Frontier Series

Background

The primary impetus for the new banknotes was "the need to stay ahead of counterfeiters". By 2002, 10% of retailers in some parts of Canada refused to accept the $100 banknotes of the Birds of Canada in financial transactions, and by 2004, the counterfeit ratio for Canadian currency had risen to 470 parts per million (PPM). As of 2011, over half of all retail transactions in Canada are made using cash.

Between 1995 and 1998, the Bank of Canada tested a substrate trademarked as "Luminus" consisting of a polymer core sheet layered between two paper sheets for use in printing banknotes. It printed 100,000 experimental $5 Birds of Canada banknotes. In June 1998, the Bank of Canada prepared to use Luminus as the substrate for the Canadian Journey Series, but in December 1999 the manufacturer withdrew its supply bid because it could not produce the substrate at the scale required by the Bank of Canada for printing banknotes. The bank printed the Canadian Journey Series on a cotton fibre substrate with similar surface characteristics to Luminus so that it could transition production to using the polymer substrate when scale production issues were resolved. The Bank of Canada also secured Canadian rights for Luminus and continued to develop the substrate for future use.

The use of polymer as a substrate was considered in part because access to the polymer substrate could be controlled, and replicating the chemical and physical recipe would be difficult. The practice of restricting access to the substrate used for manufacturing money existed as early as the 13th century, during which Chinese rulers stationed guards at mulberry forests, as mulberry bark was used to produce paper money.

Use of a polymer substrate for use in the upcoming banknotes was announced by Jim Flaherty in the 2010 Canadian federal budget speech on 4 March 2010, at which time he also announced that in the future the loonie ($1 coin) and toonie ($2 coin) would be made of steel instead of nickel to reduce manufacturing costs. Canada would become the ninth country to print all its banknotes using a polymer substrate, following Australia, Bermuda, Brunei, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Romania, and Vietnam.

Development

The Bank of Canada began planning for the Frontier Series in 2005. It used a team of chemists, physicists, and engineers it had assembled for the development of the Canadian Journey Series to determine potential counterfeiting threats and assess substrate materials and potential security features for use in banknote designs. Once the technical evaluation of materials and security features was complete, the Bank of Canada created a formal set of guidelines specifying "the combination of security features and substrate" that it issued to bank note manufacturing and design companies. The resultant bid designs were evaluated for technical, security, and financial merit.

Once the design and substrate were chosen, the Bank of Canada negotiated a contract with Note Printing Australia (NPA) for the supply of the substrate polymer and the security features implemented in the design. The substrate is supplied to NPA by Securency International (now known as Innovia Films Ltd). It also negotiated for the rights to the use of intellectual property associated with the material and security features owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia. The Bank of Canada issued a press release stating its intention of issuing new banknotes in 2011.

A study commissioned by the Bank of Canada was conducted by the University of Waterloo, which collaborated with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, to assess the accessibility features of the Canadian Journey Series banknotes. The results led to the implementation of two improvements to the design—increased durability of the raised dots used for identification, and placing identification patterns for electronic banknote scanners at both ends of the banknotes.

The Bank of Canada tested the prototype banknotes by exposing them to temperatures in the range −75 to 140 °C (−103 to 284 °F). The durability test involved boiling, freezing, and running the banknotes in a washing machine.

By the end of the development cycle, nearly 15 million test banknotes of various designs, implementing different security features, and using various substrates and techniques had been printed. Research and testing for printing currency on the polymer substrate cost about C$20,000,000, and overall development of the polymer banknotes cost about C$300,000,000.

Design

In 2008, the Bank of Canada hired The Strategic Counsel for $476,000 to create an image catalogue from which banknote images would be drawn. The research firm polled focus groups in six cities, finding that themes related to diversity and multiculturalism had strong support. This resulted in 41 images reflecting eight themes that were scored by the firm and presented to the Bank of Canada.

The designs for the banknotes were created by the Canadian Bank Note Company. The Bank of Canada consulted various organizations for the design and depiction of elements appearing on the banknotes, including: the Canadian Space Agency for the $5 banknote; Via Rail and the Railway Association of Canada for the $10 banknote; Veterans Affairs Canada and Vimy Foundation for the $20 banknote; ArcticNet, the Canadian Coast Guard, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami for the $50 banknote; and the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Sanofi Pasteur Canada, University of Ottawa, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, University of Toronto, and University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine for the $100 banknote.

