Ottawa

Bank of Canada Museum to showcase life of Viola Desmond

A new temporary exhibition opening today at the Bank of Canada Museum shows off the country's new vertically-oriented $10 bill and the woman who appears on it.

Civil rights icon appears on Canada's new $10 banknote

Viola Desmond's sister Wanda Robson holds Canada's new vertically-oriented $10 banknote during a March 2018 press conference in Halifax. A new exhibition at the Bank of Canada Museum in Ottawa delves into both Desmond's life and the imagery on that bill. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

A new temporary exhibition opening today at the Bank of Canada Museum shows off the country's new vertically-oriented $10 bill and the woman who appears on it.

A Noteworthy Woman features rare artifacts from the life of Viola Desmond, the Nova Scotia woman who refused to give up her seat in the whites-only section of a movie theatre in 1946.

She was dragged out of the theatre, fined $26 and spent a night in jail.

Among the items on display is face powder from the her line of cosmetics and a notebook she used to keep track of beauty product recipes and prices.

This sepia face powder is just one of the artifacts on display as part of the Bank of Canada Museum's new exhibition on Viola Desmond, titled A Noteworthy Life. (Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia)

It also showcases the posthumously-awarded pardon that Desmond, who died in 1965, was awarded in 2010. 

The exhibition runs until next May.

Visitors will be able to exchange their old $10 bills for the vertical banknotes on Saturday and Sunday.

The notes officially entered circulation earlier this month.