Straight Talk

Chinese Canadian National Council applauds Bank of Canada's apology

by Charlie Smith on August 20th, 2012 at 9:46 AM
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      The Chinese Canadian National Council has welcomed an apology by Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney concerning the design of the new $100 bill.

      Today, Carney said "the Bank's handling of this issue did not meet the standards Canadians justifiably expect of us".

      This came after the bank made a female scientist appear less Asian-looking following complaints from members of a focus group.

      Carney also said that in light of the controversy, the bank will review its design process.

      The CCNC's executive director, Victor Wong, called this a "win-win" in a statement distributed to the media.

      "I had a brief and cordial telephone conversation with Governor Carney (at 11:30am EST) and CCNC has offered to give input to the BoC review process," Wong stated.

      Prior to the apology, Vancouver cultural activist Todd Wong, organizer of the annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, sent the Straight a revealing note from Hilda Ching, a former Ruth Wynn Woodward chair in SFU's women's studies department. It concerned the Bank of Canada's design of its note (and it was emailed to Wong after he included a link to her report on his site).

      "This is Hilda Ching responding from Hawaii. Thanks Todd for your comments. I am amazed that the Woodward report is available. Since 6 of us founded SCWIST (Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology) in 1983, the profile of women scientists has changed considerably. The women are young professionals with Asian, Indo-Asian and European origins. We value their diversity, complexity of backgrounds and images. The change of the woman's complexion to 'white' on the banknote reinforces the image that science as a white male and female's elitist community. The white guy in a lab coat is history; so it would have been appropriate to have kept that image on the bank note as a 'typical' Canadian woman in science. In other words, 'white' is not 'typical' in the science community anymore."

       

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      Comments

      5 Comments

      NoLeftNutter

      Aug 20, 2012 at 11:53am

      Seriously? Does anyone really give a rat's ass about this issue?

      Birdy

      Aug 20, 2012 at 12:25pm

      Yes, it's very important NoLeftNutter,
      The images on our bills need to appeal to everyone, so as to fully convince us that paper rectangles somehow equate to wealth or value.

      These new ones are so packed full of glimmering fancy shiny logos that I think we should put Steve Jobs on them in tribute to the master of creating perceived value through enhanced glossiness.

      Poot

      Aug 20, 2012 at 1:19pm

      I'm confused. The BoC's statement says 'South Asian', which I think means Indian subcontinent etc, rather than East Asia (China)? (Not that this discounts the support of CCNC in any way.)

      Asia's a big place! Is there a picture of the original bill somewhere so I can figure out whether I should be offended too? :)

      Seraphina

      Aug 21, 2012 at 5:28pm

      Editors - "Woodward" is misspelled in the first reference (it's written "Woodwyn").

      NoLeftNutter - it's an important issue because it points to a government agency being swayed by the racist opinions of a small group. Our agencies are supposed to be better than that; it's important that they be called out when they act in a way that's biased, racist, etc., regardless of the scale of the issue.

      Miranda Nelson

      Aug 21, 2012 at 5:30pm

      Thank you kindly for the catch. We've updated the article!