Paper Money

Canadians continue call for more women on notes

Perhaps the United States’ northern neighbor feels left out. An editorial in the Jan. 27 issue of the Sooke News Mirror in British Columbia calls for Canada to honor women on its paper currency, too.

Although this issued has been raised in Canada for several years, the paper renews the call, saying that “Canada’s banknotes are polymer, counterfeit-resistant, holographic and modern. And they’re hopelessly behind the times,” and that a Canadian woman needs to be represented on Canadian currency. It points out that women who appeared in the past, such as the Famous Five for voting rights on the 2001 $50 note, have been replaced, and that Queen Elizabeth is only on the $20 note, and for generations her successors will be male. 

Canada’s cabinet is 50 percent women because it’s 2016, it mentions, adding that there are “countless” potential candidates and if none come to mind, it is because of not looking hard enough.

For those wondering about Mexico, its 200-peso bank note has the portrait of the writer Juana de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, and the main image on the back of the 500-peso note is a 1940 self-portrait of painter Frida Kahlo.

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