled hearing of any upcoming changes to Canadian bank notes, and if so, where they first heard of the polymer bank notes.
Examines Canadians’ attitudes towards bank notes and the use of cash. Four key questions quantify perceptions of bank note security and attitudes towards counterfeiting.
