The Canadian $20 note is one of the most common

banknotes of the Canadian dollar Banknotes of the Canadian dollar are the banknotes or bills (in common lexicon) of Canada, denominated in Canadian dollars (CAD, C$, or $ locally). Currently, they are issued in $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 denominations. All current notes are i ...

; it is the primary banknote dispensed from Canadian

automatic teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fund ...

s (ATMs). The newest version, the

Frontier Series The Frontier series is the seventh series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar released by the Bank of Canada, first circulated in 2011. The polymer banknotes were designed for increased durability and to incorporate more security features over ...

polymer note, was released to the general public on November 7, 2012, replacing the banknote from the

Canadian Journey Series Canadian Journey is the sixth series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar designed and circulated by the Bank of Canada. It succeeded the 1986 Birds of Canada banknote series. The first banknote of the Canadian Journey series issued into circula ...

Present note

The present $20 banknote was first issued on November 7, 2012. It is a

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

-based note featuring

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

on the face and the

Vimy Ridge memorial The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a war memorial site in France dedicated to the memory of Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War. It also serves as the place of commemoration for Canadian soldiers of the First ...

on the back. The window displays the

Peace Tower The Peace Tower (french: link=no, Tour de la Paix) is a focal bell and clock tower sitting on the central axis of the Centre Block of the Canadian parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario. The present incarnation replaced the Victoria Tower af ...

. On January 18, 2013, a Canadian botanist complained that a foreign maple leaf was used as the emblem on the polymer notes instead of the sugar maple that the country has on its

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...

, along with the $50 and $100 notes. After the

death of Elizabeth II On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death ...

, the banknotes with her image will continue to be legal tender. It is undecided whether they will be replaced in circulation with notes bearing an image of her successor

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

in a future redesign.

History

The Canadian 20 dollar bill is one of the denominations of Canadian currency. The first 20 dollar bill was issued in 1935, and featured a portrait of Princess Elizabeth on the front and an agricultural allegory on the back. It featured a kneeling male exhibiting the produce of the field to a female agricultural figure. All Canadian banknotes underwent a major redesign in 1991, partially to incorporate some of the latest anti-forgery methods. Notes continue to be improved, with another design revealed on August 25, 2004, and placed into circulation on September 29, 2004. Notes were printed on paper composed of pure cotton at two

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

companies contracted for the purpose: the

Canadian Bank Note Company The Canadian Bank Note Company (CBNC) is a Canadian security printing company. It is best known for holding the contract with the Bank of Canada to supply it with Canada's banknotes since 1935. The company's other clients include private busine ...

and BA International Inc., a part of the Giesecke & Devrient GmbH group of companies. Each note in the 1991 series is sprinkled with special green ink dots, called planchettes, that glow when exposed to

ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...

light. The ink can be scraped off, so worn notes tend to have fewer, if any, glowing dots. These were replaced with more permanent ultraviolet-detected threads in the new notes, as well as an ink imprint of the coat of arms.

Canadian Journey Series

Introduced in 2004 and circulated until its replacement in 2012, the Canadian Journey Series 20-

dollar Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...

note is predominantly green. The face features a portrait of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

Queen of Canada The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The monarchy is the foundat ...

, the

Royal Arms of Canada The Arms of Canada (french: Armoiries du Canada, links=no), also known as the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada (french: armoiries royales du Canada, links=no) or formally as the Arms of His Majesty the King in Right of Canada (french: Armoiries de Sa M ...

, and a picture of the

Centre Block The Centre Block (french: Édifice du Centre) is the main building of the Canadian parliamentary complex on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, containing the House of Commons and Senate chambers, as well as the offices of a number of members ...

of the Parliament buildings. Security features visible from the face include a

holographic Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other Holography#Applications, applic ...

stripe along the left side, depicting the number ''20'' alternated with

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

leaves; a

watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...

of the Queen's portrait; and a broken-up number 20, which resolves itself when backlit. The back depicts artworks by

Bill Reid William Ronald Reid Jr. (12 January 1920 – 13 March 1998) ( Haida) was a Canadian artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is ...

, notably his sculptures ''

The Raven and the First Men ''The Raven and the First Men'' is a sculpture by Haida artist Bill Reid. It depicts the Haida creation myth. It was carved from a single block of laminated yellow cedar, beginning in the fall of 1978, and took two years to complete, with work com ...

'' and ''

Spirit of Haida Gwaii The ''Spirit of Haida Gwaii'' is a sculpture by British Columbia Haida artist Bill Reid (1920–1998). There are two versions of it: the black canoe and the jade canoe. The black canoe features on Canadian $20 bills of the Canadian Journey serie ...

''; it also has a quotation from

Gabrielle Roy Gabrielle Roy (March 22, 1909July 13, 1983) was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba and one of the major figures in French Canadian literature. Early life Roy was born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, an ...

. The back also has a visible security feature: an interleaved metallic strip, reading ''20 CAN'' repeatedly along its length. Yellow dots representing the

EURion constellation The EURion constellation (also known as Omron rings or doughnuts) is a pattern of symbols incorporated into a number of secure documents such as banknotes and ownership title certificates designs worldwide since about 1996. It is added to help ...

can be found on both sides (and on all 2001 series notes). As well as textured printing, the 2004 design incorporates a special tactile feature similar to

Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

dots for the blind indicating the denomination. The 2004 $20 note was awarded Bank Note of the Year by the

International Bank Note Society Notaphily is the study and collection of paper currency, and banknotes. A notaphilist is a collector of banknotes or paper money, particularly as a hobby. History It is believed that people have been collecting paper money for as long as it has ...

in 2005. As with all modern Canadian banknotes, all text is in both English and French.

Twenty-dollar view

The view of

Moraine Lake Moraine Lake is a glacially fed lake in Banff National Park, outside the hamlet of Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. It is situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, at an elevation of approximately . The lake has a surface area of . The lake, bein ...

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...

from the top of the moraine rockpile is one of the most photographed locations in all of Canada. That view of the mountains behind the lake in

Valley of the Ten Peaks Valley of the Ten Peaks (french: Vallée des Dix Pics) is a valley in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, which is crowned by ten notable peaks and also includes Moraine Lake. The valley can be reached by following the Moraine Lake road near ...

is known as the Twenty-Dollar View, as Moraine Lake is featured on the backs of the 1969 and 1979 issues of the Canadian $20 note.Weddell, Peggy �
Banff: A Rocky Mountain Treasure.
Legion Magazine, January 1, 1997

References

External links

Bank of Canada's banknote siteBank Note Series: Polymer
{{Canadian currency and coinage Banknotes of Canada by denomination Twenty-base-unit banknotes Elizabeth II