Canadian Journey Series

Design

The Bank of Canada began the process for a banknote series to replace Birds of Canada in 1997 by establishing a currency development team. It faced several constraints, including the use of a more secure substrate, addressing increased counterfeiting, improving accessibility for those with visual impairments, and ensuring a financially feasible production because of budgetary constraints. The Ministry of Finance was involved in the design process, providing ideas for banknote themes for the series.

The formal design of the banknotes began in 1998 and was performed by a team led by art director Jorge Peral at the Canadian Bank Note Company, which also had members from the British American Bank Note Company. The team created model designs that were reviewed by focus groups. The Bank of Canada had considered using portraits of famous Canadian artists and inventors, instead of those of the Queen of Canada and former prime ministers, but ultimately rejected the idea at the request of Jean Chrétien, who preferred the familiar portraits.

Early prototype designs included prominent portraits and vignettes of parliamentary buildings similar to those of the final design. The reverse of each denomination featured an animal indigenous to Canada in vertical portrait orientation. The set of themes that would ultimately be chosen had to adhere to modern banknote security design principles, and "reflect fundamental values recognized and cherished across the country". These values included Canadian culture, diversity (for example multiculturalism), and achievements, and that the concepts could be rendered artistically. Two elements of the design would not be changed: the portraits featured on each denomination, and the dominant colour for each denomination, both of which were to be the same as those for the respective denomination in the Birds of Canada series.

It was the first time the Bank of Canada involved the public in the design process for a banknote series, conducting telephone surveys in 1997 to obtain public opinion about design themes, and selecting individuals to participate in focus groups to review design selections. Children throughout Canada submitted designs to the Bank of Canada via their elementary schools, and over 4,000 Canadians participated in the design process.

All banknotes in the series feature a stylised Flag of Canada in the upper right-hand corner of the obverse, and measured 152.4 by 69.85 millimetres (6.000 by 2.750 in). Each banknote also included an excerpt from literary works reflecting the denomination's theme.

Security

Because of the increasing proliferation of affordable consumer colour photocopiers, inkjet printers, and scanners, the security features of Birds of Canada was becoming increasingly easier to circumvent. As a result, the Bank of Canada undertook development of the Canadian Journey Series, during which time it also developed a new anti-counterfeiting strategy.

In addition to improving the security of the substrate and the integration of security features in the banknote designs, the Bank of Canada also launched a public education campaign, actively deterred counterfeiting by closer collaboration with law enforcement, and accelerated the removal and destruction of banknotes from older series from circulation. Moreover, it actively discourages financial transactions using banknotes from older series.

Substrate

In the mid 1990s, the Bank of Canada tested a new substrate, named "Luminus" and produced by Domtar, for use in printing banknotes. It printed 100,000 experimental $5 banknotes, using the Birds of Canada design, having a substrate of polymer core between two layers of cotton paper. The notes were issued into circulation, and the test found "no major problems" with the substrate. It was chosen as the substrate for the $5 and $10 banknotes in June 1998, and for all other denominations in September 1999. In December 1999, the manufacturer withdrew its offer to supply the substrate because of technical production issues and its market viability. The Bank of Canada found a cotton fibre substrate with "characteristics similar to those of Luminus" on which to print the $10 banknote it would issue in January 2001, and later for the $5 banknote issued in March 2002. The similarity of the substrate to Luminus would enable a transition to it once production issues were resolved, as the Bank of Canada had acquired Canada-wide rights to the substrate and continued to develop it, but the project was ultimately discontinued in 2002. As a result, the Bank of Canada chose to use the standard watermarked paper, but required suppliers to include a "windowed metallic thread" in the substrate.

Features

Incorporating the desired security features into the design was a "challenging aspect of the design process". These features included: intaglio printing, such as the raised ink in some numerals; microprinting, such as in the descriptions adjacent to the building vignettes on the obverse of each banknote; a holographic stripe adjacent to the portrait, with iridescent maple leaves shifting from a matte to shiny gold when tilted; a watermark of the portrait and denomination's value in an empty space near the building vignettes; a see-through number with disjoint components appearing as a complete numeral when viewed with background lighting; a colour-shifting thread embedded on one side of the banknote, on which is printed the banknote's denomination; and features visible when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Features implemented with raised ink on the obverse of each banknote include the large numeral at the bottom right, the shoulder of the portrait, and the words "Bank of Canada" and "Banque du Canada" in a vertical stripe to the left of the holographic metallic strip. A genuine banknote from this series will not fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light except for the coat of arms and the words "Bank of Canada", "Banque du Canada", "Ten", and "Dix" over the left portion of the portrait. Randomly distributed white security fibres embedded in the substrate will glow red.

