Production

On May 4, 1910, the Canadian government passed an amendment to the Currency Act (Bill 195) which, among other things, called for the requirement of a Canadian silver dollar.^[3] James Bonar, Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, had ordered the master dies for this new dollar on November 10, 1910. Production of the dies was delayed, and they were not delivered to the Mint until nearly a year later. By the time the dies arrived, Sir Robert Borden had won his Canadian election, and cancelled the production of the silver dollar. While no official reason was given from the Borden government about the cancellation, a letter from Bonar attributes the coin's removal to the absence of a reference to God (Dei gratia rex), which created controversy among Canadians at the time.^[3] The obverse dies, featuring the bust of King George V, would still be preserved until 1936, used with the first silver dollars to enter circulation.^[4] Three trial strikes of silver dollars were produced in 1911 by the Royal Mint in London: two struck in silver, and one in lead. One of the silver coins, owned by the Royal Mint Museum, has been loaned to the Bank of Canada since 1976, while the lead coin was discovered during a move in 1977.^[3] The two were put into the National Currency Collection of the Bank of Canada, and have been on display in the Bank of Canada Museum since 1980.

Silver Jubilee

In 1935, a commemorative silver dollar was struck for King George V's Silver Jubilee. It showed the King on the obverse (front) and, a canoe containing a voyageur, (French-Canadian fur trader) and an Indigenous man, on the reverse (back). The canoe also contains two bundles of furs—on one, the initials HB, for Hudson's Bay Company may be seen. The reverse was designed by Emanuel Hahn.^[5] This coin marked the beginning of silver Canadian dollars in circulation, which continued until 1968, when the coin's composition shifted from silver to nickel.^[6]

Struck in silver

The issue was generally considered a success, and beginning in 1936, the silver dollar (in .800 fine silver) was struck more-or-less annually as a regular issue for general circulation, with the same reverse design as in 1935. Although commemorative dollars were struck for circulation for the visit of King George VI in 1939, no regular-issue dollars were struck that year, as well as until the end of World War II in 1945. Thereafter, voyageur dollars were struck each year through 1966, except in years when a commemorative dollar was struck for circulation (e.g. 1939, 1949, 1958 1964). In 1967, a special "flying goose" design was struck for the Canadian Centennial.

Struck in nickel

Beginning in 1968, following the 1967 Canadian Centennial series, the voyageur dollar design resumed. It was now struck in pure nickel, following the decision to debase Canada's coinage from silver to nickel. The change to this harder metal lead to the diameter of the coin being reduced from 36 mm to 32 mm, as it made minting considerably easier.^[6] From then on, the series was only interrupted for circulating commemorative issues, except for those produced in 1982 (Constitution Acts dollar) and 1984 (Jacques Cartier dollar), where the voyageur design was also produced. It was last struck for circulation in 1986 and for collectors in 1987.

Change to the loonie

Neither the silver nor nickel dollars circulated well although the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) saw a need for a circulating dollar coin. Since a one-dollar coin could last 20 years longer than a one-dollar bill, they calculated that they could save up to $250 million in 20 years.^[7] To encourage circulation, the size was reduced, the colour was changed, and the one-dollar note was eliminated from circulation.

Originally, the plans called for the voyageur design to be continued on the new gold-coloured dollar coin. This set of dies depicting the design was lost in transit.^[8] To eliminate the risk of counterfeiting, an alternate design submitted by Robert-Ralph Carmichael in a 1978 coin design contest, featuring a loon, was used.^[9] This became known as the loonie.