Columnists
Of notes
When Justin Trudeau was asked why the cabinet he formed after his election last year was exactly 50 per cent female, his iconic reply was that “It’s 2015.”
The following spring, on International Women’s Day, the Bank of Canada announced they would be releasing a new banknote, with an as-of-yet unspecified denomination, that would feature a woman born or naturalized in Canada.
Until today, the only woman to feature on Canadian money is Queen Elizabeth.
The announcement was followed by a nationwide call for suggestions. The corporation received more than 26,000 suggestions, pared down to 461 eligible nominees, and then, earlier this year, reduced that to a list of 12.
After online voting and deliberation, last week the organization released the final five: five women the Bank of Canada felt would best represent Canada on a future bank note. The winner will be announced on December 8, and the note will be released in 2018.
There are currently five Canadian banknotes in circulation. Of the 5, 10, 20, 50 and $100 notes, four depict men, all former Canadian prime ministers, and one can only be considered a Canadian when paying lip service to an antiquated system of parliamentary monarchy that is more symbolic than patriotic.
But the bank is constantly issuing special edition notes and coins, printing and pressing other images that are meant to celebrate this country. Although the final woman chosen for some unknown denomination will be a permanent fixture on that bill, it will just be the one, leaving three men and a queen (who may shortly be replaced by her son) on the remaining notes.
The question burns in my mind. If our parliament can be represented by 50 per cent women, why not our currency?
Putting the Queen aside for a moment—for fear of raising the ire of faithful monarchists— why couldn’t we keep all five women in the running?
Perhaps print alternating notes: Quebecois suffragette Idola Saint-Jean could share the $5 bill with Canada’s first Francophone leader, Wilfrid Laurier, for example.
And Viola Desmond, Canada’s Rosa Parks, could grace every other $10 note, much to the chagrin of the ghost of Sir John A. Macdonald, not known for enlightened views on racial equality. Mohawk poet E. Pauline Johnson could counter the colonialist echoes of Queen Elizabeth on the $20. Aeronautical engineer Elsie MacGill could partner up with William Lyon Mackenzie King, known for furthering Canadian autonomy from the British Empire, on the $50. And athlete and sports columnist Fanny Rosenfeld could be the yin to lawyer and prime minister Robert Borden’s yang on the Canadian $100.
It is too late now to make suggestions, as the Bank of Canada has completed its process. But with five accomplished Canadian women vying for a spot on one of five Canadian notes, the words of our current (white, middle-aged, male) prime minister echo, although they’re already out of date.
When the Bank of Canada reveals the chosen Canadian woman next week, it might be worth asking why she’s alone. Because, after all, it’s 2016.
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