09/08/2026
Canada is putting Terry Fox on its money.
The Bank of Canada has confirmed that the Marathon of Hope runner will appear on the country’s next $5 bank note. The new polymer note will be predominantly blue and use the vertical format being introduced for Canada’s newer bank notes.
Fox was chosen following a national nomination and advisory process. More than 600 nominees met the eligibility requirements before an independent advisory council narrowed the list to eight Canadians. The final decision was made by the Minister of Finance in December 2024.
His Marathon of Hope began on April 12, 1980, when Fox set out from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to run across Canada and raise money for cancer research. He ran about 5,373 kilometres over 143 days before being forced to stop near Thunder Bay on September 1, when doctors discovered that his cancer had spread to his lungs.
Fox di*d in 1981, but the run he started continued. Terry Fox Runs are now held in countries around the world, and the Terry Fox Foundation announced in February 2026 that fundraising inspired by his legacy had surpassed C$1 billion for cancer research.
The new $5 note is still being developed, and the Bank of Canada has not announced a release date. It will enter circulation after the new vertical $20 note, which is scheduled to appear in early 2027.
For a country that watched Terry Fox run with a prosthetic leg toward a goal he never got to finish, seeing his image on everyday currency will give millions of Canadians another reason to remember his story.
