Canada Needs To Bring Back The $1000 Bank Note

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent, professional website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. Consider also supporting this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

Brief History

The Bank Of Canada issued its first series of Canadian tender in 1935. The bills at that time were $1, $2, a commemorative $25, $500, and $1000. Fast forward to 2023, and only $5, $10, $50, and $100 are being produced and used as legal tender. Why? Some of these notes were only commemoratives, others succeeded in coin forms, while a certain one was unfairly discontinued. That is to be discussed later. As of January 01, 2021, the $1, $2, $25, $500 and $1,000 bills from every Bank Of Canada series are no longer legal tender. The $1 and the $2 notes stopped being issued in 1989 and 1996, respectively, and were succeeded with coins. The $25 and $500 notes were commemoratives, that were discontinued shortly after they were issued in 1935. The $1,000 note stopped being issued in 2000.

Are These Bills Worthless?

Removing legal tender status from these bills means that they are no longer considered money. This does not mean that the notes are worthless. It only means that they cannot be used in a cash transaction. The Bank Of Canada will continue to honour them at face value. Some of the rarer notes, such as the $25 and $500, can be worth significantly more than face value. To find out if your bank note may have a different value to collectors, you may refer to a collector’s catalog or obtain an evaluation from 2 or 3 money dealers who cater to the collection market.

Impact On Canadians

The Bank Of Canada says that these bank notes have not been produced in decades, so the decision to remove them from circulation has had little impact on most of us. I disagree. The only bill where I believe 99% of Canadians will not miss, would be the $25, $1, and $2 notes. For the $1 and $2 notes, they have been replaced with coins, so while the bills do not exist, at least the option to physically transact that amount still exists. The $25 was superficially close to the $20 bill, so I would agree that it was best left as a celebratory note. Though, some would argue that the same could be said for the $5 and $10 bills. If the $25 bill were brought back, I would be happy for it, but at the same time, I also do not mind its absence. Where I strongly disagree is the discontinuation of the $1000 bill. Once you learn the reason why it was discontinued, you too, might think it is unfair, and will want the $1000 to come back.

Why The $1000 Bill Was Discontinued

The $1000 bill was discontinued because the Royal Canadian Mounted Police urged the government to phase them out in 2000. The reason? The $1000 bill made money laundering too easy for criminals. Radio Canada International also mentions that counterfeiting and tax evasion were other complaints from the RCMP as to why the $1000 bill needed to go. While I certainly agree that money laundering is not something to be taken lightly, blaming the $1000 bill and asking for its discontinuation is quite frankly bad and is less freedom for Canadians. Case in point: The Bank Of Canada even admitted that it struggled eliminate the bill. 6 years later, 2006, there were still 1,000,000 of the bills still in circulation in 2006. What does that tell you? Canadians would have preferred to keep it in circulation. Unfortunately, there was no vocal backlash against this move, hence why the Government went ahead without asking for public input from citizens.

Now you might be thinking, if nobody complained about saving the $1000 bill, the public must have also agreed with the RCMP, right? No. At least, not everybody. Further proof is the fact that the Government had to create an incentive in order to force Canadians give them up: render them invalid tender in 2021. As discussed above, this move did not make them worthless; only worthless in cash transactions. They had to be exchanged at the Bank Of Canada for existing currency. This clearly tells us that if Government worked on actually improving the $1000 bill, such as making it out of the same modern polymers as existing bills, they would not need to discontinue it. As for the money laundering problem, there are many other solutions and financial crime preventatives that could have been done to tackle the problem. In the 23 years since its discontinuation, cyber security, and security in general has significantly improved. Therefore, All financial institutions, from large banks to small credit unions, need to do a better job with the tools and resources in place to significantly reduce financial crimes.

Expensive Times Call For Bigger Bills

Words like “Inflation”, “Cost Of Living”, and “Expensive” have been a very common theme for the 2020s thus far. Nearly everything is significantly more expensive than it was, say, 10 years ago. A flagship smartphone with top storage would have been $500 – $700. Now, a 1TB device from major companies readily tips the $2000. Vehicles, groceries, electronics, clothes, homes, and all: more expensive. I mentioned the word “Freedom” earlier. Imagine being able to pay for a smartphone, vehicle, large appliance, instrument, or other expensive items or services with physical cash? Want to buy that $50,000 all-electric car? 50 $1000 bills. Sony Xperia 1 IV? 1 $1000 and maybe 1-5 $100 bills. Baritone saxophone? 5 – 15 $1000 bills. While credit and debit cards may be commonly used, it is clear that not everybody prefers that method of payment, despite society trying so hard for cashless transactions. There is certainly nothing wrong with taps, swipes, and the entering of cards. However, for it to become the only use of a transaction would be dangerous, problematic, and a gross limitation of freedom.

The 2022 Rogers Communications outage that led to ATMs failing, is just 1 of many reasons why physical cash will always be important. And speaking of crisises, Canadian banks have admitted that they noticed a sharp rise of withdrawals during the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking of COVID19, let us not forget the times when some retailers were refusing physical cash as a non-scientifically proven way to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The card terminals and buttons were no cleaner than cash. This led to major headlines centered around “Is It Legal For Businesses To Refuse Physical Cash?” And within much of them, people spoke out against cashless transactions. Canadians said that those restrictions added more anxiety, and grief on top of all the stressful things already happening during the pandemic. 

Resurrect The $1000 Bill

No need to fear the big, bad financial criminals at the cost of less options for everyone else. Big bills or not, criminals have, and will unfortunately continue to perform their activities. Better tools and collaborative actions between financial institutions will be the key for Canadians to safely enjoy the $1000 bill in its modern glory. If, by any unicorn-of-a-chance this write-up actually causes someone at the Bank Of Canada or some other financial leader to become motivated enough to resurrect it, it would only be natural for the $500 bill to come back as well. The gap between $100 and $1000 will be problematic and irritating without an intermediate bill to bridge the distance.

What Would The New $1000 and $500 Bills Look Like?

I was going to end this write-up at “Resurrect The $1000”. Not too long after completion, I realized that I could not proceed to notifying the World Wide Web about the existence of this particular write-up, without answering a critical question: what would these bills look like in their modern forms? I can say with 99.9% certainty that the $500 bill is not going to come back with John Alexander Macdonald. Canada has been moving ahead with taking him off of things, such as renaming buildings that had his name, and how he no longer appears on the present $10 bill. Who should take his place? If you ask me, a bird. Which kind of bird? I say the trumpeter swan. He is a large, beautiful, native, controversy-free being that would make a wonderful face to the $500 bill.

Now the $1000 is where things get interesting. For much of its life, it bared the face of Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen died back in 2022, so I do not think any new bills would feature her face anymore. King Charles III? Based on headlines and other sources, Canadians made it fairly clear that they do not want him on their money. So who will go on the $1000 bill? Pinicola enucleator. Do not recognize her? Pine Grosbeak is her English name. In 1988, the reverse side of the $1000 bill featured 2 cute, little pine grosbeaks. So if this bill were to be brought back sometime in the 2020s, it would make sense to have pine grosbeaks on both the obverse and reverse sides of the modern bill.

Universal Basic Income

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent, professional website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. Consider also supporting this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

What Is Universal Basic Income?

Universal Basic Income, often abbreviated UBI,  is a government-sponsored program in which every citizen or eligible resident would receive an unconditional flat monthly payment. Their income, employment status, or productivity levels would not be taken into consideration. The purpose behind this type of universal payment is to reduce the cost of living stress faced by a country’s residents, which would allow them to focus on education, improving their job skills, dealing with personal matters, or other things while having enough income to meet basic living requirements. Since UBI is indiscriminate of status, it ensures every resident gets something and that nobody gets left from missing a criteria, two, or three, the way other payments or programs do. In the most common UBI implementation, identical monthly payments are made to all individuals. The tax system then ensures that funds are returned to the system from those with higher incomes. 

