Canadian five-dollar bill
Encyclopedia
The Canadian five-dollar bill is currently the lowest denomination banknote issued by the Bank of Canada
.
The current five-Canadian dollar
bill is dominantly blue in colour. The front features a portrait of Sir Wilfrid Laurier
, the coat of arms
, and a picture of the West Block
of the Parliament buildings
. The reverse side depicts child
ren engaged in winter sport
s, including sledding
, ice skating
, and hockey
; this is accompanied by a quotation from Roch Carrier
's short story, "The Hockey Sweater
":
In the image, one of the hockey players is wearing jersey
number
9. Many believe this is to honour Canadian hockey legend Maurice Richard
(which would follow Carrier's story, in which a young Québécois boy is obsessed with "The Rocket"), but the list of great Canadian hockey players to have worn the number is long.
Yellow dots representing the EURion constellation
can be found on the reverse side. This bill features raised, textured printing as well as a special tactile feature
(similar to Braille
dots) to assist the blind
in identifying the denomination. Security features include 'BANK OF CANADA' and 'BANQUE DU CANADA' only visible under ultraviolet
light.
In 2005, the Canadian government polled its citizens on the idea of retiring the five-dollar bill, replacing it with a five-dollar coin. The money saved in making the coin would then fund the Canadian Olympic team. Canadians resoundingly rejected and ridiculed the idea of a five-dollar coin. Some pointed out the bill's most recent redesign took place only four years prior, while many others were averse to the idea of carrying yet another coin in their wallets and pockets. Due to the overwhelmingly negative response, plans for the five-dollar coin were discarded. Instead, on 15 November 2006, the Bank of Canada released an updated version of the $5 bill (issue of 2006) with updated security features, including a holographic stripe found in the rest of the series, and a watermark of Laurier that appears when held to the light. These features replaced the iridescent maple leaves that were in the issue of 2002.
As with all modern Canadian banknotes, all text is in both English
and French
(see Official bilingualism in Canada).
Bank of Canada
The Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank and "lender of last resort". The Bank was created by an Act of Parliament on July 3, 1934 as a privately owned corporation. In 1938, the Bank became a Crown corporation belonging to the Government of Canada...
.
The current five-Canadian dollar
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
bill is dominantly blue in colour. The front features a portrait of Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
, the coat of arms
Coat of arms of Canada
The Arms of Canada is, since 1921, the official coat of arms of the Canadian monarch, and thus also of Canada...
, and a picture of the West Block
West Block
The West Block is one of the three buildings on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, containing offices for parliamentarians, as well as some preserved pre-Confederation spaces.Built in the Victorian High Gothic style, the West Block has been extended twice since its original completion...
of the Parliament buildings
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
. The reverse side depicts child
Child
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...
ren engaged in winter sport
Winter sport
A winter sport is a sport which is played on snow or ice. Most such sports are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally such sports were only played in cold areas during winter, but artificial snow and ice allow more flexibility...
s, including sledding
Sledding
Sledding , sledging , sleding or tobogganing is a common activity in wintry areas, similar to sliding, but in a prone or seated position requiring a device or vehicle generically known in the US as a sled or in other countries as a sledge or toboggan...
, ice skating
Ice skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
, and hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
; this is accompanied by a quotation from Roch Carrier
Roch Carrier
Roch Carrier, OC is a Canadian novelist and author of "contes" . He is among the best known Quebec writers in English Canada....
's short story, "The Hockey Sweater
The Hockey Sweater
"The Hockey Sweater" is a short story published in 1979 by Canadian author Roch Carrier....
":
Les hivers de mon enfance étaient des saisons longues, longues. Nous vivions en trois lieux: l'école, l'église et la patinoire; mais la vraie vie était sur la patinoire.
The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places - the school, the church and the skating rink - but our real life was on the skating rink.
In the image, one of the hockey players is wearing jersey
Hockey jersey
A hockey jersey, traditionally called a sweater , is a piece of clothing worn by hockey players to cover the upper part of their bodies. "Sweater" is the correct reference in Canada, despite the material...
number
Squad number
In team sports, the squad number, shirt number, jersey number, sweater number, uniform number or simply a number is the number worn on a player's uniform, to identify and distinguish each player from others wearing the same or similar uniforms...
9. Many believe this is to honour Canadian hockey legend Maurice Richard
Maurice Richard
Joseph Henri Maurice "the Rocket" Richard, Sr., was a French-Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League from 1942 to 1960. The "Rocket" was the most prolific goal-scorer of his era, the first to achieve the feat of 50 goals in 50...
(which would follow Carrier's story, in which a young Québécois boy is obsessed with "The Rocket"), but the list of great Canadian hockey players to have worn the number is long.
Yellow dots representing the EURion constellation
EURion constellation
The EURion constellation is a pattern of symbols found on a number of banknote designs worldwide since about 1996. It is added to help software detect the presence of a banknote in a digital image. Such software can then block the user from reproducing banknotes to prevent counterfeiting using...
can be found on the reverse side. This bill features raised, textured printing as well as a special tactile feature
Canadian currency tactile feature
The Canadian currency tactile feature is a feature on the current "Canadian Journey" series of Canadian banknotes. The feature indicates the banknote denomination in the upper right corner of the face side of the bill using a series of raised dots. It was suggested by Bruno Thériault, an...
(similar to Braille
Braille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
dots) to assist the blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
in identifying the denomination. Security features include 'BANK OF CANADA' and 'BANQUE DU CANADA' only visible under ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
light.
In 2005, the Canadian government polled its citizens on the idea of retiring the five-dollar bill, replacing it with a five-dollar coin. The money saved in making the coin would then fund the Canadian Olympic team. Canadians resoundingly rejected and ridiculed the idea of a five-dollar coin. Some pointed out the bill's most recent redesign took place only four years prior, while many others were averse to the idea of carrying yet another coin in their wallets and pockets. Due to the overwhelmingly negative response, plans for the five-dollar coin were discarded. Instead, on 15 November 2006, the Bank of Canada released an updated version of the $5 bill (issue of 2006) with updated security features, including a holographic stripe found in the rest of the series, and a watermark of Laurier that appears when held to the light. These features replaced the iridescent maple leaves that were in the issue of 2002.
As with all modern Canadian banknotes, all text is in both English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(see Official bilingualism in Canada).