‘The Queen is in good company:’ New $10 bill with civil rights advocate launched

By The Canadian Press

WINNIPEG — Canada’s new $10 bill featuring civil rights advocate Viola Desmond is officially in circulation.

Desmond is the first Canadian woman to be featured on a regularly circulating banknote.

Her sister, 91-year-old Wanda Robson, attended the official launch at the Canadian Museum For Human Rights in Winnipeg and said the Queen — who is featured on most Canadian currency — is in good company.

Desmond was arrested after refusing to leave a whites-only section of a theatre in New Glasgow, N.S., in 1946.

Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz, who was also at the bill’s launch, said it’s all about human rights and social justice.

The banknote also features an image of the museum, an excerpt from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and an eagle feather in recognition of Indigenous people.

The Canadian Press

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