1 Penny / 2 Sous Banque du Peuple

The Banque du Peuple was founded in Montreal in 1835 by Louis-Michel Viger and a coalition of Patriote-aligned investors as a direct challenge to the anglophone-controlled Bank of Montreal. This token was issued just two years before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–38, when the Patriotes under Louis-Joseph Papineau openly defied British colonial authority. Copper tokens like this one circulated widely precisely because the colonial government had failed to supply adequate small change, and private banks filled the vacuum.

The bank suspended operations during the rebellion and its aftermath, making the full intended issue incomplete.