06/10/2026
In 1946, Viola Desmond — a Black Nova Scotian businesswoman and beauty entrepreneur — sat in the main-floor section of a New Glasgow movie theatre. She had purchased a ticket without knowing the theatre enforced racial segregation. She was removed by police, arrested, jailed overnight, and charged with a tax violation for the one-cent price difference between a main floor and balcony ticket.
She fought back in court. She lost on a technicality.
But she did not disappear.
Her case became one of the first documented legal challenges to racial segregation in Canadian history. Her sister Wanda spent decades fighting to restore her reputation. In 2010, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia issued a posthumous apology and free pardon.
In 2018, Viola Desmond became the first Canadian woman to appear on a regularly circulating Canadian banknote — the $10 bill.
Violence, racial injustice, and gendered harm often work by making women invisible. By reducing their lives to a fine. By arresting them for sitting where they chose to sit.
Viola Desmond refused invisibility. Her courage didn't wait for the world to be ready.
We honour her. 💜
📞 1-866-863-0511
TTY: 1-866-863-7868
Text ( #7233)
🌐 awhl.org
