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La Petite-monnaie, the local money that stays in Papineau

$100 gets you 105 Petites-monnaies, and the Ripon café takes them like dollars. How our local currency works, where to buy it and where to spend it.

By La Petite Nation ·

At Café des Orties in Ripon you can pay for your coffee with a bill showing an endangered local species and get your change back in ones. Not dollars. Petites-monnaies.

It's been circulating here for more than two years. It isn't a gift certificate. It's a real local currency, pegged to the Canadian dollar, and if you buy groceries, bread or a beer anywhere in La Petite-Nation, it's worth knowing about. Cottagers included.

What it is

La Petite-monnaie is a complementary local currency. Complementary because it doesn't replace the dollar, it runs alongside it. One Petite-monnaie is worth one dollar. An $8 loaf costs 8 Petites-monnaies.

It's run by the Coopérative de solidarité Place du Marché in Ripon, based at 4 rue du Marché. The idea goes back a while: in 2018 the co-op printed "Grosleau" notes (named after Ripon's founder) that its producers mostly used as fancy gift certificates. In 2023 it applied to the MRC's Agro Lab Petite Nation program, got accepted, and the project team went door to door signing up businesses. The currency started circulating on May 18, 2024.

The name supposedly came from Félix Fallon, a farmer at the Ripon market. When the team thanked him, he had no memory of suggesting it. We're keeping the story anyway.

The 5% bonus is real

Everyone asks, so we checked the official site. Yes, it's 5%.

  • At an exchange point, a sealed envelope of 105 Petites-monnaies costs $100.
  • In the app, every top-up gets +5%.

The bonus only happens when you swap dollars for Petite-monnaie. After that, prices are the same at the counter whether you pay in dollars or in Petites-monnaies. The merchant charges the normal price; the bonus comes with the exchange.

The fine print:

  • You can convert up to $500 at a time.
  • It's a one-way street for individuals. You can't turn Petites-monnaies back into dollars; only merchants can. Buy what you plan to spend.
  • It doesn't expire. The co-op calls it permanent.

On a $20 top-up the bonus is a dollar, so don't make a special trip. But if you already buy your meat, bread and groceries up here, 5% on $500 is $25 extra every time you reload.

Paper or phone

The bills are designed by local artists and feature vulnerable animal species from the territory. The co-op encourages collecting them. We spend ours.

The app launched in November 2024 and is free on Google Play and the App Store, or in a browser at moncompte.pmonnaie.ca. Scan the business's QR code and pay. You can also send Petites-monnaies to a friend, or to the neighbour selling you his old canoe.

To load the app, the co-op suggests Zeffy (no fee for the organization, activated within one or two business days) or an Interac transfer arranged by writing to info@pmonnaie.ca. Their online shop will also mail you paper bills, which is handy if you're in Ottawa or Montréal during the week, but that option has fees.

Where to buy it: the 12 exchange points

These are businesses that sell envelopes of bills at the till, for cash or debit. The co-op's published list:

Market

Coopérative Place du Marché

Ripon

Ripon's farmers' market, Saturday mornings from May to October, with produce, local foods, crafts and brunch. Plus Friday 5-to-7s and game nights.

Café

Café des Orties

Ripon

Non-profit community café inside the Manoir de Ripon, with organic local food, wine, beer, cider and cocktails, board games and art on the walls.

Shop

ChocoMotive

Montebello

A chocolate shop and economuseum in the old train station. Organic, fair-trade chocolate, made where you can watch.

Café

Les Mignardises

Papineauville

Café, pastry shop, ice cream and snack bar with a patio. Sweet or savoury, your call.

Grocery

Marché Faubert

Montpellier

Grocery, butcher counter, ready-to-eat meals, bakery and SAQ outlet under one roof. Reviewers keep bringing up the homemade pies.

Grocery

Dépanneur 10-10

Thurso

The corner store on rue Guy-Lafleur, listed in the town's directory.

Grocery

Dépanneur Bowman

Bowman

Gas, craft beer, wine and local products, including meats like wild boar and bison. Open seven days.

Restaurant

Carbo Barbecue

Duhamel

Maple-wood smoked meat in one of Duhamel's oldest houses: brisket, pulled pork, ribs. Vacuum-packed meals to take back to the cottage or campsite.

We're at Marché Faubert often enough to say it's one of the easiest: grab your envelope with the groceries and spend it at the butcher counter a few steps away. For cottagers heading north, Chocomotive in Montebello or Carbo BBQ in Duhamel are right on the way.

Where to spend it

The co-op's online directory lists 126 businesses as we write this, and the organization was talking about more than 156 in July 2026. Lots of farms and food, but also pharmacies, hardware stores, a hairdresser, a chimney sweep, a plumber, massage therapists.

A few from our own directory that take it:

Bakery

Boulangerie Nouvelle-France

Chénéville

The grey wooden house with the porch reopened on April 17, 2026 under new owners. Croissants, chocolatines, fougasse and all kinds of bread.

Butcher

Boucherie Les Produits David

Chénéville

Meat cut to order, tourtières, pâtés, cipaille and sugar pie. Cottagers stop here on their way up to the lake.

Bakery

La Fille du Boulanger

Ripon

A bakery that bakes to order so nothing goes to waste, at the same address as Les Moulins de Ripon.

Butcher

Ferme Moreau

Ripon

Artisan butcher in the village doing custom cutting, processing, cured meats and house specialties.

Restaurant

Resto-Pub Le Zouk

Montebello

A log-built pub with a big patio and local beer.

Shop

Wööl, emporium de laine

Montebello

Commercial yarn and hand-dyed skeins, plus workshops. The owner founded the Twist Festival.

Restaurant

La Toquade Bistro Bar

Saint-André-Avellin

Lyne Rossignol and Yves Cossette have run this bistro for more than 16 years. Duck leg, salmon they smoke themselves, and a long list of eggs…

Park

Parc des Montagnes Noires de Ripon

Ripon

800 acres of hills above Ripon. Hike up Mont Grand-Pic, 426 metres, climb the tower, and you get a full 360. On a clear day you can see Tremblant.

Look for the "Amène tes petites-monnaies ici" sticker in shop windows, and check the full list on pmonnaie.ca, because it keeps growing.

Good to know: any bill from $0 to $150 can be paid entirely in Petites-monnaies. On bigger bills a merchant can ask for part of it in dollars. Nobody's paying for a new roof in local currency, and that's fine.

Why it works here

Because the money keeps moving. The restaurant that takes your Petites-monnaies can pay a local farm for eggs with them, and the farm can pay some of its own suppliers. Since July 2026 Laiterie de l'Outaouais accepts it too, which gives grocers and restaurants one more place to spend what they collect.

Some published numbers: about 500,000 Petites-monnaies issued over two years, according to a 104.7 FM report in July 2026. Ripon's mayor has taken 30% of his salary in local currency since September 2025. And in 2026, with Alliance alimentaire Papineau, "Petite-monnaie solidaire" started loading food assistance straight into the app, to be spent at local butchers, bakers and farms.

It even has its own race: the Petite-monnaie Triathlon at Lac Viceroy in Ripon, in late August.

Getting started

Easiest way: walk into an exchange point with $100 and walk out with an envelope of 105. If you'd rather use your phone, download the app and top up through Zeffy.

Questions go to the co-op at 4 rue du Marché in Ripon, 873-663-1048, or pmonnaie.ca. For news, follow their Facebook page.

RiponMontebelloPapineauvilleBowmanThursoSaint-André-AvellinMontpellierChénévilleDuhamelVal-des-BoisLochaber

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