B.C. author who championed Viola Desmond for $10 note hopes for more women on currency
A Victoria author who led the charge to have Viola Desmond on the new $10 note hopes this is just the beginning for putting important women on Canadian currency.
Since nominations first opened, Forster has been campaigning tirelessly to have Desmond put on the redesigned bill.
And as Forster notes, Wilfred Laurier and John A. MacDonald are set to replace William Lyon Mackenzie King and Robert Borden on the $50 and $100 bills, respectively — leaving the $5 wide open.
"I would of course like to see another Canadian woman," Forster told All Points West guest host Richard Zussman. "[Desmond] is supposed to be the first of a new series."
'Canada's Rosa Parks'
Desmond, an entrepreneur and civil rights activist from Nova Scotia, is often referred to as "Canada's Rosa Parks." She was jailed in 1946 for refusing to leave the whites-only section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow.
She was charged with tax evasion for failing to pay the one-cent difference in tax on the ticket — even though she offered to pay it.
"Even though some people have never heard of her, she did play a big role in standing up against segregation in Canada," Forster said.
To secure Desmond's position on the new $10 bill, Forster focused her efforts to raise awareness by writing articles for teacher newsletters and sending letters to every sitting MP.
Website generates mockup notes
Forster also created the website womenonbanknotes.ca, which allows users to submit photos and generate their own mockups of new note designs using those photos.
"That actually proved to be very useful, because it got people involved," Forster said. "Journalists would use those images that people had suggested."
Forster was also very active on social media and caught some lucky breaks tweeting at high-profile Canadians.
"One day I sent a tweet to Margaret Atwood, and she said she'd signed the petition and she retweeted to all her thousands of followers," Forster said. "By the end of the day I was on CTV national news."
The new Desmond-bearing notes are slated to debut in 2018. Meanwhile, Forster has some recommendations for who to put on the soon-to-be-vacant $5 bill: in her books, 100 Canadian Heroines and 100 More Canadian Heroines.
With files from CBC Radio One's All Points West.
