History of Gold in Canada

Gold finds on the Fraser River started a short rush near Yale in the summer of 1858. British Columbia was founded as a colony the same year.

From 1860 to 1866 miners poured into the Cariboo in Tsilhqot'in and Dakelh territory. Cornish sailor Billy Barker made one of the richest strikes.

16 August 1896. Gold was found on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek in the Klondike. Parks Canada credits Keish (Skookum Jim Mason) of the Tagish First Nation, with Dawson Charlie, Kate Carmack and George Carmack; Carmack registered the claim in his own name. (Parks Canada also gives 17 August.)

News of the strike set off the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. Bonanza and Eldorado creeks were staked end to end within days, and big companies with dredges later took over until the 1950s.

2 January 1908. The Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint struck its first coin, a silver 50-cent piece, on 2 January 1908. It later became the Royal Canadian Mint.

The Ottawa Mint opened its refinery in January 1911, three years after the mint was set up.

The Ottawa branch, which had struck gold sovereigns, stopped production in 1919.

The Bank of Canada Museum says Canada has used fiat money, backed by trust rather than metal, since the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

1 April 1969. The Mint became a Crown corporation with its own board of directors.

The Mint introduced the .999 fine Gold Maple Leaf as an investment coin.

In May 2007 the Mint unveiled a $1 million coin made of 100 kg of 99.999% pure gold, the highest face value of any coin.

Canada produced about 200 tonnes of gold in 2025, behind only China, Russia and Australia.

Ranvoyzé (1739-1819), called Canada's outstanding silversmith, developed a distinctive beaten technique.

In the second half of the 19th century, Montreal silversmiths Robert Hendery and John Leslie dominated the trade; perhaps more than half of Canadian silver from that time bears their mark.

1 March 1879. Henry Birks opened his first store on St. James Street in Montreal. It became Henry Birks & Sons in 1893 and moved to Phillips Square in 1894.

The Canadian Encyclopedia dates Canada's first precious metals marking law, the first government control of the jewellery trade, to 1906. Today's Precious Metals Marking Act keeps marking voluntary but requires any quality mark to be accurate.

The Canadian Jewellers Association was founded to promote the trade, the same year the government put a 5% excise tax on jewellery.

Haida artist Bill Reid began making jewellery in Vancouver.

Canadian jewellery shipments reached $570 million in 1990, then fell to $400 million by 1997 as jobs dropped from about 6,600 to 5,100.