The pound currency (symbol £) was the unit of account in the French colony of Canada while under British military governorship, the Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Lower Canada and Upper Canada (1791–1841), and the Province of Canada (1841–1867), from the British conquest of New France until its replacement by the Canadian dollar in 1858. It was subdivided into 20 shillings (s), each of 12 pence (d). It was not a circulating currency, insofar as no coins or banknotes denominated in "Canadian pounds" (nor its subunits) were issued by a monetary authority.

Rather, local custom and law set exchange rates against foreign specie, and that foreign money was used as the circulation medium. These "ratings" varied over time but the most commonly used during this period was the "Halifax rating", established at Halifax, Nova Scotia in the 1750s, which set the value of one Spanish dollar equal to five shillings "Halifax currency". This represented a premium of sixpence more than British tests conducted ca. 1703 that had established an average Spanish dollar coin's weight in silver was equal to 4s 6d sterling. Foreign coins were typically overvalued in this manner to encourage the coinage to circulate and as such Canadian pounds currency were never at par with British pounds sterling.

In British North America the colonies did not have the authority to mint their own money, so foreign coins were used as circulating currency. Each colony managed their monetary supply by setting valuations or "ratings" for foreign coins in their pounds/shillings/pence accounting systems, fixing a value for the coins relative to a pound unit. In particular the use of Spanish dollars in day-to-day transactions was commonplace, but each colony set its own valuation, which varied significantly: in the mid-18th century one dollar was valued at 4s 6d in Britain, but at 5s in Halifax, 6s in New England, 7s 6d in Pennsylvania and 8s in New York.

In New France, the French forces' expenditures rose significantly over the duration of the Seven Years' War, and the continued war effort had to be financed by the colonial government's issuance of paper bills of exchange. The French government issued a decree suspending the payment of bills of exchange drawn on the colonial treasury on October 15, 1759, news of which did not reach New France until June 1760, and it caused a financial panic. After the French failed to retake Quebec City, the British military governor, General James Murray, forbade the circulation of this rudimentary paper money and introduced Halifax currency—one Spanish dollar was equal to five shillings currency—to Quebec City. After General Amherst's army captured Montreal and New France fell to British forces, Amherst similarly introduced York currency to Montreal, as did Burton at Trois-Rivières, at eight shillings per dollar. Murray was named the civil governor of the new Province of Quebec in 1763, and set a separate rating of six shillings per dollar effective January 1, 1765. This Quebec rating wasn't strictly enforced, and the use of the Halifax and York ratings persisted alongside the new rating until it was repealed in favour of the Halifax rating's official use across the province in 1777.

Murray's ordinance set ratings for not only the Spanish dollar but a wide variety of foreign coins, including Portuguese "Johannes" and moidores, French Louis d'or and écus, Spanish pistoles and pistareens, and British guineas, shillings and "coppers" (halfpennies). Halfpennies and old French colonial sols marqués were deliberately undervalued to prevent the importation of excessive amounts of copper coins, while French gold and silver coins were deliberately overvalued to discourage hoarding and keep them circulating. Gold coins were generally undervalued relative to silver coins, so silver coins came to dominate circulation. Because of the undervaluation of copper coins they disappeared from circulation and it became difficult for merchants to make change for small purchases. Instead, merchants resorted to issuing their own paper scrip known by the nickname bons, after the words bon pour (French for 'good for') which often appeared as the first words on them.

To rectify the lack of small coins and encourage the circulation of gold coinage the 1765 ordinance was superseded by a new one in 1777. The value of gold coins was reduced and a rating for Spanish doubloons was added, while value of the dollar was set at the Halifax rating of five shillings and other silver coins' ratings were commensurately reduced. The 1777 ordinance also rectified the overvaluation of many of the old coins rated in the 1765 ordinance; coins such as the moidore and écu hadn't been issued since the 1720s and 1730s, and by 1777 would have been quite worn. Clipping and sweating of Spanish and Portuguese coins has also been rampant in the Thirteen Colonies to the south, and trade with the colonies had been a major source of coins for the Canadians.

The American Revolutionary War interrupted the trade with the colonies, but with the influx of British Army soldiers the British government also shipped hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of coins. Commercial activity in Canada increased many times over, but by war's end prices fell causing many bankruptcies. Payments to British Army soldiers and for imported materiel caused the gradual depletion of coins in the monetary supply. The colonists resorted to bartering, book credits, and the continued usage of bons.

After the Constitutional Act 1791 split the Province of Quebec into Lower Canada and Upper Canada, the Canadas were free to set their own ratings of coinage, but these were generally the same throughout both provinces after parallel legislation was passed in 1796, 1808 and 1809.