The 1988 $1,000 note was discontinued in May 2000 when the federal government, acting on RCMP and FINTRAC pressure, directed the Bank of Canada to stop distributing it. The concern was straightforward: at that denomination, the bills had become the preferred large-value instrument for organized crime and money laundering. Existing notes remain legal tender but are actively withdrawn from circulation whenever they surface at financial institutions — which is why the overwhelming majority of surviving examples come from collections rather than cash drawers.
The dual-printer credit reflects a long-standing arrangement between CBN and BABN that divided federal banknote contracts; both were Ottawa-based operations for most of their history.
The 1988 $1,000 note was discontinued in May 2000 when the federal government, acting on RCMP and FINTRAC pressure, directed the Bank of Canada to stop distributing it. The concern was straightforward: at that denomination, the bills had become the preferred large-value instrument for organized crime and money laundering. Existing notes remain legal tender but are actively withdrawn from circulation whenever they surface at financial institutions — which is why the overwhelming majority of surviving examples come from collections rather than cash drawers.
The dual-printer credit reflects a long-standing arrangement between CBN and BABN that divided federal banknote contracts; both were Ottawa-based operations for most of their history.