How do I determine foreign exchange rates?

Any research funding issued in a foreign currency will be converted to Canadian dollars, and the spending power in the fund will be assigned based on the exchange rate used at the date of fund creation. Researchers are thus encouraged to build their budgets in Canadian dollars to ensure that sufficient funding exists to conduct the work.

The exchange rate is determined on the day the payment is made. Therefore, a calculation made at the time of application is likely to have a variance from that which will be processed.

For example, if 1.00 CAD = 0.78 USD, at an exchange rate of 0.7808 (using nominal rate). In this case, we recommend assuming a 1.00 CAD = 0.68 USD to ensure that sufficient funding is requested in case the exchange rate fluctuates over the course of the project.

Note: Researchers are encouraged to use the Bank of Canada rate and then apply an additional reduction (usually 10¢) to the rate of exchange.