The most common Canadian banknote is the Canadian $20 Bill. On the front of the bill there is a picture of the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, a picture of the Royal Arms of Canada, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The reverse of the bill has the art of Bill Reid and a quote from Gabrielle Roy. In 2005, the 2004 $20 bill got the Bank Note of the Year Award by the International Bank Note Society.

Security features on the front of the bill include a holographic stripe on the left side, which depicts the number 20 alternated with maple leaves, there is also a watermark of the Queen’s portrait, and last, there is a broken-up number 20, which goes back together when backlit. The security feature on the reverse is a interleaved metallic strip, which has “20 CAN” along it length. The 2004 bills also have yellow dots which represent the EURion constellation and a tactile feature which similar to braille dots for the blind to identify the bill.

In this day and age, Canada has only five different banknotes ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100) that are currently being printed. This is because large amounts of money can be electronically transferred and small amounts, such as a $1, have been replaced by coins. Due to all of this, the twenty-five-cent bill, the one-dollar bill, the two-dollar bill, the four-dollar bill, the twenty-five-dollar bill, the five-hundred-dollar bill, and the thousand-dollar bill have been withdrawn from circulation.

The twenty-five-cent bill was issued  in 1870 by the Dominion of Canada. It was also known as a shinplaster. This bill was intended to be around for only a short time, but was reissued in 1900 and 1923 then recalled by the Bank of Canada in 1935.

The one-dollar bill stopped being printed in 1989 and was replaced with the loonie.

The two-dollar bill stopped being printed in 1996 and was replaced by the toonie. These are not seen very often in circulation anymore, although there was over 109,000,000 notes that were not returned to the Bank of Canada in 2006.

The four-dollar bill started being issued in 1871 by the Dominion of Canada. It was last issued in 1904 and was withdrawn in 1912 to be replaced with the five-dollar bill.

The twenty-five-dollar bill was issued by the Bank of Canada in 1935 to commemorate the silver jubilee of King George V. It was a limited release not printed in big amounts.

In 1935, the Bank of Canada issued  the five-hundred-dollar bill. It has not been printed again since.

The thousand-dollar bill stopped being printed in 2000. The demand for this bill was low and it was used for money laundering so it was withdrawn.