Asian minorities upset after Bank of Canada removes Asian-looking woman from $100 banknotes under pressure

Published August 17, 2012 | 1:31 pm

Gurinder Gill

Toronto: The Bank of Canada is facing criticism from ethnic minorities especially Asians for purging the image of an Asian-looking woman from its new $100 banknotes that has been reportedly replaced by a Caucasian looking image, allegedly under pressure from some groups.

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 was meant to celebrate Canada’s medical innovations.

The Bank of Canada’s logic behind the move is that its their policy to not depict people of a particular ethnic origin.

A visibly upset South Asian man Gurnaib Singh rued that Bank of Canada has insulted ethnic minorities by removing the image.” Why the bank had not kept its ‘so called’ policy in mind while issuing the note with image of Asian woman” , Gurnaib questioned and now what has prompted them for taking such a big step.

The design of the bill was allegedly changed after some Canadians in focus groups commissioned by the bank complained that the researcher shown on the back appeared to be Asian.

Some Asians believe that it presented a stereotype of Asians excelling in technology and/or the sciences and so other communities were allegedly upset with that.

The bank has immediately ordered the image redrawn and stripped the image of  her “Asian” features and now the new features reportedly 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,with Canadian Press.

The Asians people are saying that every image  that will be used by Bank of Canada on notes will represent a particular ethnic group, so whats the use of modifications and insulting a particular community by removing the image though it was actually representing diversity or multiculturalism of Canada.

Reacting to the sensitive issue, another Asian man, Harjeet said the  decision to remove the Asian features suggests that prejudice against visible minorities still persists in Canada.

“If Canada is truly multicultural and thinks that all cultural groups are equal, then any community should be good enough to represent a country, including someone with Asian features,” he added.

Asians are seeking a high level probe behind the move.

Posted by on August 17, 2012. Filed under CANADA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry