NICE NEWS | New Canadian Coin Recognizes LGBT Community

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ARTIST RENDERING, NOT ACTUAL DESIGN

The Royal Canadian Mint is releasing a new $1 coin design next year, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada.

Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults was decriminalized in 1969, two years after then-justice minister Pierre Trudeau introduced amendments to the Criminal Code, famously declaring "there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation."

The new coin design was approved by the government of his son, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on Dec. 14.

NEW $10 BILL

The Mint refused to provide an image or information about the new coin — including its release date and the artist's name — saying it wants to "maximize the impact" of the official launch.

The coin's approval follows new legislation that came into force last June, as part of Justin Trudeau's 2017 apology to LGBT Canadians for past acts of discrimination by the authorities.

The official apology also came with a budget of $145 million, which includes $110 million for compensation for LGBT former civil servants whose careers were sidelined or terminated because of their sexuality, and $15 million for historical reconciliation, education and memorialization efforts.

Mint spokesman Alex Reeves said two LGBT groups were consulted during the planning for the coin: the Toronto-based advocacy group Egale Canada and the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity (CCGSD), based in Ottawa.

Earlier this year, the Bank of Canada issued a new design for the $10 banknote celebrating Viola Desmond, a black woman who challenged racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, N.S., in 1946.