Loonie the banknote forced acceptance of the coin. The loonie has subsequently gained iconic status within Canada, and is now regarded as a national symbol. The term "loonie" has since become synonymous with the Canadian dollar itself. The town of Echo Bay, Ontario, home of Robert-Ralph Carmichael, erected a large loonie monument in his honour in 1992 along the highway, similar to Sudbury's 'Big Nickel'. Officials for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics invited the National Hockey League's ice making consultant, Dan Craig, to oversee the city's E Center arena, where the ice hockey tournament was being held. Craig invited a
Canadian dollar after the then Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker. This peg lasted until 1970, after which the currency's value has floated. Canadian English, like American English, used the slang term "buck" for a former paper dollar. The Canadian origin of this term derives from a coin struck by the Hudson's Bay Company during the 17th century with a value equal to the pelt of a male beaver – a "buck". Because of the appearance of the common loon on the back of the $1 coin that replaced the dollar bill in 1987, the word "loonie" was adopted in Canadian parlance to distinguish