Canadian icon Terry Fox will soon make his way to the $5 bank note, the federal government announced in its Fall Economic Statement (FES) on Monday.
The federal government’s budget document described Fox, who campaigned to raise awareness and funding for cancer research by running the Marathon of Hope, as a “Canadian hero.”
“The 2024 Fall Economic Statement announces that Terry Fox will appear on the next $5 bank note,” the document, released on Monday, read.
The government said this was being done to inspire more Canadians to give $5 to the cause that Terry Fox championed.
But what will happen to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the former prime minister who is currently on the $5 bank note? The Fall Economic Statement announced that Laurier will move from the $5 bank note to appear on the next version of the $50 note.
Terry Fox ran his 42-km daily run on a prosthetic leg. By February 1981, the Marathon of Hope had raised $24.7 million or $1 for every Canadian. His run was interrupted just past the half-way point when the cancer reached his lungs, and ultimately took his life.
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“Through his efforts, the 22-year-old showed Canadians the difference that an ordinary person could make through sheer willpower and determination,” the federal government said in the document.
Terry Fox Runs are held every year, across the country, and around the world to raise money for cancer research.
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