From late 2009 to early 2012, the prototype designs were shown to 30 focus groups in Calgary, Fredericton, Montreal, and Toronto on a C$53,000 contract by The Strategic Counsel to discover "potential controversies". Feedback from the focus groups led to some changes to the design, and results of the study were released to the public in 2012. The report stated that themes of diversity, inclusiveness, acceptance of others, and multiculturalism had strong support in the focus groups. The highest-rated images included two of children of different ethnic backgrounds building a snowman and playing hockey, and of faces of individuals from different cultures celebrating Canada Day. The focus groups rejected images such as aboriginal art, ice wine, and portraits of Terry Fox, Tommy Douglas, and Lester B. Pearson. All focus groups thought the large window resembled a woman's body.

A set of 41 images in several themes were presented to the Department of Finance, which selected the final designs. Rejected images included illustrations of a gay marriage and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer wearing a turban. The images and themes chosen represent Canadian accomplishments in science, technology, and exploration. The themes for the final designs were announced to the public at a media event on 20 June 2011 by Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Jim Flaherty, the Minister of Finance, and William J. S. Elliott, commissioner of the RCMP.

Accessibility

Each banknote has a raised dot identification pattern, which is not braille, on the top left corner of the obverse usable for identification by individuals with visual impairments. The raised dots are expected to have greater endurance than those of previous series because of the greater durability of the polypropylene substrate. At each end of the banknotes a symmetrical arc contains codes that enable identification using a specialised portable electronic banknote scanner.

Other accessibility features include a distinct and dominant colour scheme for each denomination and large numerals displayed against a contrasting background

Production

The banknotes are manufactured by Ottawa-based company Canadian Bank Note Company and by the former BA International. They are made from a single sheet of polymer substrate branded as "Guardian" manufactured by Innovia Films, which is the only supplier of the substrate for the Frontier Series, based on a polymer developed in Australia and used by Note Printing Australia to print the banknotes of the Australian dollar since 1988. The material is less likely to tear than cotton-based paper, and is more crumple resistant and water resistant. The polymer notes are made of recyclable biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP).

Each polymer banknote costs 19 cents to print, more than the paper-based banknotes of previous series, but are expected to last 2 ¹⁄₂ times longer, about 7 ¹⁄₂ years, reducing overall costs for banknote production. The Bank of Canada expects to save about 25% on production costs (about C$200,000,000) compared to printing paper money with similar counterfeiting resistance.

Substrate

Polypropylene and polyolefin pellets are extruded and combined to create a molten polymer, which consists of a 37.5µm thick polypropylene sheet sandwiched between two 0.1µm polyolefin sheets, creating a thin film 37.7 µm thick. This is gravity fed through a snap cooling brass mandrel, reheater, blown into a large bubble using air pressure and temperature, and collapsed at the base of the four-storey chamber into a flat sheet by convergence rollers, and the sheet is then slit. This creates the base biaxially-oriented polypropylene substrate of 75.4 µm thickness, called ClarityC by Innovia Films.

Two 3 µm thick layers of white opacifier are applied to the upper and lower surface of the substrate, except for masked areas that are intended to remain transparent. These overcoat layers protect the substrate from soiling and impart on it its characteristic texture, and increase the overall thickness to 87.5 µm. The resulting product is the Guardian substrate.

The holographic security foil is then incorporated to the base substrate. This is then cut and the sheets are spooled onto a roll, which is transported to the banknote printing companies in wooden boxes as a secure shipment.

Printing

Printing banknotes involves several ordered stages. These include acquisition and preparation of necessary materials, prepress activities, printing, and post-printing operations. Some of the operations are "unique to the security printing industry".

Prepress activities include creation of the wet and dry plates for lithographic printing, the image and ink transfer plates, and establishing the electroforming and electroplating process for intaglio. The cylinder and roller plates are coated or etched with the unique designs for the banknotes. Inks are prepared using a "mixture of varnishes, pigments and additives".

The printing process involves the substrate passing through presses for lithographic printing, intaglio printing, numbering printing, and varnish printing. The inks are transferred using the prepared plates, which are replaced when worn. The opacifier layers enable the inks of the offset and intaglio printing to adhere to the substrate. The varnish printing stage applies a required protective varnish to the polymer substrate. Offset printing deposits a 1.5 µm layer, intaglio about 24 µm, and the protective varnish is about 2 µm thick.

