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
Commemorative coins of Canada the Voyageur one dollar coin, was issued in 1935 to commemorate the twenty-five years of King George V's reign. It featured a voyageur (French-Canadian fur trader) and an indigenous man, paddling a birch-bark canoe laden with furs, with the northern lights in the background. Although intended as a commemorative coin, it continued to be issued until 1986, the year before the Loonie was introduced. For information on the Voyageur dollar, see: Voyageur dollar. In 1987, the Mint introduced a new one dollar coin. It normally features a loon on the reverse. Nicknamed the "loonie", it replaced both the one dollar