Canadian ten-dollar note


The Canadian ten-dollar note is one of the most common banknotes of the Canadian dollar.
The current $10 note is purple, and the obverse features a portrait of Viola Desmond, a Black Nova Scotian businesswoman who challenged racial segregation at a film theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, in 1946. The background of the portrait is a colourful rendition of the street grid of Halifax, Nova Scotia, including the waterfront, Citadel and Gottingen Street, where Desmond's Studio of Beauty Culture was located. Foil features on the note face include both the Flag and Coat of Arms of Canada. This is the first Canadian banknote to feature neither a prime minister nor a royal in its solo portrait, and the first to feature a solo female Canadian other than Queen Elizabeth II.
The reverse features the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Part of the background pattern mirrors the museum's interior architecture and its ramps connecting multiple levels. A foil eagle feather is prominent, symbolizing ideals such as truth, power and freedom. A quotation from section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms appears in both English and French.
The foil window at the base of the note includes an iridescent rendering of the Library of Parliament's vaulted dome ceiling, which can be seen from both sides of the note.
The vertical $10 note entered circulation on November 19, 2018.
SeriesMain colourObverseReverseSeries YearIssuedWithdrawn
1935 SeriesPurpleMary, Princess Royal and Countess of HarewoodHarvest allegory193511 March 1935
1937 SeriesPurpleGeorge VITransportation allegory193719 July 1937
1954 SeriesPurpleElizabeth IIMount Burgess, British Columbia19549 September 1954
Scenes of CanadaPurpleJohn A. MacdonaldPolymer Corporation oil refinery in Sarnia, Ontario19718 November 197127 June 1989
Birds of Canada PurpleJohn A. MacdonaldOsprey198927 June 198917 January 2001
Canadian Journey Series PurpleJohn A. MacdonaldPeacekeeping forces and war memorial; poppy field and excerpt from "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae200117 January 200118 May 2005
Canadian Journey Series PurpleJohn A. MacdonaldPeacekeeping forces and war memorial; poppy field and excerpt from "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae200518 May 20057 November 2013
Frontier Series PurpleJohn A. MacdonaldThe Canadian passenger train20137 November 2013
Commemorative Issue PurpleJohn A. Macdonald, George-Étienne Cartier, Agnes MacPhail, James GladstoneVariety of Canadian vistas20171 June 2017
2018 Series PurpleViola DesmondCanadian Museum for Human Rights201819 November 2018

Unannotated references