Wednesday March 9, 2016
Marking International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced yesterday that in 2018, Canada will include the face of a Canadian woman on one of our banknotes, a woman who isn’t Queen Elizabeth. There are a couple things that will disqualify someone from appearing on our money – a fictional character, and being alive for the last 25 years. So, sorry, Anne of Green Gables, you’re not the real deal. Sorry Margaret Atwood, Celine Dion, Joni Mitchell, Pamela Anderson, Karen Kain, Sheila Copps, and Kathleen Wynne. Sorry Ellen Fairclough and Jane Jacobs, you’ve died too soon, and while Kim Campbell might make an appearance on a future bill, she’s long from being dead. So here it is, in my estimation, the short list that includes the most likely woman to be featured on a forthcoming Canadian banknote. If I’m missing someone, add it below.
Laura Secord (1775-1868)
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942)
Emily Carr (1871-1945)
Nellie McClung (1873-1951)
Agnes Macphail (1890-1954)
Mary Pickford (1892-1979)
Judy LaMarsh (1924-1980)
Margaret Laurence (1926-1987)
Lotta Hitschmanova (1909-1990)
Barbara Frum (1937-1992)
Here are a few more, maybe for future bills…
Viola Desmond (1914-1965), Jennie Trout (1841-1921), Maud Lewis (1903-1970), Henrietta Edwards (1849-1931), Florence Lawrence (1886-1938), Ella Cora Hind (1861-1942), Grace Annie Lockhart (1855-1916), Adelaide Hoodless (1857-1910), Elizabeth Bagshaw (1881-1982), Jeanne Mance (1606-1673 debatable, one of the founders of Montreal and founder of the first hospital in North America), Maude Abbott (1869-1940), Mary Adams (1823-1898), Harriet Brooks (1876-1933), Edith Archibald (1854-1936), Margaret Ridley Charlton (1858-1931), Onésime Dorval (1845-1932), Elsie MacGill (1905-1980), Helen Gregory MacGill (1880-1963), Helen MacMurchy (18632-1953, a bit controversial), Mary Ann Shadd (1823-1893), Emily Stowe (1831-1903), Cairine Wilson (1885-1962), Hilda Neatby (1904-1975)
Thanks for this list Sophie! It’d be great to put the spotlight on lessor known women. While my list is made up of the most renowned it is woefully inadequate. There needs to be more names, not just the standard history 101 text book personalities.
Jeanne Sauvé (first female Speaker of the House of Commons and first female Governor General). Its a shame that only candidates who have been dead for 25 years or longer will be considered. I think Marion Alice Orr would have been appropriate (WWII pilot, first female to operate a flying school, taught 5000 students to fly, Member of the Order of Canada), or Bertha Wilson (first female justice of the Supreme Court, Member of the Order of Canada).