Mills: Terry Fox shouldnt be on Canada's $5 bill

Despite his likability and accomplishment, in the grand scheme of history, Terry Fox is a relatively minor figure.

Published Jan 06, 2025  •  Last updated 3 hours ago  •  3 minute read

This photo of Terry Fox was taken during his Marathon of Hope in 1980.

John Lennon once sang “The way things are going, They’re gonna crucify me.” After this article, I’m sure that Canadians will want to do the same to me.

You see, there are very few rules you can breach that would incur the wrath of the patriotic, maple syrup sippin’, Canadian. But one of them is that you can’t question anything relating to the legacy of Terry Fox.

I mean, it’s hard to find anything specific to dislike in the man himself. His story is inspiring. In 1980 he set about on a journey across Canada on one leg to raise money for cancer research. He made it 5,373 kilometres before being forced to stop. He had earlier lost a leg to cancer and now it had come for his lungs. His run helped inspire others, raising hundreds of millions for charity.

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Recently, it was announced that Terry Fox would appear on Canada’s $5 bill, relegating Sir Wilfred Laurier to the less circulated $50 bill. It follows the trend of replacing politicians on our bills with non-political but accomplished Canadians such as Viola Desmond (if you recall, she replaced Sir John A. Macdonald on our $10 bill). This would be the second time in recent years that a leading figure from our early Confederation was displaced from one bill to another or removed entirely.

So how can one be in opposition to Fox’s inclusion on our money?

Our currency should be reserved for those who built up our nation and contributed to the development of its identity and culture. Money should therefore be exclusively reserved for stately political figures and, only in exceptional cases, non-political figures of renown who helped define the Canadian national consciousness or contributed or helped raise awareness for Canada on the international stage.

Despite his likability, in the grand scheme of history, Terry Fox is a relatively minor figure. This is not to diminish his accomplishments. What he did for cancer research is worthy of praise, but it was not instrumental in developing the Canadian national character or its institutions. In fact, Fox has already been honoured with many statues, including one in downtown Ottawa on Sparks Street, and several schools and institutions have been named after him. His legacy is already secure.

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With his inclusion, it seems that the Bank of Canada is bending to popular tastes, choosing something bland and inoffensive rather than substantive in the historical sense. The decision also reeks of the “recency bias” that has infected every aspect of our society. Our collective past from before Confederation to the present is being abandoned for a curated version that focuses on a vision of Canada created after the Second World War.

In a 2014 poll, Terry Fox was ranked as the second greatest Canadian (much in the same way as J.K. Rowling has been named the greatest living British writer). As much as people like Terry Fox, I find it hard to believe that he is Canada’s second greatest figure, just as it would be ludicrous to rank Rowling as a great literary figure. For the record, I like both of these people, but I think the current public estimation of them has overshadowed more deserving figures. After all, just because the public believes a figure to be of historical importance, does not mean that it’s true.

The great Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla, who is on Serbia’s 100-dinar bill, once addressed a crowd of Belgrade students with the following message:

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“And if there is any glory and merit for humanity, to be attributed to my name, then that honor belongs more to the Serbian name, to the Serbian people from whose environment I originated.”

Tesla is not only one of the most important inventors but also someone who truly helped develop the Serbian national consciousness. Tesla was no statesman, but he contributed to Serbia’s image at home and abroad.

I love Terry, but he is not Tesla! Don’t put him on our currency.

Desmond Mills is an engineer and aspiring historian. A longtime Ottawa resident, he is interested in urban issues, politics, and culture.  

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