The Bank of Canada today unveiled Canada’s new $50 bank note at a ceremony in Calgary attended by Senator Joyce Fairbairn and David Dodge, Governor of the Bank of Canada.

The theme of the new note is Nation Building: shaping the political, legal, and social structures for democracy and equality.

The new $50 bank note is the last note of the Canadian Journey series, and incorporates anti-counterfeiting features similar to those found on the new $20 and $100 notes issued earlier this year.

Consistent with the theme of nation building, the back of the $50 note features a quotation from Article One of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. It states that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

The note also features four images that highlight the advancement, through history, of democracy and equal rights in Canada. These include the statue of the group of women known as the Famous Five, a depiction of a 1929 newspaper headline that reads “Women are Persons,” the Thérèse Casgrain Volunteer Award, and the scales of justice.

The new $50 note will be put into circulation beginning 17 November 2004, and will be available across the country within a few weeks of that date.