1937 Series (banknotes)

The 1937 Series was the second series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar issued by the Bank of Canada. The banknotes were issued into circulation on 19 July 1937, at which time the Bank of Canada began gradually removing banknotes from the 1935 Series from circulation. The $1000 banknote was issued several years later, as it was primarily used by chartered banks, who had a sufficient supply of the 1935 Series $1000 banknote.

This was the first series of bilingual Canadian banknotes, as the 1935 Series was a dual-language series with French banknotes issued in Quebec and English banknotes issued in the rest of Canada. This series was created because of the introduction of the Bank of Canada Act, which required Canadian banknotes to be bilingual. In this series, English was always on the left.

With the exception of the $50 and $1000 notes, the colours introduced to the notes on this series remain to this day (or until they were no longer produced).

In the House of Commons on 2 June 1936, Conservative member of parliament Thomas Langton Church protested against the requirement of bilingual banknotes in the Bank of Canada Act, stating there was no authority for it in the British North America Act, and that it had not been an issue during the 1935 federal election. He favoured printing dual-language banknotes (distinct English and French banknotes) as had been done for the 1935 Series. Other conservative members of the 18th Canadian Parliament, such as Robert Smeaton White, supported the Liberal Party of Canada majority government of William Lyon Mackenzie King to print bilingual banknotes.

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