Viola Desmond Research Paper

The Canadian government has selected the portraits of Viola Desmond as the feature of the newest Canadian ten dollar banknote - who challenged the racial segregation a decade before Rosa Parks's act of defiance. The story of Viola Desmond was well-known in the black community, and her efforts to fighting for black women’s civil rights soon influence the anti-discrimination organisations and activism.

Viola Desmond was successful in her career as a beautician. On November 8, 1946, she was on her business trip to Sydney to promote black beauty products. Unfortunately, her car stalled while she was driving that had to force waiting in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, overnight for repair. She decided to watch a movie, The Dark Mirror, playing at the

The ticket price for the downstairs seat was forty cents and upstairs for thirty cents. The ticket contained with taxes that customer should be paid three cents for downstairs and two cents for upstairs. Desmond did pay for the upstairs ticket and two cent tax. However, she was in charge of one cent taxation because she was sitting downstairs area. Without being informed that she had a right to seek bailment or to have a legal counsel, she has been received racial discrimination and inequality during the trail. All three white witnesses, Henry MacNeil (the usher), Peggy Melanson (ticket seller) and Prima Davis (the audience who sat behind Desmond), have given evidence to prove that Viola Desmond seated in the downstairs without paying enough tax amount. Desmond, who tried to certify the truth that the white ticket seller did not accept her request for exchange ticket, however, the Magistrate MacKay neglected the fact that Desmond has been discriminated from the whites and fined twenty dollars as well as paid for six dollars to the prosecuting

Several people have seen Canada as a sanctuary and believed that there was no racial discrimination had happened before. Unlike the common sense that Canada never had slavery, in facts; the slavery did exist in Canada during the colonialism. According to Small and Thornhill, "A little known Canadian secret is that slavery of Black and Aboriginal peoples existed de jure and de facto in colonial Canada under both the French and British regimes" (428). Canada promised to the black immigrants that they could live freely as Canadian citizens. However, the fact is that Canada had broken the promises and suppressed the black’s civil rights in a certain way. As Thornhill listed the points that "the government promises of land grants that never were processed; forced removals from the land without either consultation or compensation; alienation in isolated or far-flung communities; segregation in separate and inferior schools; denial of opportunity and access to public education and services; endemic racial discrimination and lack of meaningful legal recourse or redress" (323-324). Blacks were not allowed to participate in some events like churches often prohibited blacks in worship. Blacks were confined working in unskilled jobs, and the government or company provided lack educational opportunities and career training for blacks. Indeed,