When a banknote is backlit, the "ghost-like" portrait in the watermark will become visible and the colour-shifting thread is revealed as a set of windows along a continuous line that shift colour when tilted. The maple leaves on the holographic metallic strip appear to move when the note is tilted, and each is split by a colour change.

The series also excluded former security features, such as the planchettes, green dots randomly occurring on the surface of the banknotes. Planchettes were replaced by coloured fibres embedded in the paper that fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Each banknote features the EURion constellation. On the obverse, the pattern occurs in a band between the portrait's shoulder and the signatures of the Governor of the Bank of Canada and deputy governor in the lower right of the banknote. All but the $50 banknote also contain several instances of the constellation on the lower portion of the building vignette at the centre of the banknote. On the reverse, the $5 and $10 banknotes have a visible plain yellow EURion constellation pattern. The pattern is "clearly identifiable" on the $20 and $100 banknotes, which encloses each dot of the constellation in a blank circle. On the $50 banknote, the pattern is nearly undetectable, as a pattern of fine red lines masks the yellow dots; these are revealed when viewing the blue channel of a digital image of the banknote.

Accessibility

The Bank of Canada began investigating integration of accessibility features into banknotes with the passage of the Canadian Human Rights Act in 1977. Its research indicated that Braille was not a viable option, as not all visually impaired individuals are able to read it, and denominations of different sizes are not financially viable. It thus chose to develop features that could be identified by a banknote reader, which it implemented in the Birds of Canada series.

For the Canadian Journey Series, the Bank of Canada and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind held consultations with "experts in the fields of vision and tactility perception", during which several desirable features were identified. The Bank of Canada concluded that accessibility features should enable an individual to identify a banknote's denomination "quickly, independently, privately, and with the note in any orientation", and that it should implement features assisting individuals with a range of vision impairments. It again rejected denominations having banknotes of different size for being inconsistent with the use of banknote processing equipment such as automated teller machines, vending machines, self checkout machines, slot machines, ticket and parking lot machines, and note sorting equipment.

This series was the first issued by the Bank of Canada to incorporate a tactile feature to allow individuals with visual impairments to determine a banknote's denomination. This takes the form of Braille blocks consisting of six dots arranged in two parallel columns, each denomination having a different pattern of blocks, placed on the top right-hand corner when facing the obverse. The feature was developed by the Canadian Bank Note Company, which collaborated with Queen's University tactility perception expert for symbol design. It produced 48 sample designs, of which six were selected for final consideration based on tactility, production techniques, and banknote thickness. These were tested with collaboration of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the Canadian Council of the Blind by individuals with functional blindness. The feature was considered appealing as it did not require individuals to use assistive technology in order to identify a banknote's denomination.

The colour for each banknote denomination was updated to enable individuals to more easily distinguish between them, particularly the brown of the $100 banknote and red of the $50 banknote, and the purple of the $10 banknote and the blue of the $5 banknote. The design of each denomination also included large, high-contrast numerals and a barcode, each identifying the respective denomination. The numerals were about 30% larger than in the Birds of Canada series, and was chosen after testing conducted by vision experts at the University of Waterloo.

The electronic banknote reader distributed for Canadians requiring assistive technologies was also updated to be able to scan and identify these banknotes, and was half the size and weight than that used for the Birds of Canada series. It was also improved by adding tone and vibration output modes in addition to the speech synthesis voice output of the earlier model. Its development cost about C$500,000.

Approximately 3% of a banknote's production cost is associated with the tactile feature.

Printings

Canadian Journey Series banknotes differ based on the date they were printed. Other than the change to the $5 and $10 banknotes to update their security features, the most notable change is the combination of signatures of the Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Deputy Governor occurring on the banknotes, which were updated with every change to the executive of the Bank of Canada. The following signature combination banknotes were released:

Canadian Banknotes were printed by two different security printers until 2011: the Canadian Banknote Company and BA International Inc. The serial number prefix indicates which printer was responsible for printing the particular banknote.

