I guess 1 BTC to ~$4.5 CAD [1] is considered a failure to some. Based on the average volume of 10K BTC a week, that's $45,000 CAD exchanging hands a week. Not mind blowing, but certainly not a failure, I would say.

[1] Average price from https://www.cavirtex.com/home

10K a week? Not by a long shot. Check out http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgoxUSD#rg60zm1g10zm2g25zxz... - Average looks more like 50K/day, and that's just one exchange (the biggest one). If you look at the chart over the longer term, you can see the volumes steadily rising.