Canadians have one week left to nominate their choice, or choices, for women whose picture should adorn their money.
Since issuing a call for nominations last month, the Bank of Canada has received about 18,000 submissions to its website. Deadline for submissions is April 15. Citizens can nominate five women at a time and make as many submissions as they like.
Victoria historian Merna Forster, named this week to the committee that will help make the final selection, said as far as she is concerned, the more nominations, the better.
“Wouldn’t be wonderful if even more Canadians went to that site and nominated their favourite woman from Canadian history,” said Forster, author of two books: 100 Canadian Heroines, Famous and Forgotten Faces and 100 More Canadian Heroines.
Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the Bank of Canada would feature a woman on its next line of bank-notes. Since 1937, when the Bank of Canada started designing its own banknotes, only one woman has appeared alone on Canadian bills: the Queen. The Famous Five, who worked to improve women’s rights, were on the $50 bill for a time, but were replaced with an icebreaker in 2012.
Forster said there are several well-known contenders:
• Laura Secord, 1775-1868, was a heroine from the War of 1812. Secord walked 30 kilometres to warn the British of an American attack. The British, with their First Nation allies and Canadian militia, won a victory in the Battle of Beaver Dams, June 24, 1814.
• Nellie McClung, 1873-1951, was a tireless crusader for women’s rights, including the right to vote. McClung and four other women became known as the Famous Five for their battle to see women legally recognized as “persons” and eligible for seats in the Senate.
Forster also listed other less well-known Canadian women:
• Viola Desmond, 1914-1965, a black woman who fought a civil-rights case in Nova Scotia. In 1946, she was denied a seat on the main floor of a theatre (reserved for whites). She was ejected, jailed and later fined. In 2010, the Nova Scotia lieutenant-governor issued her a posthumous pardon.
• Tookoolito, 1838-1896, an Inuk guide and translator for the Arctic expeditions of Charles Francis Hall, who set out in the 1860s to look for the lost ships of the Franklin expedition.
Nominees must be Canadian and demonstrate leadership, achievement or distinction benefiting the people of Canada, or in the service of Canada.
Only people who have been dead for at least 25 years will be considered. To nominate someone, go to bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/banknoteable.