Counterfeiting

The first two banknotes issued in the series introduced three security features new to Canadian banknotes. These were the hidden number to the left of the portrait, the iridescent maple leaves, and the fluorescent features (embedded fibre and images over left side of the portrait). These features did not deter counterfeiting.

In 2003, high-quality counterfeits of the $10 banknote appeared in circulation in Ontario and Quebec. In May 2006, Peel Regional Police in the Greater Toronto Area seized $50,000 worth of $20 and $50 counterfeit banknotes and received assistance from the Integrated Counterfeit Enforcement Teams division of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to search for the production plant, which had created counterfeit banknotes with a total face value over $1,000,000. In the spring of 2008, a batch of counterfeit $100 appeared in the Greater Toronto Area. Reaching a peak distribution there in May, similar forgeries were later found in the Montreal area, with its peak distribution in June.

In 2004, Canada had a counterfeit ratio of 470 parts per million, which decreased to 133 parts per million by 2007. The banknotes in the series with the holographic metallic stripe were counterfeited by "well-organized, well-financed groups" having the resources and time to replicate the security features. The $5 and $10 denominations released earlier, lacking the metallic stripe and other security features, was a common target of counterfeiters. One of the largest counterfeit operations in Canada was discovered in Toronto, which by the time of its dismantling in 2006 had released counterfeit $10, $20, $50 and $100 banknotes with a face value over $9 million. The operation was also beginning production of counterfeit United States Federal Reserve Notes, and traded in fraudulent payment cards and identity documents.

During the peak counterfeiting period in 2004, the counterfeit ratio for $10 banknotes 1,292 parts per million, and that for the $20 banknotes was 601 parts per million.

Reception

The banknote series was launched in January 2001 when the Bank of Canada issued the $10 banknote at a launch event in Ottawa. It also made public presentations to familiarise Canadians with the new banknotes and security features. The Currency Museum developed a travelling exhibition titled The Colour of Your Money that was launched on the same day.

Collecting

When the $10 banknote was first issued, the Bank of Canada also announced a numismatics set for notaphilists titled Lasting Impressions. This set contained two uncirculated $10 banknotes, one from this series and the other from the Birds of Canada series, with matching serial numbers. In 2002, a similar set with the same title was issued for the $5 banknote. Both were released in an embossed folder also containing an information booklet with the history of the respective denomination and the features of each banknote.

Legacy

In The Art and Design of Canadian Bank Notes, the Bank of Canada refers to the Canadian Journey Series as "the most distinctly Canadian series of notes ever produced by the Bank". It was also the first Canadian banknote series to be printed on paper sourced from a non-domestic supplier, as no Canadian company could produce the requested substrate at the time.

The $20 banknote was awarded the 2004 Bank Note of the Year by the International Bank Note Society, the inaugural year for the award. Amongst the qualities cited for the award was "probably the finest portrait of the mature monarch to appear on any bank note", and "well-balanced design, strong images, and advanced security features".

The accessibility features were "very well received within the blind and visually impaired community" of over 100,000 Canadians. A study was conducted in 2007 to assess the impact of the accessibility features in preparation for development of the next series of banknotes, the Frontier Series. It found that the tactile feature was most useful to those with complete of functional blindness, but it was less useful for older individuals (with decreased tactile sensitivity) and the feature could not be detected on some banknotes owing to physical wear from use. Some individuals would mitigate this problem by requesting only new banknotes during financial transactions. Numeral size and the more vivid colours on the banknotes was a more useful feature for individuals with partial vision. The overall impact on quality of life for visually impaired individuals was moderate. The only regression in accessibility compared to the Birds of Canada series was that the Canadian Journey Series banknotes could only be read from one end in the banknote reader, whereas both ends could be read in the Birds of Canada Series. The Bank of Canada's cost for distributing banknote readers to visually impaired Canadians is about $150,000 per year.

With the development and release of this series, the Bank of Canada also implemented a continuous research and development program representing a "more proactive approach" toward counterfeiting, and also integrated a monitoring program to assess "confidence levels and awareness" of banknote security features.

When released, the $10 banknote drew complaints from Canadians who thought the excerpt from "In Flanders Field" was incorrectly quoted. It was based on a common misconception about the poem.

Some Canadians have modified the $5 banknotes by drawing over the portrait of Wilfrid Laurier to make it appear as the character Spock (as portrayed by Leonard Nimoy) from the fictional universe of Star Trek, or as the character Severus Snape (as portrayed by Alan Rickman) from the Harry Potter film series.