Show Me The Money

Funny story.  The Canadian one-dollar coin was supposed to have an image of a voyageur on it.  But the master copy was lost (or stolen) on the way to the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg in 1987.  So that image was scrapped to avoid counterfeiting, and replaced by the common loon.  And so we have the loonie, which is also a lot easier to say than the alternative.

The Royal Canadian Mint does a lot more than crank out loonies and toonies (Canadian bank notes are printed in  Ottawa, where there is also another mint).   The mint has produced more than fifty billion coins so far for dozens of countries all over the world.  The computerized presses can make up to 800 coins a minute, in full colour if you want.  "Where purity meets security" is the slogan on their website (link below).

From our vantage point on a glassed-in walkway above the shop floor, we saw the entire process of money making, from the 5-tonne rolls of metal spooled like masking tape to the big stamping presses and vast hoppers full of silver and gold coins.  "Look, treasure!" said one boy on the tour.  

We were allowed to take a picture of the loon outside the building.  But pictures inside, especially of the equipment, were forbidden, except for a gold bar protected by two stalwart (and armed) guardians, who told us that the bar weighs 28 pounds and is worth about $780,000.  

Understandingly, security is a big deal at the mint. There are 600 cameras keeping an eye on workers and tourists.  And despite it's considerable output, the mint doesn't ship its coins in big trucks with MINT or $$$ written on the side.  Instead they use anonymous vehicles, like a Walmart  truck or a plumber's van.  There were no free samples,  although you can stamp out your own coin on a machine in the lobby.  It'll cost you three loonies. 

You can almost see the mint from the Israel Asper Tower of Hope atop the Canadian Museum For Human Rights.  The museum was designed by American architect Antoine Predock, who imagined something "...carved into the earth and dissolving into the sky."   The structure overlooks The Forks - the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers and a meeting place for centuries.

Many of the exhibits are in the form of videos and photos emblematic of the struggle for human rights - from the Holocaust and other genocides to immigration and civil rights.

One of the most striking works is by Anishinaabekwe artist Rebecca Belmore.  It's called Trace - a sort of clay blanket made from 14,000 beads shaped by hand from Red River mud, then fired and strung together.  If the beads look like little skulls or perhaps finger bones, it's because the work was partly inspired by the unearthing of almost 400,000 indigenous artifacts prior to excavation of the museum site.

More than three kilometres of illuminated alabaster ramps take visitors to the first five levels of the museum.  On the way up we pass the museum offices, viewed through the skeleton of the building.  

Stairs continue the rest of the way up.  Or you can take a vertiginous glass elevator to the Tower of Hope on Level 8, where there is a spectacular view of Union Station and Winnipeg's growing skyline.

LINKS:

Royal Canadian Mint:
https://www.mint.ca/store/mint/about-the-mint/our-services-1200030#.XJkuSphKiWs

Canadian Museum For Human Rights: https://humanrights.ca/