History

“No penalty on earth will stop people from stealing, if it’s their only way of getting food.”
— Thomas More

The international COVID-19 pandemic from 2019 and onward, and the significantly increased costs of living has brought more attention to Basic Income than ever before. However, the concept of it is not new. Thomas More introduced the concept of guaranteed income in his 1516 book, Utopia. Since then, many people over the centuries have advocated some form of basic sustenance. An early example would be Thomas Jefferson in 1776 who believed in giving any propertyless individual 20 hectares of land willing to farm it. A recent notable person is American 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, whose signature policy is what he calls the “Freedom Dividend“, a Universal Basic Income in the form of $1,000 monthly for every American adult.

Experiments, But No Full Commitment

Many countries from around the world have experimented with various projects and pilots. As of August 2022, there are no countries that have a permanent Universal Basic Income in place. Canada, the United States, Brazil, Kenya, France, Spain, Netherlands, Finland, India, and Japan are some of the countries that have experimented with it. In Canada, there has been 2 forms experimental income: The Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment (MINCOME) and Ontario Basic Income Pilot. Though the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit was not a universal income, it has highlighted numerous topics surrounding the need for a permanent basic income that does not leave anyone behind the way it did.

The Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment (MINCOME) was conducted between 1974 and 1979 under the joint sponsorship of Canada and Manitoba. It was geared toward measuring the results of low-income families in Dauphin and rural Manitoba. Over the four years that the program ended up running in the 1970s, an average family in Dauphin was guaranteed an annual income of 16,000 Canadian dollars. The results? Rates of hospitalizations fell 8.5%, improvements in mental health, a rise in the number of children completing high school, and more businesses started up during the time. Most notably, it did not cause people to stop working. The exceptions were new mothers and high school students. For new mothers it meant more time for them to take care of the home and children. For high school students they could finally focus on completing school to land better careers, as opposed to dropping out of school for farm and factory jobs. The results after financial security ended? Small businesses went defunct, anxiety returned, and some people even left Dauphin good. MINCOME was closed down in 1979 under the Progressive Conservative of Manitoba government of Sterling Lyon and the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Joe Clark. They cited oil price shocks, inflation, and the increased number of people seeking the assistance, more than what the project budgeted for. The results of the study at the time were not revealed, hence what led to the governments making this misinformed assumption. It was not until 2008, when Evelyn Forget revealed the results significantly positive effects it had. The papers had been previously locked away and abandoned.

The Ontario Basic Income Pilot (OBIP) was announced by Premier Kathleen Wynne in Hamilton in April 2017. The first phase to enroll participants, was successfully completed in April 2018, with full participation across the three pilot sites:

1.Hamilton, Brantford, Brant County
2.Thunder Bay, along with the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge, Township of Shuniah, Municipality of Neebing, Township of Conmee, Township of O’Connor, and Township of Gillies
3. Lindsay

The purpose of the pilot was to test how a basic income might help people living on low incomes better meet their basic needs, while improving outcomes in the following: food security, stress and anxiety, mental health, health and healthcare usage, housing stability, education and training, and employment and labour market participation. Unfortunately, The three-year, $150-million program was scrapped by Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government, Doug Ford, in July 2018. At the time, then-social services minister Lisa MacLeod, stated the decision was made because the program was failing to help people become “independent contributors to the economy.” Predictably, the decision and statements faced intense criticism, with many particularly pointing out that the experiment did not even get time to gather results, and that the PC violated the promise to allow the program to finish. Former Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called the decision to end the project absolutely disgraceful. Some participants have spoken out about how receiving the basic income had improved their lives — and how the program’s premature termination has left them fretting about the future.

Why

At this point, a critical question must be asked: why? Why is there no country on the planet with Universal Basic Income? Why do income experiments never turn into permanent programs, despite countless factual studies, reports, and organizations specialized in basic income with massive datasheets and media, that prove its efficacy? 3 persistent reasons:

1. Excessive paranoia that nobody will work, thus causing a labour shortage.

2. There is no money to fund it.

3. It will make inflation worse

Labour Shortage Paranoia

This is by far the most common point against Universal Basic Income. If implemented it will make people not want to work because they are given free money, causing millions to quit their jobs en masse. Utterly false! Experiments in Canada and around the world have proven that a guaranteed income of the sort, made people more willing to take risks with starting businesses, or finishing school allowing them to pursue more advanced careers. The real problem at play is not a labour shortage, but a wage shortage. If businesses truly cared that much about retaining and gaining employees, they would not only raise wages, but also treat workers better. Make them feel valued. Make them feel safe. Make them feel like there is a purpose. And particularly relevant to these times of international pandemics, an option to work full-time from home, for jobs that can be done remotely. UBI allows people to have more bargaining power, which drives healthy competition for businesses to up their wages and treatment practices. Bullying, intimidating, and using demeaning tactics to get people into working is counterproductive, and creates cycles of toxic work, desperation, burnout, and resignations. The mere fact that society is more afraid of jobs vacancies going unfilled, than private pockets being topped up, is what people should really be frightened about. The real common cause of labour shortages are things such as an ageing work force retiring at a higher rate than the working population can grow, graduates taking longer to graduate or secure work, insufficient immigration levels, and others.

Too Expensive

Critics are quick to point out how expensive implementing Universal Basic Income would be. It is easy to look at the numbers and say that $50 – 90 billion in the case of Canada, or 2.8 to 3.1 trillion in America’s situation is an astronomical amount of money. Indeed it is. What critics fail to point out is that UBI money would go right back into the economy. People that previously did not have purchasing power, will now have it. The more people there are with money, the more money can be spent on goods and services. This creates jobs, economics stimulus, allows more people to focus on school to pursue more specialized careers, and a vast assortment of other benefits. UBI is not even about printing new money; rather it is about allocating existing money directly to a nation’s citizens. Redistribution of income and wealth from some individuals and businesses to citizens through social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, or monetary policies is by far the easiest way to get it done. Saying it is too expensive is a lie. It is lack of political will. It is poverty and the current programs that are supposed to combat it that are extremely expensive.

Inflation

The inflation argument is based on the myth that in order to fund Universal Basic Income, the government would have to print billions of new dollars, thus making the cost of everything go up in the process. This has already been debunked numerous times, including within this write-up itself. UBI does not require an additional excess amount of money. Believers of this myth either do not even know what inflation is or intentionally deny that UBI can feasibly done through redistribution of existing money. Inflation is when the total value of currency increases faster than the total value of goods and services in the economy. This causes the price of goods and services to rise, in attempt to get that excess money spent. While in theory it sounds good, it leads to overconsumption, hoarding commodities, thus causing a vicious battle of even more inflation and consumer shortages. On the opposite side of the spectrum, deflation happens when the money in circulation remains, while there is an excess of goods and services causing the value of it to go up. Too much deflation will cause people to hold onto money, leading to a decrease in consumer spending, lowered business profits, pushing unemployment, and makes the economy shrink. Therefore, a small, consistent amount of inflation is actually good. Even if UBI were to be funded with new money, it would balance itself out because more people with purchasing power means manufacturers and businesses will be able to scale up accordingly with the good and services they offer to keep things balanced. If hundreds of billions can be printed to go to many other sources including banks, bureaucrats and CEOs, without causing inflation, this same money can certainly be redistributed in better ways. 

