I would try to find a bank with business in both countries. Then open an account with that bank. There will be an exchange rate and service fee probably, but 1800/15000 seems excessive... bad banker!
Paypal even if they accepted that much money... and they probably would accept it into an account, are going to charge one end of the transaction so never free... they do allow free (AFAIK) transfers between PAYPAL accts and account holders bank accts, but I don't know about between different countries. And who want to risk that much money with PAYPAL who can be arbitrary sometimes about releasing funds.
I'd investigate going to a large International bank, but these days the banks in some smaller countries are not exactly considered the most solid because of sovereign debt risk.
Another possible way to transfer wealth is to open a stock market acct, again with an institution that does business in both countries. If you can transfer securities between your account(s) in both countries, purchasing some liquid security over there, and selling it over here should only cost you the bid/ask spread and brokerage fees for the transaction that should be less than the 10%+ you are seeing.
If this works, then you need to look for a security that is relatively stable. With all the volatility in markets it is hard to pick a very stable asset class, but you can do some homework looking at historical charts. IF THIS CAN BE DONE.
Historically for a duration of days not weeks, you should be able to find a relatively stable asset class, but these are interesting times, not in a good way, for markets.
Another thought, there are even markets that trade currencies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_market
If you can get to a Fourex broker/market in that country you may be able to buy dollars with that other currency. Of course you still have to move the money, so again an account of some sort that spans both countries could be of value.
I wonder if the Canadian embassy in that foreign country has any advice? Large currency moves must be reported (into the US) but I am not aware of any prohibition... most countries like visitors carrying money.
JR
Note: at the moment there are pretty volatile daily swings on US dollar VS. Euro currency, due to the day to day public announcements, like recent Greek threat of a referendum (as if that is likely). I don't know how tightly the Loonie tracks the greenback, but I'm guessing it's closer to the dollar than Euro. So FWIW there is another source of possible exchange rate variance wrt timing. in other words you will get a better exchange rate coming this way after good news for Euro zone. Worse rate when there is a flight to safety and dollar strengthens.