Canada's new $10 bank note will depict social justice defender Viola Desmond and highlight the importance of human rights, according to an announcement by the Government of Canada.
It will also be the first time a portrait of a woman has been featured on Canada's currency, which will have a vertical design with "symbols that represent the country's ongoing pursuit of rights and freedoms," said a press release.
Desmond, a successful black businesswoman, was jailed, convicted and fined for defiantly refusing to leave a whites-only area of a movie theatre in 1946. According to the press release, her court case is one of the first known legal challenges against racial segregation brought forward by a black woman in Canadian history.
The note will also feature a depiction of the North End of Halifax, the community where Desmond lived and operated a beauty school and salon.
Finance minister Bill Morneau announced the new bill design last week after it was nominated by Canadians in an open call to re-design the bill in 2016.
