Megaterio Llamas wrote:
Haha say it ain't so Big Ben:
Interesting, here is a follow-up. More virtue-signalling from M. Pierre
So under Monsuier Trudeau's watch, Canada changed the 10 Dollar Bill.
Previously for many incarnations of the bill was the mug of Sir John A MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister:
The last bill that MAcDonald was on, his face was shrunk and he shared the bill with 3 others, including a woman which I believe is the first woman (?) aside from Queen Liz to be on our money
Its interesting to note that at the same time that MacDonald was being removed from the bill, a Statue of Sir John A MacDonald in front of Victoria City Hall was TORN DOWN, bringing some controversy. The reason was some sort of reconciliation initiative, that MacDonald was "a leader of violence against Indigenous peoples", a reminder of colonial violence.
While this may be so, others argued that MacDonald remains a fundamental figure of Canadian history and did some amazing achievements to lay the foundation of the country. Some argued that tearing it down was erasing history, others say they are making history.
Apparently the public had no say in it, the City just pushed the idea through and did it.
Victoria isn't the only Canadian government or institution rethinking honours for Macdonald.
Last August, an elementary teachers' union in Ontario called for Macdonald's name to be removed from their schools.
Three months before that, the Canadian Historical Association voted to strip Macdonald's name from one of its top writing prizes.
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Anyways with Sir John A MacDonald gone, the new bill features the face of
Viola Desmond. Desmond is 'the first Black Canadian' to be found on a canadian bill.
Though most Canadians will not know who she is, Desmond was a civil rights activist who broke segregation laws at a movie theatre, and was imprisoned for it and screwed over in the courts. Then she died.
Years later, after her death, she was pardoned. But of course she was long dead
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But that's it, right? That's her whole story? She made a fuss at a movie theater and got wrecked for it?
Granted this is totally badass and I cheer for her actions, but is this single incident so historically significant to merit a spot on one of our most used currencies? Traditionally bills are featured with only the biggest names in Canadian history and power.
Is this the best Virtue Signalling that Trudeau can come up with?
Apparently the choice was made over a few other candidates, Trudeau demanded that the new face should be a woman;
- First Nations poet E. Pauline Johnson; Elsie MacGill, who received an electrical engineering degree from the University of Toronto in 1927;
- Quebec suffragette Idola Saint-Jean;
- and 1928 Olympic medallist Fanny (Bobbie) Rosenfeld, a track and field athlete.
Why you think Desmond won?
They even made the first VERTICAL design for a bill, the reason being to make her face as big as they could
Here is the unveiling, with Desmond's sister present:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-sco ... -1.4567290https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/ ... explainer/-
Personally I can get the sentiment behind it, it just seems really forced and uncomfortably thin virtue-signalling.
Connected to the removal of MacDonald's bill and statue, and Trudeau's bizarre extreme rhetoric when it comes to virtue signalling and language rhetoric policing, this just seems to be coming off a bit thick.
or is it?