New banknote featuring Viola Desmond goes into circulation at UBC

Date/Time: Monday, Nov. 19, 12:30-1:30 p.m.

Viola Desmond banknote
The new $10 bill featuring Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond.

Location: Franklin Lew Forum, Peter A. Allard School of Law, 1822 East Mall, UBC Vancouver. Map: https://bit.ly/2y0zD23

Parking: A limited number of media parking spaces will be provided at the Allard Hall lot, across the field south of the building. Parking map: https://tinyurl.com/y7kfln8t

Event details: A new $10 bill featuring Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond goes into circulation, and members of the UBC community will have a chance to exchange their old bills for the new one.

The special event hosted by Peter A. Allard School of Law on behalf of the Bank of Canada includes a short program of speakers followed by the banknote exchange.

Desmond was a successful Nova Scotia businesswoman who was jailed, convicted and fined for defiantly refusing to leave a whites-only area of a movie theatre in 1946. Her courageous legal challenge was a milestone in the advancement of racial equality and human rights in Canada.

The federal government announced in 2016 that Desmond would become the first Canadian woman to be featured on a banknote in regular circulation.

Interviews:

  • Dean Catherine Dauvergne, Peter A. Allard School of Law
  • Farid Salji, Bank of Canada analyst