Hilroy says sorry for leaving Newfoundland, Cape Breton off notebooks’ Canadian map

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 is 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.

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 a Facebook post.

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.

Newfoundlander Ian Gillies said the omission is harmful, whether it was intended as a slight or not.

“This is far from the first time for us … People will say ‘all across Canada’ and they’ll start in Nova Scotia,” he said in a telephone interview from his home in St. John’s, N.L., on Wednesday.

Gillies said he was particularly concerned to see portions of Canada left off of the map on a notebook that is used by young students nationwide.

“I’ll be 60 this year, and I remember those (Hilroy) scribblers,” he said. “To draw a map on an educational book and leave large parts of provinces off, it’s just wild.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2026.

Lyndsay Armstrong and Eli Ridder, The Canadian Press