Panel named to narrow list of female banknote nominees

OTTAWA The Bank of Canada has appointed a group of people to develop a short list of Canadian women whose images could appear on a new banknote in 2018.

The bank said it has received more than 18,000 submissions since issuing a public call for nominations last month. Those responses include the names of about 120 different women.

The advisory council will narrow the list to between 10 and 12 nominees and survey Canadians on those names. The advisers will listen to expert advice to trim the list to between three and five women.

The council members are: writer Gurjinder Basran; Michael Redhead Champagne, youth activist; Margaret Conrad, professor emerita, University of New Brunswick; Francine Descarries, sociology professor, Universite du Quebec a Montreal; Perdita Felicien, world champion hurdler; Merna Forster, historian and author; Dominic Giroux, president and vice-chancellor, Laurentian University.