Civil rights activist Viola Desmond is the new face of the $10 bill

March 8th, 2018  |  News

Today, on International Women’s Day, a new $10 bill featuring civil rights activist Viola Desmond will be unveiled.

Desmond is being honoured after standing up and fighting for the rights of black people in Nova Scotia; an act which consequently landed her in jail.

The new note will be revealed at a special event to honour her and will take place at the Halifax Central Library at 12:30pm. Desmond was chosen from a shortlist of notable Canadian women to be the face of the new $10 bill at a 2016 ceremony.

Her story begins on 8 November 1946 at a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, when Desmond was dragged from her seat by police for defiantly sitting in a section marked for “whites only”, instead of the designated “black” area on the balcony of the theatre. The civil rights activist was convicted of defrauding the province of a one-penny tax: the difference between a downstairs and upstairs ticket. She was released after paying a $20 fine and $6 in court costs. She appealed her conviction but lost.

Thanks to her brave decision, Desmond is quite often referred to as Canada’s own Rosa Parks.

The new note will change history by featuring the first black person, and the first female non-royal, on a regularly circulating Canadian bank note.

"It's a long-awaited sense of belonging for the African-Canadian community," said Russell Grosse, executive director of the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia. "The launch of the bill sends people of African descent the message that Canada is finally accepting us. We belong."

Ms Desmond’s bravery helped to carve a new path for the province, with segregation being abandoned in 1954 following the publicity brought about by her case.

"Viola Desmond carried out a singular act of courage," Isaac Saney, a senior instructor of black studies at Dalhousie University, told CBC. "There was no movement behind her. She was ahead of the times."

Desmond was finally granted a posthumous apology and pardon from Nova Scotia 63 years later.