Canada has named civil rights activist Viola Desmond, who challenged racial segregation in the 1940s, to appear on the country’s next $10 bill.

The new money is due to enter circulation late next year, and wraps up public consultations that generated 26,300 nominations and 461 candidates that met the official criteria. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz and Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced the winner on Thursday at the Canadian Museum of History just outside of Ottawa.

“Canadians have told us that it was long overdue,” Poloz said in Gatineau, Quebec.

Over Canada’s history, most of the images on banknotes have been men, with the recent exception of Queen Elizabeth II. The announcement follows moves in other countries to correct a gender imbalance, with the US Treasury choosing abolitionist Harriet Tubman for a $20 bill and the Bank of England choosing 19th-century novelist Jane Austen.

“I had the very, very difficult choice of finding just one” finalist, Morneau said.

Desmond (1914-1965) challenged racial segregation policies in the eastern province of Nova Scotia in 1946 — years before Rosa Parks helped spark the US civil rights movement by taking a similar fight against separate bus seating.

Desmond was jailed, convicted and fined for sitting in a whites-only section of a New Glasgow movie theatre, for attempted fraud over “the one-cent difference between the balcony seats” that segregated blacks and whites, according to an official biography.

Her younger sister was on hand for Thursday’s ceremony. “It’s a real big day to have my big sister on a banknote,” Wanda Robson said. Robson drew laughs from the crowd for detailing her sister’s scrappy nature, including her schoolteacher’s habit of correcting any bad grammar she overheard. “I really know if Viola were here how she would feel: She would feel so very proud.”

Canada said this new banknote will begin a bigger shift towards diversity on the nation’s currency. The next $5 bill will also feature someone chosen through a similar process, meaning some famous Canadian men are losing their spots.

By arrangement with Bloomberg-The Washington Post

Published in Dawn December 10th, 2016