Welcome to the 5th edition of weekly formative blog posts! I’m having fun writing these and I hope you’re having fun reading them! Let’s jump straight into it shall we?

The 5 dollar bill is something Canadian’s have been paying with for a long time. The bank of Canada decided it’s time for a change. They called on Canadian’s to write in suggestions of who should be the new face on the 5 dollar bill. After 45’000 suggestions, 8 were chosen. Here are the final 8:

Pitseolak Ashoona: [1904-1908] — 1983

Robertine Barry (Françoise): 1863 — 1910

Binaaswi (Francis Pegahmagabow): 1888 — 1952

Won Alexander Cumyow: 1861 — 1955

Terry Fox: 1958 — 1981

Lotta Hitschmanova: 1909 — 1990

Isapo-muxika (Crowfoot): 1830 — 1890

Onondeyoh (Frederick Ogilvie Loft): 1861 — 1934

If you wanna check out who these 8 remarkable Canadians are, check out this article here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/new-banknote-1.5795421

Out of these candidates, my pick would have to be Pitseolak Ashoona.

 

She was an incredible woman. Even with 17 children, she managed to make gorgeous First Nations art, and have a career as an artist for 25 years! Ashoona got her start as an artist through a federal program, or a new tradition of sorts, designed to help Inuit that wanted to transition from working in typical Inuit roles, to being employed in mainstream society.

In 1974, she was inducted into the Royal Academy of Arts. In 1977 she was also appointed to the Order of Canada.

The reason I chose Pitseolak Ashoona is because she is breaking all kinds of traditions. An Inuit woman on the 5 dollar bill would be a big step forward in various groups being represented on Canadian currency. She also broke old traditions by becoming an artist, and helped develop some that would help First Nations to move into the mainstream economy, and become what is typically thought of as “successful”. 

I hope you enjoyed this weeks post, and I’ll see you next week! Ciao! 

-Zo