Canada Reveals Officially All-New $10 Bill

Canada Reveals Officially All-New $10 Bill

Canada is making history today on International Women's Day! 

An all-new design for our $10 banknote is about to be unveiled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz.

Canada doesn't stir up the world too often, but when it does, it's usually for something amazing — and their new $10 bill sure qualifies. 

For one thing, the bill is vertical, which might take some time to get used to seeing in your wallet, eh?

Although vertical cash is certainly different, Canada's not alone in turning its bills on their heads.

Switzerland, with its triangular chocolate bars and square flag, also has vertical bills.

What's really special about Canada's new sawbuck, however, is who's on it. For the first time in its history, Canada has a woman on a bill who isn't the Queen of England: the amazing Viola Desmond.

You can think of her as Canada's Rosa Parks. Viola was arrested, convicted, and fined for refusing to leave her seat in a whites-only area of a theater in Nova Scotia. The kicker is that her stand happened in 1946, nine years before Rosa Parks refused to budge from her seat on the bus.

And yet, although Rosa Parks is a household name in America, many Canadians had no idea who Viola Desmond was.

Except for black women in Nova Scotia. They knew. But a big push to share her story started in the early 2000s, and it only picked up steam when the Bank of Canada asked for suggestions of who to put on the new design for the $10 bill. 

Quite possibly the coolest picture to come out of this is Viola's sister, Wanda Robson, getting to see and touch the new $10 bill.

"I was speechless," she told The Globe and Mail. "It's beyond what I ever thought. It's beautiful."

And judging by the reactions on Twitter, Wanda's not the only person who thought the new bill was beautiful. Folks are loving it.

It's hard to convey just how momentous an occasion this is until you see how many people are talking about it, and how they're talking about it.

Sadly, they'll all have to wait until late 2018 to actually get their hands on the new Viola bill. 

But there's no doubt now that it's coming, and it's about time.

What do you think of Canada's new $10 bill? Let us know in the comments!