Inefficacy Of Existing Programs

“A one-size-fits-all cheque is not going to end the discrimination or poor workplace standards that follow around low-income workers.” — Critic
There are several things wrong with this statement. Firstly, it falls once again into the persistent myth that Universal Basic Income is a handout to make people dodge work. Secondly, it assumes UBI touts itself as the panacea for society’s problems. That is not the point of UBI. Informed UBI supporters are aware and admit that this is not point of UBI. The purpose of UBI is to ensure that nobody falls through the gaps by not meeting certain criteria. An extremely common problem with present anti-poverty programs. UBI certainly will not make poor workplace and discrimination disappear in the snapping of a finger. It will, however, give people more bargaining power to refuse terrible workplaces, and push them change their practices and pay. This will put the needed pressure on business to create a competition that aims for the top. To assume UBI is supposed to be a welfare handout that would rapidly brush problems away, akin to that of a mythical winged being scattering sparkles, rainbows, and gold is both condescending and nonsensical.

I am a single mother who has chosen to stay home to raise my children. Yes, money does help. I refuse to accept social assistance because they treat you like a criminal, the staff are vicious towards the people they serve. Period. UBI would work. The reasons people are poor are societal. Middle and upper class people seem to believe it’s a choice to be poor. Their parents raised them to ignore and have contempt towards poverty. — Anonymous Mother

While this mother’s comment obviously does not reflect how all staff or classes treat people, as some can be nice, it does highlight a significant and extremely common reality: embarrassment and stigmatization. A lot of people, whether they are rich or not, look down very heavily on people using disability and welfare programs. They view them as unproductive leeches who drain the working population’s life force and money. On top of this, these very same programs that are supposed to help people on welfare ironically keep most of them poor, known as the poverty trap. This is because the programs themselves do not even pay enough for these individuals to sufficiently meet their needs. It can be argued for welfare that it is supposed to temporary, which it is, but disability on the other hand can be either permanent or temporary. Here is where things get very distorted: When these individuals do attempt to work, they get their benefits clawed once they make a certain amount of money, which itself is not even enough for basic survival. This forces them to have to have to work reduced hours to keep the pay, but live with substandard income, or completely forgo their benefit. If the individual is disabled, this is not practical and can be rather dangerous.

Society must not bully and intimidate the disabled, poor, and vulnerable into working. It should be securing them and making sure their basic needs are properly met at all times without embarrassing and stigmatizing them.  Majority of people do not choose to become disabled. They are either born with a condition, or something environmental like an accident can cause it. Anyone could become disabled; poor, middle-classed, and rich. The difference? If a rich person becomes injured, permanent or not, they have access to top-notch doctors, often private staff, to make sure they are given the best condition at all times. On top of this, they have all their benefits and royalties that still gives them more money than some people working an entire year. The middle class and poor? Not so much. Even if the healthcare is free, they do not get the same quick access and specialized care as easily as a wealthy person could.

Let It Go

People need to let go of this mindset that every single person: healthy, bent, crooked, sick and all must work. It is unrealistic and callous. Some people are never going to work. Some people are never going to be employable. Perhaps the general definition of work itself may be problematic: going to an office or business to be told what to do under a clock and supervision. Work can take on many forms. It can be as traditionally described, but done remotely. It can also be done independently without supervision, with the individual setting the term, scope and pay; independent-contracting. Some people will never end up being useful to society in anyway at all, despite all the efforts to help them. Are these type of people the majority? Thankfully not. If that were the case, the world would not make it to this present time in history. Could it be that if some people had a guaranteed consistent income for proper sustenance, that even if they do not make a “good employee” that they might good keeper around a neighborhood? A good volunteer? Yes, people can be valuable to society in other ways than working through a job. Nobody asked to be born. Nobody asked for a price tag on food, water, shelter, and necessities. If society can make sure to put a price tag on everything, it can guarantee an income to pay for the basics. It is all a matter of will.

Mint Canada 2021

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored. Mint Canada has not sponsored, nor has it sent any products for this write-up. The purpose of this write-up is to highlight some of Mint Canada’s salable coins that look the most interesting.

Special Notice To Readers Outside Of Canada And The United States

As directly quoted from Mint Canada:

“Anyone living outside of Canada and the United States should contact a local coin dealer to purchase Royal Canadian Mint products. See our dealer locator for details.

Also note, that it is the customer’s responsibility to pay any duties or taxes for any goods shipped to an international address. Any shipping charges for packages returned to us as a result of a customer’s failure to pay customs, duties and taxes will be billed to that customer.”

Mint Canada

The Royal Canada Mint does more than just strike coins. It also has an online shop that sells coins, collectibles, gifts, silver, gold, and more. History of minting in Canada dates back to more than 100 years, going all the way back to 1908. the Ottawa Branch of the Royal Mint struck a fifty-cent piece on January 02, 1908. Since then the Royal Canadian Mint has continued to not only produce coins, but also the purest in the world. In 1982, it was the first facility to produce a 99.99% pure gold coin bullion. 

Why Buy Coins?

Gold and silver are undeniably valuable. What about copper, zinc, nickel and other common metals? Why would anyone buy a coin when they could keep a normal, albeit less fancy version of common coins? It primarily boils down to three things: investment, hobby, and style — yes, style. Some reviewers have actually said that they would wear some of the products as a pendant or other ornament. The 2020 June Birthstone is an example, but because that particular coin did not fare well in the reviews, readers should not purchase it with high expectations in mind.

Pure Silver Coin – Remembrance Day – Mintage: 7,000 (2020)

This coin truly looks like a work of art. Just from looking at it, you can just feel the texture of this masterpiece. The 11 reviews left on this product further confirm that this Silver Poppy really is as satisfying as it looks. “Beautiful” , “Stunning and unique!”, “I would buy this coin again.” are some of the comments left by people who had purchased this product.

Special features

 

• Shaped Like A Real Poppy: In 2019, Mint Canada introduced the world’s first poppy-shaped coin. For 2020, they are adding a new dimension to the annual tradition of remembrance with an inward-rounding coin that has the shape of a real poppy
• Looks Like A Real Poppy: The petals that give this coin its shape have been carefully sculpted to give them the same outward-curving edges and crepe paper-like texture as an actual poppy flower.
• Antique Finish: The coin’s antique finish emphasizes every sculpted fold and curl to give the petals a more realistic appearance.
• Art Taking On Life:  This coin is the most realistic, natural-looking flower Mint Canada has ever crafted from 99.99% pure silver.
• Botanical Details: To truly capture the poppy’s essence, the engraved elements on the reverse include the stigma disk that forms a radiating pattern deep inside the poppy.
• A Remembrance Day Tradition: By reproducing the flower inspiration for the poem In Flanders Fields, Mint Canada is honouring all who have served and those who continue to serve the country in the name of freedom and, most of all, peace. Their sacrifices will not be forgotten by generations of Canadians, as represented by this poppy coin.

1 Kilogram Pure Silver Coin – Archival Treasures: 1912 Heraldic Design – Mintage: 500 (2021)

With a massive weight of 1006 grams and a diameter of 102.1 milimetres this silver, heraldic masterpiece will not leave you saying, “This coin is disappointingly small and expensive” Rather, its size and proud flags will leave you feeling satisfied for what your money was spent on. And because its mintage is only 500, it is rather rare. 

