Earlier this month, the Bank of Canada announced it would be redesigning the five dollar bill. Part of that includes adding a new face to replace Wilfrid Laurier on the bill. The bank is now accepting submissions from the public for who should be the next face on our smallest bill.
So… who should get the honour? There’s plenty of great, talented, accomplished people we could honour. It’s one of the best parts about being Canadian. There’s so many, in fact, that choosing is hard.
So why choose? Why not have it all? How many different runs of commemorative coins have we all found in our change? There are dozens of those in circulation. Why not do something similar with our cash money?
I’d suggest this - print multiple different rounds of bills. Let’s say you print fives with one person on them on Monday, another one on Tuesday, et cetera.
Print one of Terry Fox and the countless people his Marathon of Hope inspired, or Rick Hansen, the Man in Motion himself.
Print one of Wayne Gretzky and the indelible impact he had on Canada’s winter game.
Print one of Gord Downie, shimmering hat, Jaws shirt and all, with the rest of the Hip, telling tales we all know and celebrate about wheat kings and pretty things, about a boy in Fiddler’s Green, about that night in Toronto with its checker-board floors. He wanted to break the hearts of everyone and sadly, he succeeded - now, it's time for tribute.
Print one of the Indigenous leaders our country’s history has often forgot - people like Elijah Harper, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Louis Riel, Poundmaker, Tom Longboat or dozens of others.
Print one of Canada’s accomplishments in space - Chris Hadfield, Roberta Bondar, the CanadArm. The latter item is already on the five. Run with it.
Show our finest bards, our Neil Youngs, our Leonard Cohens, our Stompin’ Tom Connors, our Stan Rogers, our Joni Mitchells.
Print one of those who made our lives better, people like Tommy Douglas or Lester B. Pearson, Nellie McClung or Romeo Dallaire.
Print one of our brave soldiers and peacekeepers, of those who served in died in each World War, of William Stephenson, Intrepid himself.
Print one for our artists, the Gang of Seven, William Kurelek, Les Automatistes, Frank Gehry, Yousuf Karsh, Michael Snow.
Don’t just do this for the five, either. Redo the 20, the 50 and the 100. Do the Queen, William Lyon Mackenzie King and Robert Borden really represent what Canada is today?
Get our best graphic artists to produce each one. Work within the colour pallette, sure - shades of blue, green, red and all - but go hog wild otherwise.
Canada’s got plenty to be proud of. Let’s be proud of our money, too.
