Canadian icon Terry Fox to be featured on new $5 bill

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OTTAWA — Terry Fox has been selected to appear on the next $5 bank note.

The federal government made the revelation in its fall economic statement on Monday.

Fox is a Canadian icon who campaigned for cancer research by running his Marathon of Hope in 1980.

An amputee himself after losing his leg to cancer, Fox’s marathon raised more than $24 million dollars — $1 for every Canadian at the time.

He was the youngest person to be named a Companion of the Order of Canada before his death in 1981 when his cancer spread to his lungs.

The annual fundraising run in his name has raised more than $850 million for cancer research.

In 2020 the Bank of Canada held a six-week public consultation, and Fox was among eight “iconic Canadians” who were shortlisted from more than 600 nominations.

The fall economic statement says Fox’s addition to the $5 bill is “to inspire more Canadians to give $5 to the cause that Terry Fox championed.”

“Through his efforts, the 22-year-old showed Canadians the difference that an ordinary person could make through sheer willpower and determination,” reads a passage from the economic update.

Fox will replace Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who will move from the $5 bill to the $50 note. It’s unclear what will come of William Lyon Mackenzie King who is currently on the $50 bill.

“Terry Fox’s legacy transcends differences,” said Port Coquitlam mayor Brad West in a statement posted to X. The city — Fox’s hometown — was behind an effort to get Fox on the $5 bill, with West writing letters to the governor of the Bank of Canada pushing for it.

“On behalf of the people of Port Coquitlam, I want to express our immense pride that our hometown hero is being honoured as the new face on Canada’s $5 bill.”