Canadian dollar banknotes were later issued by the chartered banks starting in the 1830s, by several pre- Confederation colonial governments (most notably the Province of Canada in 1866), and after confederation, by the Canadian government starting in 1870.

It is thus fitting to begin the story of the Canadian dollar with “money” used by Canada’s First Nations.2The Aboriginal peoples of eastern North America placed a high value on strings and belts fashioned from beads of white or purple shells found on the eastern seaboard.