Special features

 

• From The Archives: In honour of the 100th anniversary of the Arms Of Canada (1921-2021), Mint Canada dug deep into Canada’s heraldic past and Library and Archives Canada’s collection to bring you a heraldic art treasure.
• Based On Historic Art: A fine silver follow-up to the 2020 Reimagined 1905 Arms of Dominion of Canada coin, this limited-edition coin is inspired from a pen-and-ink drawing from 1912. Every element has deeper meaning—especially the floral flourishes, which combine several national emblems.
• Big On Historic Details: Mint Canada pored over every detail of the original drawing to get it right. The result is an engraved work of art that will win the approval of traditionalists and history enthusiasts.
• A Pure Silver Kilogram: Your coin is beautifully crafted in one kilogram of 99.99% pure silver and hand-polished to perfection!
• A Centennial Program: Part of a yearlong 100th anniversary celebration of the Arms Of Canada.
• Includes Serialized Certificate: The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coins.
• No GST/HST

2021 Year of the Ox Pure Silver Coin

The 2021 Lunar Year is the Year Of The Ox. Mint Canada has acknowledged this by creating an authentic, ox-toting, pure silver coin for collectors to add to their collection. Will you claim a silver ox? They are limited.

 

Special features

 

•  31 Grams Of Pure Silver: A wonderful gift or keepsake for a friend or loved one born in the Year Of The Ox: 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009—and this year’s newborns from February 12, 2021 to January 30, 2022.
• A Must-have For Any Collection: The 12th and final coin in this ongoing series cherishing all 12 Chinese zodiacs, and a great addition to any collection of silver, cultural or art-themed coins.
• A Unique Gift For Many Occasions: Team this Ox coin with other Chinese zodiac coins to celebrate the new couple. Ideal for any of life’s major milestones, too: graduation, new job, new love, New Year, and others.
• Authentic Chinese Design: Beautifully engraved with the distinctive style of Asian folk art, this coin will be treasured by anyone who values culture and art.
• Special Mintage: This coin has a special mintage of 15,888 worldwide, which is symbolic of good fortune and prosperity, a limited issue that is highly collectible, too.
• Polished To Perfection: A lovely treasure celebrating traditional Chinese-Canadian culture with a mirror background that has been hand polished to add a brilliant shine to the meticulously engraved design.
• Gorgeous Packaging: Beautifully presented in a silver, satin-like case with a custom red sleeve.
• Includes Serialized Certificate: The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coins.
• No GST/HST!

Pure Gold Coin – Triumphant Dragon – Mintage: 8,888 (2021)

With a diameter of 14.10mm, this penny-sized, golden beauty makes a fine addition for collectors looking for a petite, yet powerful coin. Behold the golden dragon!

Special features

 

• A Special Theme: Celebrate the Chinese New Year with this gold dragon coin. Its design is inspired by the Chinese legend of the Carp and the Dragon Gate and influenced by the tale of Chi Wen, second son of the Dragon King.
• Your Gold Dragon Coin For 2021: What better way to celebrate the New Year than with this beautiful 2021 Dragon! Dragons are among the most popular figures in Chinese culture.
• An Affordable Gold Coin: This stunning coin is crafted in 1.58 grams of 99.99% pure gold, yet does not demand the same price as other gold coins.
• Wrapped In Ravishing Red: In keeping with the Chinese New Year “red envelope” gift-giving tradition, your gold dragon coin comes packaged in a special beauty box that is coloured red.
• Includes Serialized Certificate: The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coins.
• Limited Worldwide: Your coin has a limited worldwide mintage of 8,888.
• No GST/HST

Pure Gold Coin – 100th Anniversary of Canada’s Coat of Arms – Mintage: 3,000 (2021)

A mari usque ad mare. This comes from the Latin phrase meaning “Sea To Sea”.  A Mari Usque Ad Mare is taken from the Latin Vulgate translation of Psalm 72:8: Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, et a flumine usque ad terminos terrae. The King James version puts it into English: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” 2021 celebrates exactly 100 years of the birth of Canada’s Coat Of Arm.

Special features

 

• The 1921 Version: Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Arms Of Canada with this pure gold coin, which features the original design from 1921.
• Impressive Detailing: Every component of Canada’s coat of arms tells a story. Mint Canada went to great lengths to reproduce even the smallest details on this 20 mm coin.
• Struck On A Thin Blank: This is the latest piece struck on a thin 99.99% pure gold blank that gives you the gold content of a 3 gram coin, but with a 25% larger diameter — more space for the engraved art!
• A Special Gold Tribute: Part of a yearlong celebration in 2021, this 99.99% pure gold coin is Mint Canada’s most affordable all-gold tribute to Canada’s coat of arms on its 100th anniversary.
• Includes Serialized Certificate: The Royal Canadian Mint certifies all of its collector coins.
• No GST/HST

Best Wishes On Your Wedding Day – 1 oz. Pure Silver Coin with Pink Gold Plating (2021)

Getting married in 2021? This silver coin of hearts will make a lovely gift for 2021 couples. It is pure silver, memorable, and the pink gold hearts will stand out in your collection of memories. Oh, how beautiful this coin is!

Special Features

 

• This 99.99% pure silver coin features a poignant celebration of love and marriage. This coin is skillfully engraved and wonderfully showcased by the coin’s proof finish.
• Selective pink gold plating brings to life the intricately patterned heart on the reverse, as well as the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.
• A limited mintage of 10,000 coins available worldwide will make this a sought-after item for collectors.
• A unique way to add some “love” to your collection with a coin that carries deep, personal meaning, and may represent something unique to each person that sees it.
• A lovely way to commemorate an important milestone in a couple’s life or celebrate the beautiful bond shared with one who is greatly loved.

 

Inspiration Behind This Post: Compilation And Explanation March 2018 – May 2019

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

What Happened?

Between Uropygial Gland: What is it? and up to Webpages: Laurentian Wireless, they all originally had an “Inspiration Behind This Post” section. From Webpages: Red Maple Greater Toronto Area Home Renovation Group and onward I stopped putting it in. Now, I have decided to remove it from all of my writings. Why? As time went on, it began to look increasingly unprofessional in my eyes. This was especially true for articles. I was originally going to officially launch my services back in January or February this year, with the latest being March. I then put it off to take a little more time to properly finish the remaining parts of the portfolio project. Also, to get a few additional blog posts done.

With me planning to finally launch my services this month, I need the website to reflect the professionalism my brand touts. Having that section in articles, webpages, and other categories, detracts from the nature of the post. Maybe some might disagree, and think that it was a nice, unique touch. Either way, I have now decided to compile them all into this post from the first to the latest published on May 03, 2019. For the ones that did not have any, I will create it here. For all posts published after May 03, 2019, I will not post their inspirational sections here, but probably within another compilation. No guarantee, though. For now, enjoy my source of motivation for 40+ writings.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Welcome to Millennium Creek!

Ah, this was my very first post on the website. The creek had been silent and lifeless for two years, before it started flowing with life. How things have changed between then and now! I posted this as a sign of interest towards developing the website, but was not exactly sure when do it. This leads right up to the next post: Rediscovering its Purpose

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Rediscovering its Purpose

This post was created as an affirmation to turning Millennium Creek into a professional website focused on various types of write-ups. It goes into detail about why I came back to it, what I planned to do it, and more.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Uropygial Gland: What is it?

I have been aware of the basic functions of a bird’s oil gland for quite some time. However, I have not really thought much about this subtle gland. This has changed when I had handled a budgerigar some time this year (2018), and noticed that its gland looked odd for a small bird. This then prompted me to go and learn more about this seemingly simple orifice. I wanted to learn more about the function, appearance, and diseases of the uropygial gland.

Inspiration Behind This Article: 2018 All-electric Cars Canada

For this blog entry, my motivation stems from my love for vehicles, particularly all-electric ones. Electric car offerings are truly getting more exciting, as we go further into the future.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Alto Clef: Does it Have Any Real Use?

