Canada's national identity is much like its majestic landscape: diverse, storied, and sometimes elusive. In the ever-changing tectonics of Canadian culture, identifiers tend to reflect the nation's natural assets and social and political institutions. Born of this complex background, Canadian icons are distinct because they carry meaning for all Canadians, regardless of where we live or how we came to be here. These are the images that plumb the depths of Canadian pride and kindle Canadians' love for their home. Coins in this set include images of the Beaver, Polar Bear, Caribou, Wolf and Orca. Mintage for each coin is 8,500 coins. HST/GST exempt.

The Designs:

The Beaver:

This coin celebrates the rich history and symbolism associated with the Canadian beaver.

The Polar Bear:

This image depicts a mother polar bear playing with her two young cubs on a frozen Arctic hillside. The massive mother sits patiently on her hindquarters in a snowdrift as one cavorting cub, standing on its hind legs, paws at her left arm. She turns to her cub, the two almost nose-to-nose, as though in good humour. In front of her, the other cub, viewed from its left side, stands on all fours surveying its frozen home, perhaps readying itself for a game of ice sliding.

The Caribou:

This design presents a caribou cow and calf standing in the rugged terrain of the Canadian North. The mother stands on the right, her head turned toward her calf, her left eye peering at the viewer. Her tall antlers reach skyward atop her large head and strong neck. Beside her, the knobby-kneed calf peers shyly at its mother, waiting for her signal. The two stand in a grass-filled early summer valley. Behind them, their herd travels toward a river in the far distance. Rocky mountain peaks rise to meet the far-off horizon.

The Wolf:

The image presents a wolf mother with two of her pups in a Canadian forest. The tiny pups stand in front of their mother in the centre of the image, the one in the foreground looking directly at the viewer while its sibling, standing slightly behind it, gazes up at its mother for comfort. The mother stands behind the two pups, her body arched in a protective stance, tail down, head low and gazing up toward the viewer through haunting eyes. The family stands atop a rocky outcropping in a forest. Grassy mosses dot the ground here and there. In the background we see the trunk and sparse branches of a balsam fir, leading down a slope toward more evergreens.

The Orca:

This image presents an adult female orca and her young calf swimming near a rocky outcropping on the ocean floor. The mother's distinctive rounded snout and light markings are presented with expert engraving, highlighting characteristic light spots above the orca's eye, on the lower jaw, and at the midpoint of her body both at her belly and behind her dorsal fin. Her powerful tail bends to propel her through the water, its bright underside visible. Bubbles rise from the blowhole atop her head. Beside her the young calf, which bears the same markings as its mother, swims comfortably, bubbles also rising from its blowhole. In the foreground, we see a rocky outcropping from the ocean floor populated by various sea grasses.