2011 $20 PURE SILVER COIN - CANOE

'The canoe has become as much a part of the Canadian visual lexicon as the Canada goose, the beaver and the maple leaf,' says artist Jason Bouwman, explaining his design for this $20 pure silver commemorative coin. 'This design shows a young person enjoying a recreational outing. The boy breaks from paddling to dip his hand in the water...and touches the past - the reflection reveals an early native paddler (or voyageur) in a traditional birch-bark canoe as it also appears on the early silver dollar of 1935. This concept is both intimate and sentimental and is striking in its unique composition. It tells a story of respecting our ancestry and sharing a love of this land.'