Imagine how great it would’ve been if the Bank had taken the request for multiculturalism seriously and had included on the bill a picture of people from various ethnicities engaged in important work or even doing something fun and Canadian like eating maple syrup. Yet replacing the Asian woman for a Caucasian one is only a step backwards. The best way to end stereotyping is with more representation, not less. Others who weren’t as blatantly racist pointed out that other minorities should be represented as well and that the image of the Asian scientist perpetuated stereotypes of Asians as model minorities. It is fairly ugly.” A few respondents even said that the yellow-brown colour of the bill “racialized” the banknote. When describing the original bill, a man in a Fredericton Focus Group said, “The person on it appears to be of Asian descent which doesn’t represent Canada. It recognises the important contributions that women and minorities have made in this country. And maybe that’s what makes this image so threatening some would rather forget that women of colour are important Canadian citizens who are worthy of recognition.
In the bottom left-hand corner there’s a cute little picture of a kid tobogganing who, it’s got to be said, is at least as “ethnic” as the supposedly Asian scientist. A child tobogganing doesn’t make much of a statement, whereas a woman of colour staring into a microscope next to a vial of insulin does. In fairness, the reverse side of the twenty-dollar bill does pay homage to the culture of British Columbia’s Aboriginal population and features a great quote from female Quebecois writer Gabrielle Roy: “ Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?” The five dollar bill has a winter-y looking scene of gender-neutral children playing hockey on a pond. The ship is a retrofit of the CCGS Sir John Franklin, a research vessel named after a British colonial explorer for whom I have as much fondness as he had for the French and the Inuit (i.e. Instead, the group of feminists who fought for women’s right to vote and be considered “persons” under the law will be replaced by an Arctic research boat, the CCGS Amundsen. Which is why I was less than impressed when I found out that the picture of the Five on the $50 bill will not make it onto the new polymer version. They can, however, aspire to be scientists or important feminist activists like the Famous Five who, up until recently, were depicted on our $50 bill. Little girls can’t hope to become queen when they grow up. After all, Queen Elizabeth stares at you with a hint of a smile from the back of every coin and twenty dollar bill but the Queen doesn’t exactly represent your average, every day woman. Positioned next to a vial of insulin, she not only represents the women throughout history who’ve worked behind the scenes of the country’s important scientific breakthroughs, but she also gives national visibility to female scientists.Īt a glance, it may seem like women are well represented on Canada’s money.
A depiction of a woman peering into a microscope was right on the feminist money, so to speak. As we’re all too aware, the maths and sciences are still male-dominated fields and the achievements of women in science are often downplayed. Magazine congratulated Canada on representing a female scientist on its money.
When the $100 bill made the news last year, there was no discussion of race or ethnicity. But there’s a world of difference between finding a bill too sexual (or creepy or magical) and finding it too Asian the former is simply laughable while the latter is racist. Adhering to the recommendations of the focus groups, the Bank has made some changes to the new currency. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that we Canadians are a strange and horny bunch whom the Bank of Canada actually takes seriously. The 200 Best Lesbian, Bisexual & Queer Movies Of All Time.