Majority of Canadians back Terry Fox as the new face of the $5 bill, poll finds

Nearly six in 10 Canadians would like to see B.C. hero Terry Fox as the new face of the five dollar bill, according to a poll from the Angus Reid Institute.

The Bank of Canada is preparing to redesign the high-circulation note, and has released a shortlist of eight candidates to appear on it.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the nation’s seventh prime minister, is the current face of the five.

According to the poll, 57 per cent of Canadians support replacing Laurier with Fox.

The Marathon of Hope runner and iconic face of cancer fundraising efforts was the top choice of Canadians in every region of the country, according to the Angus Reid Institute.

7:18 Hometown Hero: Terry Fox’s brother on the 40th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope

Indigenous soldier Binaaswi (Francis Pegahmagabow) was the second choice, with 21 per cent support, including one in four residents of Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada.

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Quebecers (34 per cent) and younger women (27 per cent) showed strong support for women’s rights advocate Robertine Barry, the country’s first French Canadian journalist.

Fox, a cancer patient and amputee, was born in Winnipeg, but raised in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

The 22-year-old became a national icon with his 1980 attempt to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

Fox would run more than 5,300 km, from St. John’s, N.L., to Thunder Bay, Ont., before cancer spread to his lungs and forced him to cut the run short. Ten months later, the disease took his life.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from November 12 to 16, 2020 among a representative randomized sample of 1,578 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.