The Bank of Canada unveiled a special $10 bank note Friday to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation.
“We’re very proud of this note,” said Monique LeBlanc, regional director of currency for the Bank of Canada.
The front of the note features Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir George-Étienne Cartier, Agnes Macphail and James Gladstone – four parliamentarians that played significant roles in Canada’s history.
“This is the first time the Bank has ever put four portraits on a bank note,” said LeBlanc.
The back of the note tells the story of Canada’s landscapes with images from coast to coast. “This bank note tells a lovely story of Confederation with images from our history, our culture and our landscapes,” she said.
The Canada 150 commemorative bank note will be available starting June 1, 2017. This is only the fourth commemorative bank note the Bank of Canada has issued in its 82 year history.
LeBlanc says there will be 40 million special $10 bills made available, one for every Canadian.
Next $10 bill to feature NS activist Viola Desmond
In December, Nova Scotia civil rights activist Viola Desmond was selected to grace the front of the $10 bill when the new series of bank notes goes into circulation of 2018.
In November 1946, Desmond refused to leave the whites only section of Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, N.S. She was forcibly removed from the theatre and spent the night in jail.
READ MORE: Who is Viola Desmond? The first Canadian woman to grace front of banknote
In April 2010, the province’s lieutenant-governor granted her a posthumous pardon and an official apology. Desmond was chosen out of 26,000 submissions from across the country in the search of who would be on the new $10 bill.
She will be the first Canadian woman to be celebrated on a regular circulating bank note.
WATCH: Viola Desmond to appear on new Canadian $10 banknote