Americans have long made fun of Canada's "funny money". As you can see, the paper "beaverbucks" come in different colours. On the front are pictures of a foreign woman and four dead white men who many Canadians fail to recognize.
Four men and only one woman seemed politically incorrect to the Liberal government of Canuck Prime Minister "Mr Socks" Trudeau. To make matters worse, not one of the five people pictured is a vizmin. So a decision was made -- an egregious example of tokenism, even by Canadian standards -- to replace one of the white men with a black woman.
Conveniently, the white man who was the first to die was Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada's first prime minister (and a Conservative!), about whom there has been a good deal of controversy in recent months, similar to the controversy in the Excited States of America about Robert E. Lee. So, away you go, John Eh, and a big welcome to Viola Desmond, now appearing on the new $10 (= $7.50 in real money) banknote which goes into circulation this week.
featuring Viola Desmond’s portrait will go into circulation in a week, just over 72 years after she was ousted from the whites-only section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, N.S.
The Canadian Ministry of Truth describes the late Viola Desmond as a civil rights pioneer and businesswoman. Her business was a hairdressing salon (surprised?) which she operated in the "historic north end" of Halifax NS, home to one of Canada's oldest black communities. On 8 November 1946 -- nearly a decade before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Alabama -- Ms Desmond was dragged out of the Roseland Theatre by police, arrested, kept in the lockup for 12 hours and fined. 63 years later, the provinice of Nova Scotia issued her a posthumous pardon and apology.
A spokesthingy for the black community said he hopes the new banknote will "inspire young girls to pursue their dreams and push back against injustice." He went on to say, "I'm hoping having Viola on the bill will prompt people to want to know what's the story behind her, because still, there's a lot of people who have no idea who she was and what she stands for."
Walt says good luck with that. It won't be surprising (to me) if a lot of Canucks refuse to accept the new bill on the grounds that it just doesn't look like money, at least not Canadian money. Some will wonder if the queen had a facelift. I also predict some comments from the usual gang of NPCs that Ms Desmond has been made to look as if she was "passing". All this for political correctness!
