Terry Fox to become the new face of Canada's five-dollar bill

On Monday, the Canadian government announced in its fall economic statement that a new face will be coming to the country’s $5 bill: the late Canadian icon Terry Fox.

Fox became a national hero in the 1980s with his cross-Canada run to raise money for cancer research, titled the Marathon of Hope. Fox ran nearly 4,000 km of daily marathons for four and a half months, until he reached Thunder Bay, Ont., when his bone cancer returned. Fox died at the age of 22, but his legacy continues.

April 12, 2025, will mark 45 years since Fox set out on his Marathon of Hope. Now, the federal government will honour his journey with a picture of Fox on the new five-dollar bill.

The Marathon of Hope raised $24.7 million, which, at the time, was a dollar for every Canadian. Fox’s efforts showed Canadians the difference that an ordinary person could make, no matter their circumstances.

The current face on the five-dollar bill, that of former prime minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, will reportedly be moved to the next version of Canada’s fifty-dollar bill. Laurier has been on the Canadian $5 bill since 2013.

posted Saturday December 21st