Twelve amazing candidates
Who would you choose for your bank NOTE-able woman?
On 15 April, the public consultation to select an iconic Canadian woman to appear on a bank note closed. Over 26,000 nominations were received following the Bank of Canada’s open call—a great success. When you consider that the United Kingdom’s public response for their bank note consultation was 29,076 out of a population of 64 million—ours was an amazing success.
The Currency team then rolled up their sleeves and dove in as they began to sort through this enormous wealth of nominees. Of course there weren’t over 26,000 different women nominated. Some suggestions were unique but many hundreds were duplicate nominations. A number of them also had to be eliminated when nominees did not meet the criteria—one of which was that the person must have been deceased for 25 years.
Mind you, there was still a mountain of eligible names to work with—over 460, in fact. The seven-member independent Advisory Council, consisting of historians, authors, activists, academics and athletes, and guided by two public consultation experts, faced a challenging task. It was their job to whittle down the hundreds of eligible nominees to a mere twelve.
It’s important to note that the number of nominations received for each woman was not taken into account. In other words, it wasn’t a popularity contest. As long as a nominee was eligible, she was considered. To help further guide their decision-making, the Council developed an additional list of criteria for each woman to meet. She should:
- have broken or overcome barriers,
- be inspirational,
- have made a significant change, and
- have left a lasting legacy.
The 12 women of the long list also needed to reflect Canada’s regional and cultural diversity. They couldn’t all be activists or artists, either, but as a group should represent a broad range of achievements. It took the Advisory Council three days to deliberate.
And now let me present to you our long list of 12 amazing women:
Pitseolak Ashoona, Cape Dorset graphic artist, 1904–1983.
Emily Carr, artist, 1871–1945.
Thérèse Casgrain, party leader, social reformer, 1896–1981.
Viola Desmond, activist, businessperson, 1914–1965.
Lotta Hitschmanova, international humanitarian, 1909–1990.
E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) Anglo-Mohawk poet, 1861–1913.
Elizabeth (Elsie) MacGill, engineer, aircraft designer, 1905–1980.
Nellie McClung, suffragette, politician, 1873–1951.
Lucy Maud Montgomery, author, 1874–1942.
Fanny (Bobbie) Rosenfeld, Olympic medalist, world record holder,
1904–1969.
Gabrielle Roy, literary pioneer, journalist, 1909–1983.
Idola Saint-Jean, feminist, suffragette, 1880–1945.
Please visit the Bank NOTE-able Canadian Woman webpage to read profiles of all 12 candidates.
So what’s next in the selection process? The short list. A team of scholars, historians and other experts from Canadian universities will further research the nominees. The achievements of each will be considered within the context of the times in which she lived. The information will be shared with the Council, along with the results of a public opinion survey, to aid them in reducing the long list of 12 to a short list of three to five nominees.
This short list will be presented to the Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, who will make the final decision in accordance with the Bank of Canada Act. Our bank NOTE-able woman will be hot off the presses and in your wallets in late 2018.
We want to hear from you! Do you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to see?
Content type(s):
Blog posts
The Museum Blog
May 5, 2022
What was proposed was a complete about-face from the philosophy behind recent security printing. If photocopiers could easily deal with the colours and designs of the current series, then the next series should be bold and simple.
Between tradition and technology
By: Graham Iddon
Content type(s):
Blog posts
April 21, 2022
From windmills and solar panels to electric cars, signs of the green economy are all around us. Check out our resources for how to teach about the green economy.
Teaching the green economy
By: Adam Young
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Business and careers,
Economy,
Geography,
Science,
Social studies
Grade level(s):
Grade 07 / Secondary 1,
Grade 08 / Secondary 2,
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
April 4, 2022
Introduce important financial skills to your children, and help them plan for their futures with free resources from the Bank of Canada Museum and others.
Talk to your kids about money
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Financial literacy
Grade level(s):
Early childhood / Kindergarten,
Grade 01,
Grade 02,
Grade 03,
Grade 04,
Grade 05,
Grade 06,
Grade 07 / Secondary 1,
Grade 08 / Secondary 2,
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
March 3, 2022
COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on the economy: closing businesses, driving down demand and interrupting supplies. With news stories and popular culture addressing inflation and supply chain issues, now is the perfect time to explain this key economic concept to your high school students.
Teaching inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Economy
Grade level(s):
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
February 3, 2022
Few of us have ever met her, and it’s likely none of us are even remotely related to her. Yet, Canadians have carried her picture in their wallets for generations now. She’s Queen Elizabeth II and has been our monarch for over 70 years.
Queen of the bank notes
By: Graham Iddon
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
History
December 22, 2021
The Bank of Canada Museum is responsible for the National Currency Collection, and part of its mandate is to foster and develop that collection. Despite the challenges of collecting during a pandemic, curators at the Bank of Canada Museum have acquired some unique artifacts—including some that document the pandemic itself.
New acquisitions–2021 edition
By: David Bergeron
Content type(s):
Blog posts
December 2, 2021
What is money—when you really stop to think about it? To understand how money works, and what it ultimately represents, we need to strip it down to its very basic function.
The true value of money
By: Graham Iddon
Content type(s):
Blog posts
Subject(s):
Economy
Grade level(s):
Grade 07 / Secondary 1,
Grade 08 / Secondary 2,
Grade 09 / Secondary 3,
Grade 10 / Secondary 4,
Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
November 16, 2021
The 1911 silver dollar has a history to match its prestige, and it now has a permanent home in the National Currency Collection of the Bank of Canada Museum.
The 1911 silver dollar
By: David Bergeron
Content type(s):
Blog posts
