Are the Canadian Journey Series banknotes still accepted in shops in Canada?

Question

I assume they are accepted in banks however, having seen the big hassle tourists go through in the UK when they have an old banknote I would love to know if I can spend them in shops.

Answer 1

Since the Bank of Canada page on the series includes instructions on how to check these notes, I believe the answer is yes.

I do note that the page also instructs merchants "But if you have doubts when verifying any note, ask for another one." So it's possible a small store could ask for a different bill. This is completely different from the "you can't use that here, take it to a bank; oh ha ha we meant a bank you have an account with; why would a bank exchange notes for strangers you need to go to a currency exchange place and accept their outrageous fee" situation I faced with old banknotes in the UK.

Answer 2

The tourist is much less likely to encounter "old notes" in Canada than in the UK, though it is conceivable that it might happen. This is due to differing policies and histories of the respective national banks.

The issues that arise with old banknotes not being accepted in shops/stores in the UK is, I believe, because they are no longer legal tender. The Bank of England has in recent years withdrawn several relatively new banknotes, including commonly-used £5 and £10 notes that were being issued as recently as 2016 but which stopped being legal tender in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The Royal Mint has estimated that there are still about £1.3 billion worth of old £5 and £10 notes in circulation five years later. Note also that paper £20 and £50 notes will be withdrawn in September 2022, so this problem may well persist for a while.

In contrast, the Bank of Canada has not been as aggressive in declaring old banknotes to no longer be legal tender. The Bank of Canada did not have the power to do so until 2018, and so far the only notes that the Bank of Canada has removed this status from are the $1, $2, $25, $500, and $1000 notes, regardless of age. The BoC stopped issuing the $1000 note in 2000 (and most tourists would never have encountered one anyway), the $2 in 1996, and the $1 in 1989. (The other two denominations haven't been issued in decades.) There are only about $350 million in $1 and $2 notes still in circulation today, making these "old notes" much less of a problem for a tourist. And as of November 2021,

The [Canadian] government currently has no plans to take any bank notes other than the $1, $2, $25, $500 and $1,000 notes out of circulation. It will be able to remove other notes in the future as needed.

Of course, it is conceivable that if you used a really old banknote in Canada (for example, a note from the "Birds of Canada" series, which stopped being printed in the early '00s) that a shopkeeper might be leery of it. But there is no widespread policy about such notes no longer being acceptable like there is in the UK.