ADAMS: In putting down Terry Fox, the Ottawa Citizen reveals why he belongs on our currency
The problem with publishing every contrarian thought that walks through the door is that occasionally you end up with an argument so willfully obtuse it ceases to be a contribution to public discourse and becomes a kind of performance art. Such is the case with Desmond Mills' recent column arguing that Terry Fox does not belong on the $5 bill.
Let us stipulate what should be obvious: Mr. Mills is entitled to his opinion. He is even entitled to publish it. But the rest of us are equally entitled to call it what it is—a masterclass in missing the point.
Mills concedes that Terry Fox's story is “inspiring.” He allows that the Marathon of Hope raised hundreds of millions for cancer research. Then he proceeds to argue that Fox is, in the grand scheme of history, a “relatively minor figure” who was not “instrumental in developing the Canadian national character or its institutions.”
This is not analysis. It is a category error.
The question of who belongs on our currency is not merely a matter of who signed a constitutional document or served as prime minister. It is a question of who we are—and who we aspire to be. On that measure, it is difficult to think of a Canadian who more fully embodies the national character than Terry Fox.
Consider what he actually did. At 18, he lost a leg to cancer. While undergoing treatment, he saw fellow patients, many of them children, suffering in ways that he described as unbearable. His response was not to write a cheque or organize a gala. It was to run a marathon every single day, on one leg, across a country that was not yet connected by reliable highways, with no support crew to speak of, in the certain knowledge that the cancer could return at any moment.
He made it 5,373 kilometres before his body finally gave out. He was 22 years old when he died.
Mills argues that Fox's legacy is already “secure” thanks to statues and school namings. But this misses the point entirely. The reason there are statues and school namings is precisely that Canadians recognize in Fox something that transcends political accomplishment. He did not build an institution. He built something harder to quantify: a shared sense of what is possible when ordinary people refuse to quit.
The column compares Fox unfavourably to Nikola Tesla, suggesting that Tesla “truly helped develop the Serbian national consciousness” in a way Fox did not for Canada. With respect, this is nonsense. Ask any Canadian what unites them across regional, linguistic, and political divides, and the Terry Fox Run—held every year in thousands of communities—will be near the top of the list. That is national consciousness. That is shared identity. It did not come from a parliamentary debate. It came from a young man with a prosthetic leg who decided to run.
Mills dismisses Fox's popularity as “recency bias” and compares it to ranking J.K. Rowling as a great literary figure. The implication is that public affection is inherently suspect—that what ordinary Canadians value must be less worthy than what an “aspiring historian” deems substantive.
This is the real problem with the column. It mistakes cynicism for sophistication. It confuses being provocative with being brave. And it fundamentally misunderstands what money is for. Our banknotes are meant to reflect what we value, what we remember, and what we hope to pass on. Terry Fox represents the best of that—not because he was a statesman, but because he showed us what one person can do when driven by something larger than self-interest.
The Ottawa Citizen was free to publish Mills' argument. But the rest of us are free to conclude that some opinions, however loudly stated, simply do not deserve to be taken seriously.
This country fell in love with Terry Fox not because he was perfect, but because he was relentless. That is exactly the kind of Canadian we ought to put on our money.
This piece was written by an individual contributor and reflects the editorial position of The Provincial Times and Left Lane Media Group. Read our Content Policy here.
