Token - Bank of Montreal Centennial of the Meeting to Charlottetown

Reverse

Legend in seven lines with the centenary date at the bottom.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
TO
COMMEMORATE
THE CENTENNIAL OF THE
FATHERS OF
CONFEDERATION
MEETING
1864-1964

Edge

Plain.

Comment

In 1883, the Canadian Government commissioned Robert Harris to paint the Charlottetown Conference of September 1864. The work was to include the 23 Fathers of Confederation, and secretary Hewitt Bernard. Asked to change the setting to the larger Quebec Conference of October that same year, Harris added ten figures. A preliminary charcoal sketch was made in Charlottetown, and the final work was painted in Montreal. In May 1884, it was hung in the Parliament Building in Ottawa. It went to England's Festival of Empire in 1911, after which it returned to Canada. It was destroyed when the Parliament Building burned February 3, 1916.

On September 1, 1964 - one hundred years after the Charlottetown Conference - the same scene began to emerge again. Rex Woods was embarking on a commission from the insurance company, Confederation Life, to recreate the heirloom for presentation to the nation during 1967 Centennial celebrations. Three delegates to the London Conference of 1866 - who had been officially recognized during the Diamond Jubilee in 1927 - were added on the right. The portrait above them is a tribute to Robert Harris. His signature is on the portfolio at the left, as in the original painting.
Source: Parliament of Canada