Hilroy has apologized for leaving Newfoundland and Cape Breton off the Canadian map on its glossy notebooks, after the mistake led to backlash online.
Hilroy’s pastel-coloured paper exercise books are well known across the country for the map of Canada on their covers. But the map on Hilroy’s glossy covered notebooks are missing a few parts of the country.
In a post to its Facebook page Tuesday, the company said its team has always been proud of the map, “which is exactly why getting it wrong stings.”
The inaccurate map was the result of a production error, the post said. The company has stopped distributing the books and is fixing the cover artwork.
“That’s our mistake, and we’re sorry,” it said. “To everyone who spotted it: you’re right and thank you for telling us.”
Hilroy’s parent company, ACCO Brands, said Wednesday that the faulty books have been on shelves since last year. However, it seems customers only recently noticed the errors. The mishap has generated discussion on social media, prompting posts from Newfoundlanders and Nova Scotians expressing their dismay.
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Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham posted a brief but blunt response on Facebook.
“You can leave Newfoundland off an exercise book, but you can’t erase us,” he wrote Wednesday. “Hilroy will never take away our identity, our history, or our place on the map.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said the incomplete map was “unacceptable.”
“I’ve asked the minister of education to send the makers of Hilroy scribblers a map of Nova Scotia that includes Cape Breton and Newfoundland,” Houston said, also in Facebook post.
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The mistaken map also appears to be missing Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the coast of British Columbia. An ACCO Brands spokesperson said the company is aware and addressing the omission is part of its “correction plan.”
Sean Cadigan, a history professor at Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L., said Newfoundland did not join Canada until 1949, and it has been left out of maps and descriptions of the country before. It can be a sensitive issue on the island, he said.
“When there are big tours and people say they’re touring Canada, Canada often stops somewhere in Nova Scotia,” Cadigan said in an interview Wednesday.
“I think that’s just probably an old habit that often predates Newfoundland’s joining Confederation,” he added. “Obviously, people here want to emphasize, of course, since 1949, we’re part of Canada.”
Cadigan said the map was an “an embarrassing mistake” for Hilory.
“I wouldn’t read it as any intent to slight,” he said.
Actually, probably foreign workers LoL 😂
How dumb are the generation working today, probably don’t know their head from their ass
Hilroy is trash, we have been purchasing their products for decades, 90% of the time. The books come back at the end of the school hardly used, you rip out a few cute drawings and recycle the book. And purchase it again next year, rinse and repeat. Save the trees, screw them they can’t find Newfoundland I can’t find their waste of money product on the shelf. Their erasers are trash, As well.
They also left Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) off the west coast!!!!!!!
Reading these reviews makes me embarrassed to be Canadian. Really, fire them. Someone made a mistake, stop reading into everything snowflakes.
HUGE mistake by someone, has the person responsible been fired? You also point out it’s been in stores but customers didn’t notice! Well neither did Hilroy! Obviously Hilroy has “absolutely NO QUALITY CONTROL”. You should be ashamed but big business rarely is.
If you read their apology with an eye to style, you can definitely tell that it was AI written. How embarrassing for them.
Huh…
I run similar tests myself. Does it understand the image or what is being said?
[Anonymous
September 2, 2026 at 4:48 pm
⬇️
➡️”Canadian first⬅️
September 2, 2026 at 1:17 pm
Shouldve left alberta off the map instead”
🤔 wha…?!]
⬇️
➡️”Canadian first⬅️
September 2, 2026 at 1:17 pm
Shouldve left alberta off the map instead”
🤔 wha…?!
Never let the laziness of our public educators waste an educational opportunity.
Peter,
ACCO Canada, which includes Hilroy Canada, employs between 200-500 employees vs the parent company, with 4,700. The US is ten times the size of Canada, as is its respective head offices.
Quit jeopardizing Canadian jobs because you are dumb.
“Peter Prust
September 2, 2026 at 3:33 pm
Typical American ignorance. Can see where their leader got it from.”
Hey man, they put lines on paper for people. The modern day equivalent has got to be homeless people holding doors open for you.
Typical American ignorance. Can see where their leader got it from.
With stories like this, no wonder you need government subsidies to survive. To think we pay for this ‘news’.
This is what’s newsworthy now? Scraping the bottom of the barrel as usual. Joke of a country and joke of a people. No wonder the US is going to wipe you off the map.
I’m surprised they included Vancouver Island. It’s a cleaner logo without Cape Breton and the Queen Charlottes
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Remove Quebec from the cover while you’re at it.
Shouldve left alberta off the map instead
That isn’t a printing error, its an error or the PEOPLE who are responsible for quality control
We call them the Queen Charlotte Islands. Only the natives want to call them something different. Other than Vancouver island, all the islands are missing off of the west coast.
PEI is not correct, a whole province, and nobody mentions it…
Haida Gwaii is also missing.
Must be DEI employees, there’s no other excuse.