Manitou Legend Leading The Polls For Spot On Nation's Currency

Manitoba women's rights activist Nellie McClung is once again breaking new ground for women.

McClung is the leading women's historical figure in the running for a spot on a Canadian bank note. A recent poll (http://angusreid.org/women-on-money/) put the Manitou native as the top choice for poll responders in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

Founding member of the Nellie McClung Foundation, Bette Mueller, explains she's often thought about the lack of women represented on our currency.

"It seems rather foolish in a way when you think half the population isn't represented there," Mueller says. "And I think Nellie is just an absolutely wonderful choice because... Nellie made a difference in so many areas."

McClung played a large role in bringing women's right to vote to Manitoba in 1916. McClung was also a best selling author, she wrote 16 books in all, and spoke across Canada and the United States.

Mueller says many wonder why they hear more about McClung than other women fighting for equality rights during the same time period. She says McClung's ability to hold an audience, her humour and sincerity propelled her to fame.

"She really seemed to care about people," Mueller says. "People who first met her would write in their own autobiographies, "It seemed that what I read about Nellie McClung was too good to be true, But when I met her I found that wasn't right, she was just like that person I read about.""

McClung continued to fight for the rights of the oppressed including the Japanese Canadians displaced to internment camps before the Second World War, as well as urging the government to allow more Jewish people into the country during the war.

"Her interests were so widespread, but they were always about people, and making their lives better, giving them more rights," Mueller says, adding McClung continued to speak and write about the needs and rights of other people in her signature humours and caring way.

If chosen McClung would become the only Canadian female icon currently on the nation's currency.

The Bank of Canada is expected to unveil the new series of bank notes in 2018.