Posted on 08/25/2012 10:05:38 AM PDT by JerseyanExile
The Bank of Canada purged the image of an Asian-looking woman from its new $100 banknotes after focus groups raised questions about her ethnicity.
The original image intended for the reverse of the plastic polymer banknotes, which began circulating last November, showed an Asian-looking woman scientist peering into a microscope.
The image, alongside a bottle of insulin, was meant to celebrate Canada’s medical innovations.
But eight focus groups consulted about the proposed images for the new $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 banknote series were especially critical of the choice of an Asian for the largest denomination.
“Some have concerns that the researcher appears to be Asian,” says a 2009 report commissioned by the bank from The Strategic Counsel, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
“Some believe that it presents a stereotype of Asians excelling in technology and/or the sciences. Others feel that an Asian should not be the only ethnicity represented on the banknotes. Other ethnicities should also be shown.”
A few even said the yellow-brown colour of the $100 banknote reinforced the perception the woman was Asian, and “racialized” the note.
The bank immediately ordered the image redrawn, imposing what a spokesman called a “neutral ethnicity” for the woman scientist who, now stripped of her “Asian” features, appears on the circulating note. Her light features appear to be Caucasian.
“The original image was not designed or intended to be a person of a particular ethnic origin,” bank spokesman Jeremy Harrison said in an interview, citing policy that eschews depictions of ethnic groups on banknotes.
“But obviously when we got into focus groups, there was some thought the image appeared to represent a particular ethnic group, so modifications were made.”
Harrison declined to provide a copy of the original image, produced by a design team led by Jorge Peral of the Canadian Bank Note Co., which was a test design only and never made it into circulation.
Nor would he indicate what specific changes were made to the woman researcher’s image to give her a so-called “neutral ethnicity.” He said the images were “composites” rather than depicting any specific individual.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Canadian National Council slammed the bank on Friday for bending to racism.
“The Bank of Canada apparently took seriously ... racist comments and feedback from the focus groups and withdrew the image,” said May Lui, interim executive director of the group’s Toronto chapter.
“That was upsetting simply because of the history and longevity of Chinese-Canadians in this country.”
Lui demanded the bank “acknowledge their error in caving to the racist feedback.”
Victor Wong, the group’s national executive director, called on the bank to amend its policy of not depicting visible minorities.
“You’re erasing all of us,” he said from Toronto. “Your default then is an image with Caucasian features.”
The Strategic Counsel conducted the October 2009 focus groups in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Fredericton, at a cost of $53,000.
The Toronto groups were positive about the image of an Asian woman because “it is seen to represent diversity or multiculturalism.”
In Quebec, however, “the inclusion of an Asian without representing any other ethnicities was seen to be contentious.”
One person in Fredericton commented: “The person on it appears to be of Asian descent which doesn’t rep(resent) Canada. It is fairly ugly.”
Mu-Qing Huang, a Chinese-Canadian who has peered into microscopes for biology courses at the University of Toronto, called the bank’s decision a “huge step back.”
“The fact that an Asian woman’s features were introduced to the bill ... I think itself is a huge step forward in achieving true multiculturalism in Canada,” Huang, 24, said in an interview in Ottawa.
“But the fact that the proposal was rejected represents a huge step back.”
She said the “overly sensitive” decision to remove the Asian features suggests prejudice against visible minorities persists in Canada.
“If Canada is truly multicultural and thinks that all cultural groups are equal, then any visible minority should be good enough to represent a country, including (someone with) Asian features.”
Huang, now pursuing an MA at the University of Toronto, came to Canada from China with her family at age 12, living in Toronto and Ottawa.
The 2006 census found that Canada’s population included more than five million people from visible minority groups, of which 1.2 million were Chinese and another 240,000 with ancestry from Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Laos.
The Bank of Canada introduced the new series of banknotes largely to thwart counterfeiters, though they are also expected to last much longer than the old versions. New $50 notes went into circulation in March, with $20 notes still to come in November.
The $50 and $20 banknotes feature a research icebreaker and the Canadian National Vimy Memorial respectively, with no images of ordinary Canadians. Some members of the focus groups said the Vimy memorial looked disturbingly like New York’s twin towers, brought down by terrorists in 2001.
Hey, it's not like I'm not trying to get a job!
(Do you know anyone looking for a MEMS processing engineer???)
Strange that they use images of generic people instead of famous people.
Comprehensive list of famous Canadians:
Wayne Gretzky
Justin Bieber
Pamela Anderson
Jim Carrey
John Candy
Celine Dion (too Asian?)
Shania Twain
Clearly reparations are in order for the aggrieved group.
Precisely who that group is will be known once the supercomputer at the Toronto Institute of Advanced Sensitivity has run its victim determination algorithm to completion.
Huh? You’d have to live alone in a cabin with only a team of sled dogs for companions for a lot of years to think she looks Asian! Come into to town once in a while, Canada.
Astounding ignorance. Has this person forgotten that, only a decade ago, a woman of Chinese descent rep(resented) Canada as Governor-General?
The $50 and $20 banknotes feature a research icebreaker and the Canadian National Vimy Memorial respectively, with no images of ordinary Canadians. Some members of the focus groups said the Vimy memorial looked disturbingly like New York’s twin towers, brought down by terrorists in 2001.
You know, it's sad that in my country, you need to be able to answer a "skill-testing question" in order to win a free donut, but there are no qualifications to be in a focus group.
I'm all for money with pictures of Pamela, Celine, and Shania on it.... The problem with the world is there not enough pretty women on currency.
That’s a very ugly looking note. Who is that man, he looks like he’s being torn out of the paper. Forget the scientist lady, he looks very creepy.
Is it really a stereotype if it's true?
Others feel that an Asian should not be the only ethnicity represented on the banknotes. Other ethnicities should also be shown.”
So much for being color blind. This just shows the utter stupidity of political correctness and racial identity politics.
Can't have that. That would discriminate against ugly women. Put the currency through enough focus groups and the only acceptable person left to show on the currency would be Rosie O' Donnell.
You must be pretty young...or you travel in the wrong circles.Mike Myers and Dan Akroyd,two of the funniest guys to have ever lived;Joni Mitchell,a great,*great* songwriter (and,to some,permormer as well),Gordon Lightfoot,a great,great singer and songwriter.....
I think I've seen him in those Monty Python animations that Terry Gilliam did.
Sir Robert Borden, eighth Prime Minister (1911-20). You're right, that's a very poor depiction—the one on the front of the bill is better. He's been on our $100 forever.
That would be one awfully big bill.
Me neither. I guess ya gotta be Canadian, eh?
Hey! There is a guy with a moustach on that bill. Now THAT is offensive!
Thanks for filling me in.
I guess these are all anti-counterfitting measures.
My fave US bill is the $50 with Grant on it. I’ve just always liked those best. Grant looks good on money.
I think the Obama regime should have Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s portrait on the $100 bill!
THE AMAZING PART OF THIS OBAMA TRAVESTY IS AMERICANS CONTINUE ALLOWING THEMSELVES TO BE RULED BY AN ILLEGAL ALIEN.
The original was probably a Meti or a Chippewa.
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