stephen s poloz : unveiling of new $ 10 note remarks by mr stephen s poloz, governor of the bank of canada, at the unveiling of the new $ 10 note, halifax, nova scotia, 8 march 2018. * * * it is the bank of canada ’ s job to design, produce and distribute bank notes that canadians can use with confidence and pride. bank notes are designed to be not only secure and durable, but also works of art that tell the stories of canada. i am confident that you will agree that this new $ 10 note fits the bill. trust is vital to everything we do as canada ’ s central bank. and the most tangible way we earn canadians ’ trust is by supplying the highest quality bank notes. you handle them every day, trusting that they are durable, safe and easy to use. even though people have more ways than ever to make electronic payments, the number of bank notes in circulation continues to climb. and thanks to past innovations, such as the introduction of polymer, counterfeiting rates remain low, and our bank notes last longer and wear better. but at the bank of canada, we continually strive to innovate and improve. i am immensely proud to say that a great deal of innovation went into the note you are about to see. for starters, there was the question of whose portrait would appear on the front. both the minister of finance and i agreed that it was long past time for a bank note to feature an iconic canadian woman. that has been a goal of mine since i became governor. but with so many excellent choices, we took a new approach to involve canadians directly in the decision - making process. and boy, did canadians get involved. we received over 26, 000 nominations from coast to coast to coast. a great national conversation took place — in schools, in the press, and in social media — about the important contributions so many iconic women have made to our history. i thank all canadians for their engagement — it made the journey to develop this bank note truly unique. i would also like to give a special thanks to the independent advisory council that we set up to help us narrow down the nominations. this eminent group of academics, as well as sports, culture and other thought leaders, were invaluable throughout this process. several of them are here with us today — so thank you once again. as you know, nova scotian viola desmond was ultimately chosen to appear on the new note.

and it ’ s also in the public interest to protect some degree of privacy. 12 universal access would need to be another key feature of a central bank digital currency. that means ensuring that remote and marginalized communities — including but not limited to the underbanked and unbanked — are not left out of this new way to pay for goods and services. as part of our advancing work, the bank has been researching and experimenting with different technologies. in addition, we recently engaged three university project teams to independently develop proposals for what a digital currency ecosystem could look like. their reports will be released tomorrow. this blue - sky thinking will help inform our research going forward. we are also carefully considering what the business model for a canadian central bank digital currency might look like : what role would the private sector play in its development, distribution and transfer? how would this product interface with canada ’ s core payments systems that transfer funds among financial institutions to settle both retail and large - scale payments? j. chiu and t. koeppl, “ payments and the dna of big tech. ” presentation at the future of money and payments : implications for central banking, bank of canada annual economic conf erence, november 5, 2020. r. j. garratt and m. r. c. van oordt, “ privacy as a public good : a case for electronic cash, ” bank of canada staff discussion paper no. 2019 - 24 ( july 2019 ). modernizing our core payments systems long before the pandemic hit, efforts to modernize canada ’ s core payments systems had already begun. this work is important, and with the rapid expansion of the digital economy accelerated by the pandemic, we can now see the benefits more clearly. led by payments canada, several key players in the payments ecosystem — such as interac, commercial banks and other stakeholders — have been working to bring these payments systems fully into the modern digital age. the bank of canada is heavily involved as a central bank, a regulator and, in some cases, a participant. over the next year or so, these improvements will start to come online. this is important for canadians because it will mean greater speed, convenience, competition and choice in how people pay for goods and services. right now, the fastest and most immediate money transfers we see are e - transfers. but the new real - time rail system — which will go live in 2022 — will provide real - time payments beyond what is