People
Sikh-Canadian Novelist To Help Choose Iconic Woman To Be Featured On New Banknotes:
Gurjinder Kaur Basran
BEN SPURR
The Bank of Canada announced this week the names of the seven Canadians who will help choose an iconic woman to put on the country’s new banknotes.
The only woman currently featured on Canadian currency is Queen Elizabeth, who also serves, albeit in a token role, as the Canadian head of state.
The diverse advisory council consists of two men and five women, and will be tasked with whittling the public’s submissions (18,000 and counting) down to a shortlist of no more than five. Nominations close April 15, 2016.
The said Advisory Council includes Sikh-Canadian Gurjinder Kaur Basran, author of ‘Everything Was Good-Bye’, which was winner of the ‘Search for the Great B.C. Novel Contest’. It also won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in 2011, and was the Chatelaine Magazine Book Club Selection in 2012 .
It would be easy to dismiss the banknote project as merely symbolic, says the British Columbia based novelist, but it could serve as a real inspiration to a generation of women.
Gurjinder Kaur adds: “Hopefully when someone sees a woman on a banknote, they’ll start to think that they (too) can be a notable Canadian, that their contributions do matter.”
[Courtesy: The Toronto Star. Edited for sikhchic.com]
April 8, 2016