In 2019, the Royal Canadian Mint issued two collectible coins marking the 75th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy. The silver coin carries a face value of three dollars; the gold, one hundred. The artist commissioned to design them was Glen Loates. Dated 1944 to 2019, the quarter-ounce fine silver and gold collector coins show the imprint of a soldier's boot in the sand of Juno Beach. The silver was struck in a mintage of 100,000, the gold in only 1,200.

Canadian troops played a significant part in the D-Day landings. Of the 150,000 men who came ashore at Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, 14,000 were Canadian. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and 10,000 sailors, and fifteen Royal Canadian Air Force fighter and fighter-bomber squadrons supported the troops on the ground. On Juno Beach, where the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landed, 359 soldiers were killed and 715 wounded on the first day alone.

Marie Lemay, then President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint, noted at the time that since the first Poppy coin in 2004 the Mint has issued special circulation coins to help Canadians remember the service and sacrifice of the country's veterans and active military.

Glen Loates has been commissioned repeatedly by the Royal Canadian Mint to design special editions. In the same year he designed the 2019 $50 Fine Silver Coin, Maple Leaf in Motion, which featured a first-time combination of pink and yellow gold plating. In 2018 he designed the $20 Fine Silver Coin, Frozen in Ice: Scimitar Sabretooth Cat.

The commissions sit alongside his work for Canada Post, whose 1968 Gray Jay was among the first Canadian stamps printed by four-colour lithography, and the Mint's 1991 platinum snowy owl set. Few Canadian artists have had their work carried in the pocket and on the letter of an entire country.