New $10 banknote featuring Viola Desmond has been unveiled on International Women’s Day

Bank of Canada issues its first vertical banknote. Source: bankofcanada.ca

Starting today, November 19, the new vertical $10 banknote featuring the portrait of Viola Desmond will gradually enter circulation.

Stay tuned! The new #vertical10 banknote will gradually enter circulation starting Nov 19. Watch the official event on our website, live from @CMHR_News, on Monday at 11 AM (ET). https://t.co/Mgqj4Kfwk5

— Bank of Canada (@bankofcanada) November 18, 2018

The banknote has been unveiled by the Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bank of Canada Governor Stephen S. Poloz on International Women’s Day.

Viola Desmond was selected for the new $10 banknote by Minister Morneau following an open call to Canadians to nominate an iconic Canadian woman for the next redesigned banknote. A successful Black Nova Scotian businesswoman, Viola Desmond defiantly refused to leave a whites-only area of a movie theatre in 1946 and was subsequently jailed, convicted and fined. Her court case is one of the first known legal challenges against racial segregation brought forth by a Black woman in Canada.

This new $10 note is the first vertically oriented banknote issued in Canada. This will allow for a more prominent image of Viola Desmond and differentiates this new $10 note from the current polymer notes.

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