Victoria-based artist designs new commemorative loonie honouring trail-blazing female engineer

They called her the Queen of Hurricanes. Now, pioneering aeronautical engineer and woman's rights activist Elsie MacGill is featured on the newest commemorative loonie, designed by Victoria-based artist Claire Watson.

Watson says she was selected by the Royal Canadian Mint last year to craft the design for the loonie honouring MacGill.

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MacGill's legacy
As the first female aeronautical engineer in the world, Perrin says MacGill, who was born in Vancouver, redefined what was possible for women in Canada during her lifetime.

She was the first Canadian woman to graduate with a bachelor's in electrical engineering in 1927, the first woman in North America to graduate with a master's in aeronautical engineering in 1929, and the first Canadian woman to practise as an engineer in 1938.

In 1929, she contracted polio. Although MacGill was told by doctors that she would never walk again, she regained mobility with the use of two canes and continued her pursuit of a career in aeronautics.

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/victoria-artist-designs-new-loonie-1.6926172