Plenty of women to grace our banknotes

Re: “Victorian launches drive to see women on banknotes,” July 30

A year ago when the Famous Five were removed from our $50 bill, I wrote to Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney to protest, pointing out that Canada would have no real woman on our banknotes, apart from the Queen.

I received no response and as far as I could tell, there weren’t many of us who did raise a ruckus. But Carney’s British “subjects” were obviously more vocal when recently the Bank of England was about to remove Elizabeth Fry from the 10-pound note. At least she would be replaced by Winston Churchill, whereas the Famous Five were replaced by a boat.

In 1929, the the Famous Five were spunky Western Canadian women who took their case to Britain’s Privy Council and won, the decision of the British councillors being that women were persons under the British North America Act. Our Supreme Court had said we were not. And now, thanks to Merna Forster and her petition campaign, we may have a chance to change the current Bank of Canada’s stand on the importance of having a real woman on our banknotes. Since a banknote is something we see and handle all the time, it seems an excellent way of celebrating our history.

We have hundreds of eligible women who should be celebrated on our currency. Foster’s 100 Canadian Heroines and 100 More Canadian Heroines would be a place to start. Virginia Watson-Rouslin North Saanich