Once printing is complete, the banknotes undergo a finishing stage in which they are cut, and are then packaged. The packages are stacked on a pallet which is then bound in plastic wrap and strapped.

Security

The banknotes feature a large clear window through which passes a stripe of holographic metallic foil that changes colour based on angle. The holographic foil contains an image of one of the Parliament buildings at its base and a coloured duplicate of the portrait appearing on the banknote at the top. Both portions of the metallic foil contain the words "BANK OF CANADA", "BANQUE DU CANADA", and several repetitions of the value of the denomination appearing in different colours depending on the viewing angle. The metallic foil portrait is the same as the larger portrait on the banknote, but shifts colour when the banknote is tilted. The holographic foil is manufactured using a mix of aluminum, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and adhesives.

A frosted window in the shape of a maple leaf is included at the other end of the note. Within the maple leaf is a ring of numbers matching the denomination of the banknote that become visible when the obverse is observed with a backlight. Hidden numbers also appear in the large window and holographic foil, some in reverse. The translucent maple leaf has a thin, transparent outline through which is visible the pattern of the reverse.

Other security features include a border consisting of maple leaves around and intruding into parts of the large window, and transparent text printed in raised ink in the window. The raised ink is printed using intaglio and is also used for the large numerals to the left of the portrait, the shoulders of the portrait, and the words "BANK OF CANADA" and "BANQUE DU CANADA" printed near the maple leaf border. The transparent word "Canada" in the large window is also raised.

Each denomination contains the EURion constellation on both the obverse and reverse to deter counterfeiting by reproduction using imaging software and photocopiers, the second Canadian banknote series to include it after the Canadian Journey Series. On the obverse, the pattern occurs flanking the transparent window, with denominations having the same pattern on the right and different patterns on the left. On the reverse, it occurs in the lower strip containing the banknote's serial number.

Counterfeiting

The security features make counterfeiting the banknotes more difficult than counterfeiting earlier banknote series.

By late 2011, the $100 banknote had been counterfeited, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested four individuals of a counterfeiting operation in Richmond, British Columbia and seized counterfeit bills with a face value of C$1,200,000 of partially completed $100 banknotes. In May 2013, counterfeit $100 banknotes were found in circulation in New Westminster and other parts of the Lower Mainland in British Columbia. They were described by New Westminster police sergeant Diana McDaniel as "very well done", but they were missing three security features in the reproduction—a line of printed numerals in the transparent window, the flag atop the East Block in the lower metallic foil, and the raised ink. About 175 copies of the banknotes were found in circulation.

By May 2013, there were 56 cases of counterfeit banknotes known to the Bank of Canada. Offences related to the production, printing, publication, possession, distribution, use, or circulation of counterfeit currency, or owning, repairing, or using machines or other tools used for the production of counterfeit currency are part of section XII, Offences relating to currency, of the Criminal Code, in sections 448—462. The RCMP maintains a National Anti-Counterfeiting Bureau (NACB) to coordinate policing regarding counterfeit currency, and is the central repository for seized counterfeit money. NACB also has the responsibility for destroying all counterfeit currency once it has been analyzed and is no longer needed for court proceedings.

Reception

The banknote designs were criticised by Keith Rushton, chairman of the graphic design department at the Ontario College of Art and Design as being "trite, banal, ordinary and not too inspiring". Botanist Sean Blaney told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the depiction of the maple leaf on the banknote is that of an invasive five-lobed Norway Maple, not a maple tree indigenous to Canada such as the three-lobed sugar maple. A spokesperson for the Bank of Canada stated that the design was "a stylized blend of different Canadian maple species". The 2009 focus group report stated that the image of the train on the $10 banknote was attractive but uninspiring and outdated, and drew complaints from people in Atlantic Canada where many "railway links have been decommissioned".

Automated teller machines, vending machines, note sorting equipment, ticket and parking lot machines, slot machines, self checkout machines, and other banknote processing equipment had to be upgraded to process the polymer banknotes, a process that began six months before the introduction of the banknotes. The Bank of Canada provided sample bills to 85 equipment manufacturing companies so they could update the software that operates the machines. By the time the $20 banknote was released into circulation, vending machines operated by about half of the members of the Canadian Automatic Merchandising Association did not accept the Frontier Series banknotes. Some vending machine operators waited until the release of all the banknotes before updating their machines. Once the update software was tested, reprogramming each machine consisted of an automated task requiring an on-site visit by a technician. Sabbir Kabir of the Canadian National Vending Alliance stated that the sample banknotes were not the same as those introduced into circulation, such as the image being offset in one version or each printing being cut differently. The offset problem was fixed in December 2012. The Bank of Canada expects the industry to spend between C$75 and $100 million to update machines to process the polymer banknotes.