As anyone would be able to tell from the way I went into such passionate detail with parts of this post, I am really into band instruments. So much, that it was only natural that I would create this post as part of the Millennium Creek restoration effort for this week. Why the alto clef? It is an underrated clef that it grossly misunderstood.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Will America Eventually Ban All Chinese Smartphones?

I wanted to do a post on smartphones, but could not decide what exactly I wanted to write about. The latest flagship available? iOS?  LG’s plummeting smartphone sales? I then thought about Huawei and ZTE with the legal troubles they are going through. I thought that this would make an excellent, interesting, informative, provocative subject matter to discuss. Do I personally think that the United States will eventually ban all Chinese smartphones? If by ban, we are talking about a total ban as in no importation, forbidding sales, and blocking them off from American cellular towers, then no.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Racism in Canada 2018: Getting Better or Worse?

This week, I knew that I wanted to do a post on racism/multiculturalism on Friday. In fact, I had that determined before I even knew which topics I precisely wanted to cover for the previous blog posts. Racism is a serious issue that must not be ignored and swept under a rug. It is a problem that prohibits prosperity and safety. We must acknowledge that it exists, talk about it, and seek to eradicate it whenever we can. Canada may fare better than many other places in the world, but there is still much work and improvement that needs to be done.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Keystroke logging

Cybersecurity is not a glamorous topic, but is very important. I felt that this article deserved to be resurfaced, since it contains enough valuable information in a manageable format.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Encrypting Your Smartphone’s MicroSD Card

Despite being originally written in 2016, microSD card slots are still a valuable component in phones that support them. This article contains a lot of valuable information, majority of which is still relevant in 2018. For this reason, it deserved to be polished, reformatted and uploaded onto Millennium Creek, giving it a far better chance to flow and get the views it deserves.

Inspiration Behind This Article: China Dress: Simply a Dress or More Than That?

Keziah Daum. Who is that you may ask? Perhaps you are well informed about this story already, but maybe not. Keziah is a regular 18-year-old, American citizen from Woods Cross High School, Utah, United States of America. She is a Caucasian person that decided to wear a qipao for her 2018 prom. Why? She personally thought it would be a beautiful, unique dress to wear for the special event. Unfortunately, after posting photographs on social media, a Twitter user tweeted, “My culture is NOT your ****amn prom dress” Now based on what you already might know, or what you have recently read from this blog post: are there any restrictions for foreigners wearing a qipao? No, none at all. There is a reason why YesStyle, Modern Qipao, and Chinese Clothing Online ship to plenty of non-Asian countries. Even Amazon. This story has since caused a debate on whether or not, it was really cultural appropriation. Most have sensibly agreed that it was not. Even though the criticism was uncalled for, this story inspired me to research and learn more about what I simply always called the “China dress“.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Starbucks Anti-bias Training Day

I did not have plans to write such a blog post today. But when the headlines came up about Starbuck’s official anti-bias training taking place across over 8,000 American outlets, it inspired me to do another blog post on racism. Though the incident was very unfortunate and should have never happened, the story, follow-ups behind it, and all the media surrounding it, have been very interesting. It has sparked a lot of debate over the lingering presence of racial profiling, especially towards Black people.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Fiat Chrysler Automotobiles: June 2018 Discussion

When I heard that Fiat Chrysler was announcing a new five-year plan on June 1st, I knew that I was definitely going to do a blog post on it. I wanted to take a look at what was said, the rumors, and of course my opinions on this. The latter, not-so-surprisingly, ended up being the longest section of this entry. Which Fiat Chrysler brand is your favourite? How do you feel about their new five-year plan? The departure of Sergio Marchionne in April 2019? Comment down below and share your thoughts.

Inspiration Behind This Article: The Tokay Gecko

This post was originally supposed to be my unpublished 200-worded piece “Are Tokay Geckos Too Violent For Beginners?” But it did not happen. The original piece was not complete garbage, but was also not up to Millennium Creek standards and quality. I figured that if I were going to put up an information piece on tokay geckos, that I should expand it and include much more useful information. Why tokay geckos in particular? I wanted to do an article on an exotic animal of the sort. The tokay gecko’s stunning colours and feisty personality made it a good choice.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Indigenous Peoples of Canada

A little bit back, I created a rough notepad titled “Millennium Creek Upcoming Topics May-June 2018” There, I brainstormed a list of topics and types of writings I wanted to do over the summer. It has since been moved to a word file titled, “Ultimate Millennium Creek Writing Plan For June-July-August 2018” On this word file, I have laid out all the posts and different types of writing styles I plan to do. Since I had the topic of Indigenous Canadians in the notepad for some time, I decided to go with it. Writing about Indigenous Canadians has been an interesting, eye-opening, refresher about the people I live among. The people that have inhabited this country long before foreign settlers from other continents have arrived.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Health Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

As mentioned in the previous post, a summer plan was created for the types of writings and topics I wanted to do. While it did not explicitly state which topics or types of writing I was going to do, extra virgin olive oil was one that was planned for quite some time. Why this topic? I was searching around the Internet one day, and stumbled across a post that went into the lengthy health benefits of extra virgin olive oil. I then decided that I definitely wanted to do my own post on this topic. I wanted to add my take on it, and include information and tidbits that the others have failed to mention.

Inspiration Behind This Article: What is SaaS?

While I have been seeing the term “SaaS” for quite some time, it was not until more recently that I would do something more about it. I decided to add it to my writing plan of future topics. Now here it is on the Internet. Writing and researching it has given me a much better understanding of what it is, and more awareness of the companies that use or offer it. It probably should not come as a surprise, that I do prefer one-time purchases over subscription models when it comes onto computer software. I can see why businesses go with SaaS for the benefits discussed earlier. For me, one-time purchases suit my needs. What about you? Do you prefer subscription models or one-time purchases?

Inspiration Behind This Article: The Difference Between Nationality Versus Ethnicity

Aside from it being a planned summer article, I wanted to do this post to clarify the difference of these terms. There are many articles on the Internet that either have them mixed up, or written entirely inaccurately. This is not to say that mine is the best, and only one worth of reading. It is not. But, at the same time, it was thoughtfully and factually put together to give it credibility and quality. Found this article helpful, informative or interesting? Drop a comment below or share it with your friends and relatives.

Inspiration Behind This Critique: Royal Bank of Canada Website Critique

A continuation of the plan summer plan to put up various categories of writings on Millennium Creek. If you read the beginning of this critique, you will know that Canadian Tire and Havelaar Canada will be appearing on Millennium Creek to join RBC as part of the portfolio for non-endorsed website critiques.

Inspiration Behind This Critique: Canadian Tire Website Critique

This write-up is the second out of the three non-endorsed website critiques, being done for a portfolio project. Why did I choose Canadian Tire of all online retailers? Well, there were a lot of other online retailers that I could have went with. For the second critique, I wanted to choose an online retail that was based in Canada, that also has a physical store. For those two reasons, it should be no surprise that Canadian Tire was one of the first places that came to mind, so I went with it. Readers, what are your impressions of these critiques so far? Comment and share your thoughts.

