Woman for the ages

• Author: Glenn Gottselig
• Position: Staff of Finance & Development
• Pages: 60-61

60 FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT | March 2019

CURRENCY NOTES

A SUCCESSFUL black businesswoman is jailed, c on-

victed, and fined for refusi ng to leave a whites-only

area of a movie theater in 1946. Local Baptist

church leaders step in to lend assistanc e. An appeal

proceeds through t he court system, but ultimately

proves unsuccessfu l. Sixty years on, a government

apology and posthumous pa rdon attempt to right

the wrong.

A page torn from a history book recordin g events

from the southern United States? Not quite.

While reminiscent of incidents that occurred

much farther south in the early part of the 20th

century, the episode trans-

pired in Nova Scotia, one of

the maritime province s on

the east coast of Ca nada.

Viola Desmond and her

court case became an inspi-

ration for the pursuit of racial

equality across Canada. A

testament to an oft neglected

but marked moment in

Canadian history, her like-

ness now appears on Canada’s

$10 ba nkno te.

As Canada’s first ver-

tical ba nknote, the new

$10 bill features enhanced

security features that are

easy to check and difficult

to counterfeit, including:

• a color-shifting eagle

feather that cha nges from

gold to green;

• raised ink on various p arts

of the bill; and

• detailed met allic i mages

—the Library of

Parliament’s vaulted

dome ceiling, maple

leaves, and Canada’s flag

and coat of arms—i n and

around the large tra ns-

parent window.

Exceptional process

In 2014, the Bank of Canada reviewed the proces ses

used to select and design t he visual content of its

polymer banknotes. e resu lt was a commitment

by the bank to consult more openly and broadly

within Canad a on the development of the theme,

subject matter, and images for new ban knote series.

At the November 2018 launch of the new $10

note featuring Desmond, Bank of Ca nada Governor

Stephen Poloz described the early stages of the new

process: “Finance Minister Bill Morneau agreed

with me that it was long past ti me to feature an

iconic Canadian woma n on the front of a regularly

circulating ban knote,” he said. “So the bank asked

Canadians to tel l us who that woman should be. And

that invitation unleashed a flood of nominations—

over 25,000 of them.”

e nominations resulted in a list of 461 qual-

ified nominees. An independent advisor y council

whittled the roll down to 12, and a public opinion

survey then aske d Canadians to weig h in. Just

under 90 percent of respondents had no objections

to any of the 12 women. History experts helped

the council produce a short list of five names,

and focus groups then convened to offer ordinar y

Canadians’ opinions of the five women. e list

met with approval and advanced to t he bank, where

the governor then consulted with the minister of

finance. Per the Bank of Ca nada Act, the minister

made the final decision.

“Banknotes are not only a secu re means of

payment that Canadia ns can use with confidence.

ey also tell the stories t hat have shaped our

country,” said Poloz. “Now, e ach time this new

vertical $10 bill changes ha nds, it will remind

us of our continued pursuit of human rights a nd

social justice in Ca nada.”

Time for change

When Desmond purchased her ticket at t he movie

theater that day in 1946, she received admis sion

to the balcony—the seating generally reserved

for nonwhite customers. But being nearsighted,

and unaware of the policy, she went to sit in the

The new $10 note is the first vertically oriented banknote issued

in Canada. It allows use of a more prominent image of Viola

Desmond and differentiates the new $10 note from previously

issued polymer notes.

PHOTOS: BANK O F CANADA

Woman for the Ages

Canada’s new $10 bill delivers a history lesson

Glenn Gottselig