The Royal Canadian Mint says it’s temporarily laying off 56 employees at its Winnipeg facility.
In a statement, the Mint says “prolonged effects of the pandemic and ongoing geopolitical instability” are disrupting global markets, which it says is limiting demand for coins it makes for other countries.
It says it believes the disruption is temporary and that the foreign circulation business will return as global markets reopen.
There were 351 people working at the mint’s Winnipeg facility before the layoffs announcement late last week.
The statement says the mint “has made every effort to avoid layoffs and is doing so only as a temporary measure” and that the affected employees will be offered transitional support.
The mint’s website says the Winnipeg facility was established in 1976 “as a high-tech, high-volume manufacturing facility,” and that every single Canadian circulation coin is produced there, as well as circulation coins for countries around the world.