Hi i will be landing in toronto end of september on a IEC and i was wondering if you can show proof of funds by having canadian dollars or do you have to have the money in your account and have a recent date bank statement?

You need to show that you have $2500 Cad equivalent in your account as per this from the IEC link
On your arrival in Canada, you must have a statement from your bank account that must have been issued no more than one (1) week before your departure for Canada. It must clearly demonstrate you have sufficient funds in your account to support yourself financially for the first three months of your stay in Canada (C$2,500).

If you do not have a bank account statement that confirms you have sufficient funds to support yourself for the first three months of your stay in Canada (C$2,500) – at the time you arrive in Canada at the Port of Entry, you no longer meet the eligibility criteria to participate in the IEC initiative. As such, the Canada Border Services Agency officer who will examine your documentation may not issue your open work permit and may refuse your entry to Canada. It is therefore critical that you have this important piece of documentation with you when you first arrive in Canada.

If your banking institution will not provide you with a bank statement that demonstrates you have sufficient funds in your bank account to support yourself financially for the first three months of your stay in Canada (C$2,500), you may submit the following as proof of funds:
•A letter on official letterhead from your banking institution issued one (1) week before your departure for Canada that clearly shows your account balance, signed, dated, and preferably stamped.

Please note you must submit the original letter provided to you by your banking institution, not a photocopy.

Hi Laird88, we landed last Ocotber in Calgary just to activate our PR, we had a recent bank statement and a letter from our bank manager confirming the balance of our account and we were never asked for it at Immigration!! Better to have it though as its not worth running the risk of falling at the last hurdle!

IEC is different to landing. Under the IEC rules you must have proof of funds in your possession. If not then no TWP should be issued.
No proof of funds is required when doing a landing as you have to provide the proof before COPR cerificates are issued.

i landed in YYZ on IEC and was never asked for it...

Thanks for the info guys..

Not being asked for it is a decision of the officer as its MANDATORY under the IEC programme to have it as per post #2 taken from the IEC site.
Lets just say people have been refused their work permits because they dont have it when asked for it.

can i show proof of funds by having the cash?or does it have to be in an account with a recent statement?

Im tending to think $2500 in cash is better than a bank statement that was issued 2 days ago and you have since cleaned out the account
There again who wants to carry that sort of money around with them.

no don't chance it, the IEC CLEARLY STATE they want a letter/bank statement saying te cash is there...aside from that i'm guessing the officer is to going to stand there counting the cash to make sure its all there...

stick 2.5k in your account, ask for a statement, remove cash (if that's what you want to do)