The Bank of Canada considered celebrating gay marriages,
black hockey players, and turban-wearing RCMP officers on its new
plastic bank notes - but eventually nixed them all in favour of the
more traditional images of a train, a ship and a monument.
   
Internal documents show that focus groups and a Bank of Canada
team reviewed a series of currency images intended in part to
reflect the diversity of Canada's population, particularly the
country's varied ethnic character.
   
Images that were considered included a Chinese dragon parade, the
swearing in of a new citizen, Toronto's annual Caribbean festival,
children of different ethnic backgrounds playing hockey or building
a snowman, and a person in a wheelchair playing basketball.
   
The image catalogue was drawn up in 2008 by The Strategic
Counsel, a market research firm hired for $476,000 to help the Bank
decide how to illustrate its new series of polymer $5, $10, $20, $50
and $100 bills. The first note, the $100, began circulating in
November 2011.
   
Drawing on focus-group discussions and workshops with Canadians
in six cities, the consultant found strong support for themes of
``diversity, inclusiveness, acceptance of others/multiculturalism.''
Eventually, 41 image ideas covering several themes were tested and
given scores.

Among the highest-rated images were those of children of
different ethnic backgrounds building a snowman; faces of
individuals from different cultures celebrating Canada Day; an image
of a hand of many colours; and children of different ethnic
backgrounds playing hockey. These selections were then presented by
the Bank of Canada team to officials at Finance Canada for further
vetting.
   
Many images proposed at the start of the process did not make the
cut. Rejected were illustrations of a gay marriage, an RCMP officer
wearing a turban, and ``hockey with a twist ... with a black
player.''
   
The reasons for early rejection are not clear in the heavily
censored documents, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access
to Information Act.
   
The images that were finally approved for the reverses of the
five new bills - the last two denominations, the $5 and $10, are
being released later this year - lack reference to Canada's
diversity of ethnicity, culture and colour.
   
The final images that were chosen all appear in the original 2008
lists. The $5 note will show robotic arms built for space programs
and the $10 note, a train. The $20 note depicts the Vimy Ridge
memorial in France, while the $50 has a picture of an icebreaker.
The Queen and prime ministers occupy the fronts of the notes.
   
An earlier, uncirculated version of the $100 note, illustrating
the theme of medical innovations, showed a female medical researcher
with distinctly Asian features. But later focus groups raised
questions about her ethnicity, prompting the bank to erase the Asian
features in favour of a Caucasian-looking woman.
   
When The Canadian Press broke the story about the erasure last
August, spokesman Jeremy Harrison said the Bank of Canada was
striving for ``neutral ethnicity'' in its depictions of people on
bank notes.
   
Harrison referred to ``the Bank's long-held principles for bank
note design, one of which is to avoid depicting any particular
ethnic group when including people as representative images of a
theme on a bank note.''
   
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney within days apologized for
the incident, saying the design process would be reviewed ``in light
of these events. ... Our bank notes belong to all Canadians.''
   
Asked why the bank in 2008 considered depicting people of
different ethnic backgrounds when it was contrary to the
institution's ``long-held principles,'' Harrison said that
focus-groups were given ``the freedom to generate the widest
possible range of ideas.''
   
He also said the image lists from 2008 were themselves not final,
but winnowed further in 2009 for presentation and approval by
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in January 2010. Harrison declined
follow-up questions: ``We have nothing further to add.''
   
The Strategic Counsel reports and image lists from 2008 contain
other sometimes surprising elements that did not make the grade:

    - Images of hockey were rejected by some as they would ``glorify
a violent sport.''

    - Suggested military images sparked controversy arising from
Canada's role in Afghanistan, and from some people's preference for
peacekeeping over warfare. The Vimy Ridge memorial, which was the
image chosen for the $20 note, was seen as ``sufficiently distant in
time.''

    - A suggestion to depict ice wine was rejected by some because
``alcohol should not be shown on bank notes.''

    - Proposals to depict ``safe cities'' and Canada's so-called ``no
gun'' culture were rejected because the theme might not endure over
the lifetime of the bank notes, e.g., cities might become more
crime-ridden.

    - Aboriginal art was snubbed by a few participants because
``nough had been done by way of promoting aboriginal art.''

    - Images that included snow ``may become more controversial
should global warming progress,'' and are best avoided, said some.

    - Pictures of wind turbines and solar panels were rejected
because ``clean energy is a controversial concept.''

    - Portraits of Terry Fox, Liberal Prime Minister Lester Pearson,
and medicare trailblazer Tommy Douglas were all nixed.
   
The Bank of Canada has been dogged by other controversies after
the release of the new plastic bank notes, including claims, since
discounted, that they're prone to melting when placed near common
heat sources; that the stylized maple leafs on the bills depict a
European tree, not a native Canadian variety; and that
vending-machine operators weren't given enough time to calibrate
their machines to accept the new $20 notes.
   
The bank says the polymer bills will better thwart counterfeiters
and last longer than traditional paper-cotton notes.

(The Canadian Press)