Inspiration Behind This Critique: Havelaar Canada Website Critique

This write-up is the third and final out of the three non-endorsed website critiques, being done for a portfolio project. If you have read my previous articles pertained to automobiles, then my inspiration behind this post should be very clear: my love all-electric cars. As such, I originally thought about doing a critique for Tesla. But then, I thought that the Tesla already has enough press and attention surrounding them, so I thought about doing Jaguar. Now Jaguar may only have one all-electric vehicle in the lineup, but the company as whole was attractive enough to make me consider it. I was then torn between Tesla and Jaguar. I then decided to do neither of those two, and went with the lesser known, Canada-based, Havelaar Canada. Turned out to be a good choice. If it does make it to production, I hope there will be a 4-door crew cab option.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is It Acceptable For Women To Breastfeed In Public? Yes

Upon finishing the articles and website critiques for the Summer Project, now Autumn Portfolio 2018 Project, the next part of it is argumentative essays. Seeing as though I had already done this particular topic originally on May 30, 2016, I figured that it made lots of sense to upload it as the first choice for this part of the project. For the argumentative essays I cover in this project, I do plan to cover both “For” and “Against” *insert topic*. I plan to do three topics, bringing it to six essays, or six sides depending on how you look at it. For those of you that hated doing argumentative essay in school, you would probably think this is madness. Truth is, as long as the subject matter is not complex, and you understand the format of argumentative essays, they are actually quite easy to do. Or am I just saying that because I am an experienced writer? Either way, drop a comment on this topic and let me know what you think of public nursing.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is it acceptable for women to breastfeed in public? No

This essay serves as the voice against public nursing. For the side that supports public nursing, click here. Now that both sides of this subject matter have been explored, I am almost certain that you must be wondering how do I, Millennium Creek, feel about women breastfeeding in public? Well, it should not come as a surprise, but it surprises me that this is even a debate in the first place. As far as I am concerned, I do not know of any mother that would flagrantly expose their entire chest with the intention of creating shock and disgust. Virtually nobody would want to put themselves and their child in unnecessary danger. A mother nursing her infant should be treated as casually as somebody drinking from a water bottle to satisfy their thirst.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Should Canadians Be Required To Know Both French And English Upon High School Graduation? Yes

I honestly do not remember why I chose this as one of the subjects I wanted to cover for the essays part of the portfolio. I do remember going through lists of good topics to do for an argumentative essay. I do not recall specifically seeing anything titled “Should Canadians Be Required to Know Both French and English Upon High School Graduation?” I believe that I did run into something that had to do with language and bilingualism. From there, I decided to go with this one. Do you also agree that Canadians should know both languages by the time they graduate? Type your comments and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Should Canadians Be Required To Know Both French And English Upon High School Graduation? No

This essay serves as the voice that is against forced bilingualism on high school students. For the voice that supports it, click here. Do you agree with the points in this essay? I strongly suspect that most people would side with this voice, but I might be wrong? Let me know by leaving a comment. “Should Bilingualism Be A Graduation Requirement In Canada?” Perhaps would have been a nicer sounding title for these essays.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is Technology Limiting Creativity? Yes

This is the 3rd and final topic for the argumentative essay part of the portfolio project of 2018. I came around to choosing this topic by browsing a list of good essay topics. Why this one in particular? Though you may very well know at this point that I am into electronics, it is also because of how interesting and thought-provocative it is. In fact, I honestly feared that I would not know how to go about writing this. Thankfully, it came through and I managed to get this side of the topic done. Do you agree that technology is limiting creativity? Comment and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is Technology Limiting Creativity? No

Now that the “No” voice of this essay topic is complete, this marks the completion of the essay part of my 2018 portfolio project. As explained on the “Yes” voice, my inspiration behind choosing this topic for an argument, was the result of two things:

1. Browsing through a list of topics to do for an argumentative essay
2. My love for technology

With that said, it is obvious that I believe technology is not limiting creativity. The problem is people themselves not knowing how to be creative, and where to draw their sources of inspiration. My own website, Millennium Creek, is a good example of creativity that would not have been possible without the appropriate technology in place. Do you also agree that technology is not limiting creativity? Or have you sided with the “Yes” voice? Comment and let me know. While some people would love a world without smartphones, computers and televisions, our lives would be significantly harder in too many ways.

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: Speech: Let It Become A Legal Requirement To Label Genetically Modified Organisms In Canada

I do not think I have ever written any speech of the sort before. Whether it be intended for school, work or business. The idea of writing a speech definitely brought feelings of uncertainty, but I still did not cancel the idea. The completion of this speech marks the first write-up of the Creative Writing part of my portfolio part. Why a speech? Why this topic? As to why I would want a speech, it is because I thought it would be a valuable, challenging write-up to have in my portfolio. As for my topic of choice, I simply searched around for good speech topics. Interestingly, what happens to be a good topic for persuasive essays, also happens to be an excellent topic for speeches. For that reason, it is no wonder I have seen some people go as far to call speeches “spoken essays”. What do you think? How do you feel about this topic? Comment and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: Beautiful Blue Creek (Haiku)

A Haiku was originally going to be the first write-up for the Creative Writing part of my portfolio project. Instead, I opted to write a speech first, making this the 2nd writing in the category. Why a Haiku? The last time I have written a Haiku probably dates back to elementary school. Yes, that is indeed a frighteningly long time!

Much of the content on Millennium Creek tends to be articles or writings that often tip 1,000 words. Doing a short Haiku on creeks, felt refreshing and very different. I am quite a fan of the simplicity and beauty of Haiku. I may create more of them in 2019. For now, I will proceed to working on the next creative piece.

For those of you that absolutely love Haiku, I recommend you have a look at Basho: The Complete Haiku, On Haiku, and maybe this mug? Have you ever written a Haiku? Perhaps you frequently write Haiku? Comment and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: Walk of the Wilderness

Is this a story? Or is it a poem? A poetic story? Those are the questions that frequently came up in my mind while I was writing this. Truth be told, this is supposed to be a “long poem”. It probably might not look like it to some, but that was the intention. It is neither a fictional or non-fiction story. Now because poetry admittedly is not my specialty, there may be some debates on how good it is, or how you might personally disagree with my classification of it this work. Walk of the Wilderness marks the 3rd creation of the Creative Writing part of my portfolio project. It was supposed to be the 2nd, but if you already read the “Inspirational” section of my Haiku, you will have the answer to why it is not.

So aside from creating this as a “look what I can do” sort of thing, you must be wondering about what the actual inspiration of this particular poem is, right? It happened when I tasked myself with the objective to complete a third Creative Writing piece. It was originally going to be a write-up of one of my real dreams. I could not decide which dream to write about. I did not want to waste too much time on it, because 2018 was coming to an end very soon. I wanted to get the Creative Writings done before Christmas. I then decided to just write one massive, story-like poem about a brief dream belonging to no one, themed around walking through the wilderness. I did not plan, nor even look at other poems for inspiration. I just threw myself in front of the keyboard, brainstormed the title, and wrote whatever came to my mind.

As anyone can tell, it is advisable to plan and get inspiration when writing poetry. It makes it more organized and refined. Or at least I think so. Well, I suppose writing whatever floats up also has its perks, too. Particularly, if you are trying to really flex that originality muscle. What did you think about this long poem? Think it does not deserved to be called such? Feels more like a story?

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: What Love is This?

This long piece falls into the same category of my previous Walk of the Wilderness, classifying as a long poem. If you view it as a series of short poetic stories, I will not blame you for seeing it that way. Now that aside, What Love Is This? is the 4th and final creation of the Creative Writing part of my portfolio project. What you will not know about this write-up, is the fact that it was not supposed to even come into being. In fact, I was originally going to stop the Creative Writing portfolio after writing #3. But suddenly, I felt a strong desire to create just one more long poem, before calling it complete. I am quite glad I did.

Why love? I figured that if I was going to write poems, that I had to do at least one love theme. Sounds like such a cliché thing to do, but the urge was strong. Very strong. Like Walk of the Wilderness, What Love Is This? was written in the same manner: placed myself in front of the keyboard, brainstormed a little, and just let my fingers do the rest. As a result, you may either find the poem adorable or creative, or very uncool.

