麻豆传媒

Skip to main content

Pianist Oscar Peterson becomes first Black Canadian featured on a circulation coin

(Source: Royal Canadian Mint) (Source: Royal Canadian Mint)
Share
TORONTO -

Canadians will soon be able to carry a piece of national music history in their wallets with the launch of a coin commemorating legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.

The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a one-dollar circulation coin Thursday honouring the late Montreal artist.

Mint president and CEO Marie Lemay says Peterson is both the first Black Canadian and the first musician to be featured on a circulation coin.

The mint is issuing three million coins depicting Peterson, known as 鈥渢he man with four hands,鈥 playing the piano.

The coin will start circulating on Aug. 15 to coincide with Peterson's birthday.

His widow, Kelly Peterson, says the illustration also includes the final notes of his 1962 composition 鈥淗ymn to Freedom,鈥 which was embraced as an anthem of the civil rights movement.

鈥淚 hope (Canadians) will think about not only Oscar's contributions as a pianist and a composer, but also that they'll think about what he stood for,鈥 Kelly Peterson told reporters.

鈥淭hat they will think about the example he set for civil rights and human rights, standing up for people who could not speak for themselves.鈥

While his musical talents won him international recognition, Peterson never forgot he was Canadian, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said at the unveiling in Toronto.

鈥淚'm so glad that Oscar Peterson's story will reach every corner of Canada three million times, told over and over and over again,鈥 Freeland told the crowd at Roy Thomson Hall.

鈥淗is story is important because he was an amazing, generous and brilliant musician. And it's important because Oscar Peterson was successful as a Black man.鈥

Pianist and composer Thompson Egbo-Egbo paid tribute to Peterson with a special performance.

Born in Montreal in 1925, Peterson is widely regarded as one of the foremost jazz pianists of his generation, winning numerous Juno and Grammy Awards over his 60-year career.

He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame before dying of kidney failure in 2007 at the age of 82.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2022.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

British Columbia saw a rare unanimous vote in its legislature in October 2019, when members passed a law adopting the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, setting out standards including free, prior and informed consent for actions affecting them.

A pedestrian has died after reportedly getting struck by an OPP cruiser in Bala early Sunday morning.

Two and a half years after losing her best friend and first love to suicide, Brooke Ford shared her story of grief and resilience at the CMHA Windsor-Essex Suicide Awareness Walk.

opinion

opinion How to make the most out of your TFSA

The Tax-Free Savings Account can be a powerful savings tool and investment vehicle. Financial contributor Christopher Liew explains how they work and how to take full advantage of them so you can reach your financial goals faster.

Local Spotlight

A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.

When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.

A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.

Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.

Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.

A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.

An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.

An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.