In July 2013, a petition organized by historian Merna Foster and addressed to Stephen Poloz and Jim Flaherty campaigned to have the Bank of Canada feature "significant Canadian women" on banknotes. It drew support from famous Canadian women, including Margaret Atwood, Kim Cattrall and Cynthia Dale, and from several Members of Parliament, including Bruce Hyer, Peggy Nash, and Murray Rankin. It was also supported by the Because I am a Girl campaign. The petition was started because of the exclusion of women from the banknote designs, and stated that earlier banknotes included women, such as the fifty-dollar banknote of the Canadian Journey Series which featured The Famous Five and Thérèse Casgrain on the reverse. The petition was delivered to Poloz, who stated that the Bank of Canada was "absolutely open to the idea" of incorporating portraits of famous Canadian women in future banknote series. Poloz sent a reply letter to Forster on 4 November 2013.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese Canadian National Council stated that the revisions to the image of the scientist on the $100 banknote reflected the Bank of Canada "caving to the racist feedback". A Bank of Canada spokesperson later apologised for the change.

The media reported various complaints about the banknotes, including that new banknotes stick together, some vending machines do not recognize or accept them, and that they may melt when exposed to high heat. An individual will be reimbursed for a damaged banknote only if the banknote's serial number is known. A report by the Calgary Herald based on an informal survey it conducted in 2013 stated that Calgarians complained about the "same old faces, and the same old colours".

Legacy

As each banknote was put into circulation, the same denomination from earlier banknote series began being withdrawn from circulation by the Bank of Canada. The Bank of Canada expects the Frontier Series to become the dominant banknotes in circulation by late 2015 or early 2016, with at least 70% of older $20 banknotes removed from circulation within 18 months of issuing the polymer $20 banknotes. By November 2013, about 700 million banknotes of the $20, $50, and $100 denominations had been released into circulation. It printed 580 million polymer banknotes in 2012 and 675 million in 2013. The operating costs for the 2013 second-quarter of the Bank of Canada increased 23% from the previous year, nearly half of which was a result of printing the polymer banknotes.

During the introduction of the $5 and $10 banknotes, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stated that counterfeiting of the polymer $20, $50 and $100 banknotes that had been previously released was dramatically lower than that of previous series. By late 2013, the counterfeit ratio had been reduced to below 40 PPM, and about 5% of retailers still refused to accept $100 banknotes for payment.

The Bank of Canada expects the series to last about eight years. It will issue into circulation polymer banknotes in exchange for paper banknotes of earlier series that are removed from circulation. Because of the increased lifespan of the Frontier Series banknotes compared to earlier banknote series, the Bank of Canada expected to replace smaller volumes of worn and damaged banknotes than it did in previous years. When removed from circulation, the polymer banknotes will be recycled instead of being destroyed like the paper-based banknotes of previous series. By early November 2012, at least 315 banknotes had to be replaced because of damage. As a result of decreased demand for banknote printing services, BA International shuttered its Ottawa printing operation in 2012 and sold it to Canadian Bank Note Company for C$10,200,000 in 2013.

In March 2012, the CNIB issued a press release lauding the "touch, sight and electronic signal features" of the polymer banknotes. The Bank of Canada patented a machine-readable feature created by its researchers during development of the Frontier Series. It was first used in the Frontier Series, and adapted for commercial production by one of the development partners.

The communications and information company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, which developed the robotic systems deployed to space by the Canadian Space Agency and appearing on the $5 banknote, sent some members of the media a promotional package containing a $5 banknote and a letter in January 2014. The letter stated that the release of the banknotes afforded the company "a unique opportunity to highlight Canada's tremendous accomplishments in space" as well as the company's role in a "very cost-effective way".

The Bank of Canada commissioned a life-cycle assessment of the Canadian Journey Series and Frontier Series banknotes to evaluate the environmental impact of the life cycle of each banknote.

After officials at the Bank of England confirmed reports that the polymer £5 note issued in September 2016 contained traces of tallow, a rendered animal fat derived from suet, Bank of Canada officials stated that additives in the polymer pellets used for producing banknotes in the Frontier Series contain trace quantities of tallow.