Inspiration Behind The Product Descriptions From an Old Portfolio

I was originally going to start the 2019 portfolio project with the following writing categories: Blog posts and copywriting. I then had a change of heart and revised it to be product descriptions and copywriting, while making the blog posts optional. The reason is because I am going to be officially selling my services in the coming weeks. Likely in February, but possibly March. While my services have already been available for some time, I have never posted them officially and openly on social media.

Back in 2018, I completed articles, website critiques, argumentative essays, creative pieces, and the occasional blog post. Blog posts are nice and all, but they have not been a focus on Millennium Creek. I believe that getting product descriptions and copywriting into my portfolio sooner, would make it look far more attractive than common, regular blogs posts.

Seeing as though  I had already completed a write-up of original descriptions a few years ago, it made sense to tidy them up, and publish them as the first for this category. And yes, I am aware that writing product descriptions is a form of copywriting. By “copywriting” I have web pages in mind for the next category.

Inspiration Behind The 2019 Product Descriptions: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS Max Accessories

The completion of this makes it the 2nd write-up of the Product Descriptions part of the portfolio project. The 1st was Product Descriptions From an Old Portfolio. Creating these names and descriptions from scratch was no easy task. I took a look at Google Maps and other products to get an idea for names and certain technical details. Even then, it still took some work. Nevertheless, completing this gave me some valuable experience and insight about product copy.

Why the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS Max? Those two are among the most recognizable high-end devices in the world, making them a sensible choice to write portfolio descriptions for. Of course, there are many other fantastic devices out there. Some of which you can argue are even better. And finally, I would love to know what your top three picks would be if these products were real. Comment down below.

Inspiration Behind The 2019 Product Descriptions: Kaskawulsh Men’s Fashion

Fashion is a big deal because you have to wear clothes. You have to protect your body from the elements of the outdoors. And most obviously, you do not want to violate laws of indecency. Some people care greatly about looking stylish. Others value comfort, while some prefer to just buy whatever is affordable and necessary. The world of fashion is truly, very broad. I could have done men’s luxury fashion, women’s fashion, children’s fashion, ethnic fashion, and many more. For this portfolio piece, I decided to go with an imaginary, upscale brand that is not too expensive for the masses, but is not very cheap either.

Which of these products would you buy if they were real? Comment down below and share your interests.

Inspiration Behind The 2019 Product Descriptions: Cielistellati Fine Musical Instruments

My love for musical instruments. That is the driving reason behind choosing this as the 4th and final subject for the Product Descriptions category of the portfolio project. Woodwinds, brass, orchestral strings, percussion, keyboards — they all have their unique strengths and voices. If Cielistellati instruments were real, and money were no barrier, which of these instruments would you buy? I have a deep feeling that 95% of population would pick piano or violin. Prove me wrong by commenting on what your choice would be. Even if it is piano and violin, there is certainly nothing wrong with that. Both are beautiful when played by musicians who have been trained properly.

For those of you who are Italian, or at least understand the language, Cielistellati comes from the Italian words “cieli stellati” meaning starry skies. Your eyes would indeed be starry with the craftsmanship and sound quality of these instruments, if they were real.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Laurentian Wireless

Every website obviously has webpages. Does every website have good pages? Unfortunately, they do not. I wanted to have a knack at writing webpages. I went ahead to test my webpage content writing skills with this category of the portfolio project. The reason why I chose a wireless carrier, will not be a surprise to any readers who have read most of my write-ups. (Love for smartphones and other electronics!)

Now finally, if Laurentian Wireless were a real company, would you subscribe to them? Or would you prefer to stick to Telus, Koodo, Rogers, Fido, Bell, Virgin Mobile or Freedom Mobile? Comment down below and let me know. I would also like to know what you think of this write-up. Should I have included certain details within pages that I missed? Your constructive feedback is very important to me.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Red Maple Greater Toronto Area Home Renovation Group

Red Maple Greater Toronto Area Home Renovation Group (Red Maple GTA HRG) is the second write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. We all need a good, clean, peaceful house to dwell in. Therefore, this makes home renovation an extremely big industry. So big, that it was only natural that I would include it as one of the 5 webpage topics to go with. And because I am based in Ontario, I chose to go with an Ontarian-themed, imaginary example company.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Wonder Food of 6 Worlds Restaurant

Wonder Food of 6 Worlds Restaurant (WF6WR) is the third write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. Not only is the hospitality and tourism industry interesting, it is a huge sector of commerce. When coming up with an imaginary example company, I knew I wanted to include a restaurant, but was not too sure of which theme to go with. Thinking of all the ethnic restaurants around me, I decided to go with a unique, multi-ethnic theme. A little challenging, but I like how it turned out.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Seaforth Serpents

Seaforth Serpents is the fourth write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. People love their pets, particularly cats and dogs. While cats and dogs are popular and all, I wanted to go with something a little more niche for the 4th write-up of this area: reptiles, particularly snakes. I originally expected this piece to be quick and easy to type, but it proved me wrong. Animal shop websites actually have a lot of important text that needs to be on their webpages, or you risk numerous complications. Still, I personally love reptiles, so writing this was not uninteresting.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Thunder Things Automotive Group

Thunder Things Automotive Group (TTAG) is the fifth and final write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. As mentioned in earlier automotive writings, I love all-electric vehicles, making this a very alluring choice to go with. TTAG may be an imaginary example company, but I really would like to see Canada create its own home-grown brand soon.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: “Maseromeo” What If Maserati And Alfa Romeo Merged Into One Brand?

As mentioned within the first paragraph of this post, this was originally intended to be a blog post written shortly after completing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: June 2018 Discussion. Why did I still bother with it? Because it was too interesting of a discussion to throw off. Both Maserati and Alfa Romeo are internationally recognized brands that can stir up a variety of emotions.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: The Truth About Alfa Romeo’s Logo Surprised Me Greatly

My inspiration for this blog post is summed up perfectly within the first paragraph of this post: stumbled across an image with text about the logo, thus leading to me creating an entry all about it.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Do I Believe There Is Life On Other Planets?

Without a doubt, the other celestial bodies around us are extremely fascinating. Some believe there is, or was life at some point on them. Others, such as myself, believe they never had or will ever be capable of supporting life. As such, I wanted to create a blog post entirely dedicated to this, and why they cannot support life.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Remote Work Is Not Nonsense; It Is The Way

This blog post may very well be the most passionate-driven entry posted on Millennium Creek. Being someone who believes strongly in remote work, I felt as though I was called to do this when I saw someone write remote work off as nonsense on Twitter. Within the post, I go into plenty of detail about what remote work is and is not.

Feeling Inspired?

This was a ton of text to go through, but I do hope that you managed to read it all. And most importantly, I hope it left you feeling inspired to take some action of the sort. Whether it be reading the write-ups they link to, or creating a write-up inspired from them.

Royal Bank of Canada Website Critique

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

Notice

This full website critique was not endorsed the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in any way. It was solely done for a portfolio project, with the other two being Canadian Tire and Havelaar Canada. This critique was originally written on May 05, 2016. Though it still carries the original story from 2016, it has been polished and reworked in some areas to meet the personal standards of Millennium Creek in 2018.

If you are reading this, and want a full review of your website that will look just like this, you will need to message me. From there the cost, details, and other bits will be discussed. Finally, for the sake of this critique, I will be writing it towards David McKay as if he were a buyer, who had purchased one of my services.

