Royal Canadian Mint – Looking to the Future of Coins

Marie Lemay joined the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) as its CEO in 2019. With nearly four years now under her belt, half of which were during COVID, Coin & Mint News spoke to her about how coins are circulated in Canada, design and the importance of numismatics, sustainability and plans for the next Mint Directors Conference, which the RCM is hosting this October in Ottawa.

Q: Looking back over the last couple of years, Canada seemed to have less issues with coin circulation than many other countries. Would you attribute this to the Mint’s data analytics and forecasting system?

A: The Mint manages Canada’s circulation coin ecosystem in collaboration with its partners from the National Coin Committee (NCC) (financial institutions and armoured car carriers), and leverages its proprietary software to obtain a real-time view of circulating coin inventories. With a keen focus on ESG, the Mint prioritizes the re- circulation of coins over the production of new coins.