Fondly called the described as the Rosa Parks of Canada, she was arrested and reprimanded in jail for sitting in the whites-only section of a local cinema in 1946 which ignited the civil rights movement in the country.
72 years after the event, Canada has unveiled and will soon put into circulation a $10 banknote featuring Viola Desmond’s portrait this November.
She will be the first black woman to be featured on a regularly circulating banknote and also the first black person to be on any dollar bill in history.
The community members of Halifax have embraced the recognition which they believe will carry the story of the struggles of people of African descent in Canada.
“What it means is that there’s recognition in terms of the struggle that we, as African Canadians have gone through for all of our years of being here … I’m hoping having Viola on the bill will prompt people to want to know what’s the story behind her, because still, there’s a lot of people who have no idea who she was and what she stands for,” a resident of Halifax’s north end, Irvine Carvery, told local CTV News.
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