Canada is about to get a new $10 bill
The face of Canada's $10-bill is changing, literally.
Starting next week, new versions of the bank note will go into circulation, featuring civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond.
It's my privilege to announce that Viola Desmond will be the first Canadian woman on a bank note. #bankNOTEable pic.twitter.com/jAOceW2ETX
— Bill Morneau (@Bill_Morneau) December 8, 2016
Desmond rose to prominence in the 1940s after refusing to give up her seat in an all-white movie theatre, for which she was arrested and put in jail. The moment famously occurred a decade before Rosa Parks made the same refusal on an Alabama bus.
Desmond will replace the current face of the bill, Canada's first Prime Minister, John A. McDonald. She was selected by popular vote in a country-wide survey earlier this year.
The bank note is also Canada's first vertical one, offering a better format for a portrait. On the back, it features the north end of Halifax, where Desmond owned a hair salon, and is one of the oldest black communities in the country.
Government of Canada
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