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
History of the Canadian dollar and British coppers, low-value tokens issued by private banks or merchants, even brass buttons in some cases. Working with the banks, the federal government gradually had all of the pre-Confederation and foreign pennies removed from circulation. In 1876, the Canadian one-cent coin finally was issued. The new Canadian government issued its first notes in 1870. The first issue was in denominations of twenty-five cents (nicknamed a "shinplaster"), one dollar and two dollars. The twenty-five cent note featured Britannia, the one-dollar note featured Jacques Cartier, and the two-dollar note featured General James Wolfe and the Marquis de Montcalm. The twenty-five cent