Changing the faces of Canada’s money
To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau along with Finance Minister Bill Morneau made a special announcement about the new series of Canadian banknotes.
According to CBC, Trudeau told press, “A Canadian woman will be featured on the very first of the next series of bills expected in 2018.”
To be more accurate, what the prime minister has announced is a reintroduction of women to the Canadian banknotes. The Famous Five, a group of Canadian suffragettes, were featured on the $50 note along with Québec feminist Therese Casgrain before the most recent redesign, where they were all replaced by an Arctic icebreaker.
“One of the very first things I had the honour of doing as the new finance minister was asking the governor of the Bank of Canada, Stephen Poloz, and his colleagues at the bank whether it’s in fact possible to put a woman on the bank note,” said Morneau.
In 2013, governor of the Bank of Canada Stephen Poloz stated he was open to the idea of reintroducing women to the bank notes, but not until the next major redesign. It is clear this is an idea that has been circulating for years and has resurfaced many times.
Back in January, when asked whether or not he supported adding Canadian women to banknotes, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said, “I can say that I would be strongly supportive of a recommendation from the Bank of Canada to put an iconic woman or women on the bank note.”
After this statement in January, Twitter was overloaded with thoughts about who should be featured on the next series of banknotes. At that time, the most popular contenders included painter Emily Carr, suffragette Nellie McClung and Canada’s first female astronaut Roberta Bondar.
Now that the ball is finally rolling on this endeavour, the Bank of Canada is accepting nominations from all Canadians. In order to nominate a woman for the new bill, you can visit the Bank of Canada website to fill out a nomination form up until April 15.
According to a release from the central bank, appropriate nominees are any Canadian woman who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, achievement or distinction in any field. The nominees must not be a fictional character and must have died prior to April 15, 1991, meaning our beloved Roberta Bondar won’t be eligible.
Once this nomination period is over, a team of academics and cultural leaders will create a short-list for presentation to the Finance Minister.
With the official announcement last Tuesday there has been an outpouring of suggestions from social media as to who should be the next woman featured on our bills.
The two most popular choices on the CBC forum right now are Nellie McClung and Laura Secord. Other popular suggestions were artist Emily Carr once again, civil rights icon Viola Desmond, and author Lucy Maud Montgomery, all of whom would be exceptional candidates to represent Canada on our currency.
Emily Carr for example, brought Canadian and native art to the world stage, while members of the Famous Five were among the original Canadian feminists and fought tirelessly for women’s rights.
While I’m sure there will be plenty of chatter throughout the next month as to which women have done the most for Canadian society and which women best represent Canadian values, for some, including B.C. MP Sheila Malcolmson, this announcement came as an opportunity for further discussion about gender equality in the country.
“It would be great to see a woman on a hundred dollar bill but it’d be even better if women didn’t only make $72 for every $100 men make for work of equal value. That’s why it’s time to close the wage gap,” said Malcolmson.
With all of the passionate discussion this announcement has sparked, 2016 is promising to be an exciting year for women in Canada. Putting women back on our banknotes is just the first step, there’s no telling where we’ll go next.