First Impressions

Upon entering the website from the http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/personal.html URL, I can say that your website looks tidy, organized and modern. The blue, yellow and white colour scheme is proudly reflected all over the page. The logo, banking sections and finance related tools, make it very clear that this website is all about financial services. Judging from this page alone, I can say that my impressions for this website are very good so far. I hope that I will be able to say the same thing, once I am finished browsing through the other areas of your website.

Navigation

After browsing through many pages of RBC, I can say that the website feels consistent with what it was designed for. It does not take too many clicks to reach a certain area, scrolling is not automatically disabled, nor is it wonky. Your symbols, icons, photos and graphics intended for navigation, work as they should. There is no site map present from the front page of the personal banking area serving Canadian customers. There is a You are in:___ bar at the top of the page to let you know which main area of the website you are in. It does not display the exact section of the website, however. For example: when I click on bank accounts and go to savings accounts, it will not show savings accounts, but will display personal bankings instead. Thankfully, a single click on the RBC logo located near the top left corner of the screen is all it takes to get back to the main banking area of the website. Some of the areas, such as business banking, do not have the You are in: ___ present. Instead, they display a sitemap.

There are some areas, such as the portion for Caribbean customers, that do not have either readily available. I did notice a search box and advanced search options, which can help them reach areas they might be looking for faster. The toggle that allows them to switch between various Caribbean countries is convenient. The language switching option present for Canadian consumers is unavailable for them. This means that they can only explore the website in English, despite the other languages spoken in the Caribbean.

As strange as it feels to mention this, I am pleased to report that I can close tabs or navigate from any portion of your website without getting stopped by messages such as, “Are you sure you want to leave?” or “Wait! Open a TFSA with us within the next 48 hours and receive $1000!” I do not think most websites designed with professionalism in mind would have such pop-ups. Or at least, they certainly should not. It is very irritating for visitors.

Content

When judging the content and value of your website, there are a number of things I considered: the first was relevancy. Your website is about banking and finances, and all the areas reflected this. Tax-free savings accounts, chequing accounts, travel credit cards, U.S.A banking, and several others are notably present. I also looked around the website for typos and grammar errors, and it seems like they are virtually non-existent. For a website this large, it is impressive. I can imagine the effort and diligence it must have taken to get the spelling and grammar impeccable. Products and images here are also properly laid out. An example is with mortgages: when I hovered over mortgages on the first page, a dropdown menu of things pertaining to mortgages appeared. The same thing happens when I click or hover over other topics such as advice, bank accounts, locators and all the other listed services or products.

I did not notice any third party advertisements on the website’s pages, which is excellent. I understand that some website owners use them for a source of income. However, they can be very distracting, annoying, cause pages to load slowly, or freeze depending on the number of them present and running. I did not notice any “last updated on xxxx” on your website’s pages. I did notice that you have a Media Newsroom area where all the news and updates go. I also noticed the Royal Bank of Canada Website, © 1995-2016 at the bottom of the page that lets people know the website is still in operation. PDF files were not too easy for me to find, though I managed to find some in the Personal Banking & Savings Accounts and Newsletters areas.

I did not see any security certificates or badges shown on the main page. Not that they necessarily make a website more secure or legitimate. I did notice an informative Privacy & Security section that mentions how you keep your customers safe. I also attempted to log in as if I were a customer, and the green lock (along with https: turning green) appeared. This proves that the connection to the website is secured. A very great peace of mind for customers, as it would be dangerous to manage sensitive financial information on an insecure server.

User Acknowledgement, Satisfaction and Contact

Given that your website deals extensively with customer service, it is important to look at how well RBC identifies and helps its customers. The first thing that I should mention, is that there is a Contact Us link present. One would assume that this a no-brainer that all websites would have. Sadly, I have been to websites where it was either absent or hard to find. Glad that is not the case with yours. I also see that the Canadian portion has a ribbon at the bottom of the website, linking customers to your website’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn page. This is a great way to allow people to further connect, watch, follow, keep updated, or comment on RBC. The same ribbon also has a search/ask bar with a toggle that displays the top ten frequently asked questions. And finally, I can see that the advice section offers an extensive amount of resources to help people deal with business advice, home ownership, investments and more to show what RBC can do to help people.

Findability

Finding your website was very easy, since the name is searched frequently and is widely recognized on North American servers. Figuring out what the main URL to the website is was a bit of a mystery at first. It seems like it will vary depending on what location the severs detect, which had me initially think that the main link is http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/personal.html when it is really supposed to be http://www.rbc.com/canada.html? I will not consider this a flaw, because of the way your website was designed to bring up results based on location, or even the search engines people use. Speaking of search engines and results, I tested the word “RBC” in the search engines of Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask and AOL to see what would come up on the first page. Google, Yahoo and Bing had plenty of direct results, while Ask’s advertisement-cluttered front page did show links to your website, but made it harder to reach. AOL fared well like the others, though it interestingly assumed I was accessing RBC from an American location.

Browser Compatibility

For this part of the critique, I browsed some pages in a few desktop and BlackBerry 10 browsers to get a feel for the user interface and fluidity of your website.

Google Chrome

Chrome is the main browser I personally use on a day-to-day basis. It has also been the main browser I used to browse your website. It is very smooth and the pages usually load rapidly. Videos and flash content also worked very well in this browser.

Microsoft Edge

Browsing and opening pages in Edge was a smooth, quick-loading experience. Videos and PDF files worked well for the most part, but there was a short quiz that crashed halfway through. Despite that, I would not consider my RBC experience with Edge bad, but it is not as good as Google Chrome. Nevertheless, It is still fast and can safely get financial transactions done.

Default BlackBerry 10 Browser

The mobile version focuses on products, services, contact and branches. These areas loaded quickly, and I did not face much issues jumping from section to section. That said, I prefer the full experience of the desktop version. It feels less cramped and fonts do not become tiny and require excessive zooming. This problem is exacerbated when the mobile version switches to desktop mode. Now I should answer an important question you would probably ask: Would I ever bank with your company from my browser, if I were a customer? Probably not very often, unless I had to make an important transaction on the road. The reason for this is almost entirely due to my personal preference of banking on my computer’s much larger screen.

Evolution Browser (Third Party Mobile Browser)

Like the default BlackBerry 10 browser, the mobile front page looks the same. Unfortunately, I do not have much good things to say about my experience with this browser. It was jumpy, failed to load certain pages, and would not even let me switch to desktop mode from the website. It also did not let me find branch locations, in comparison to the default browser, which did display the locations. The problems that occurred are largely the developer’s fault in this scenario. But, it is still important to mention third party browsing experiences since many people will sometimes use them instead of their default mobile browsers. Both of the BlackBerry 10 mobile browsers prompted me to download the mobile application. I clicked on it to take a look, but was sent to a version that is no longer available. There is a newer version in BlackBerry World that goes by the title RBC Mobile For BlackBerry 10, but because this is a web critique, as opposed to an application critique, I have not tested it. However, there were a lot of users saying that the application is grossly outdated, missing features, and that it needs be on par with the version for Android and iOS. I do not know how legitimate these claims are. If they are true, I recommend that the developer responsible for the mobile application of your website, updates or creates a modern, refreshed application built for BlackBerry OS 10.3 and newer.

My Final Thoughts and Summary

Now that I have had a solid amount of time to go over your website and critique in various areas, I can finally come to a conclusion: well done! Mister McKay, your website is solid and was truly designed with high degrees of professionalism and security in mind. I do not know how much time was dedicated into putting together such a large, polished website. What I do know is that the effort shows. Continue to keep up the good work and high quality standards, if you wish to remain successful and competitive with other banking rivals.