HALIFAX—Just a stone’s throw from where the late Nova Scotia civil rights pioneer and businesswoman Viola Desmond opened her Halifax business in 1937, history was made as the $10 bill featuring her image was officially launched.

A large crowd packed a room at the Delmore Buddy Daye Learning Institute in the city’s north end Monday where they listened to speeches before lining up to be among the first to exchange a “regular” $10 bill for one of the iconic new vertical $10 banknotes.

Desmond is the first Canadian woman to be featured on the front of a regularly circulating banknote.

“As you all know, Viola Desmond was an educated, ambitious, confident businesswoman well ahead of her time. ... She discovered in 1946 that Canada was not ready to recognize that racism and segregation existed,” Monique LeBlanc, Atlantic Canada regional director (currency) for the Bank of Canada, told the crowd.

On Nov. 8, 1946, Desmond was arrested after refusing to leave a whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, N.S. The incident became one of the most high-profile cases of racial discrimination in Canadian history.

“The recognition of the injustice she suffered was a long time in coming, sadly long after her death in 1965,” LeBlanc said.

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“Now with this banknote every Canadian, from Prince Rupert to Petty Harbour, from Cambridge Bay to Niagara Falls, can carry with them an image of a brave pioneer from Halifax who stood up for what was right.”

LeBlanc told the gathered crowd that she visited Desmond’s sister Wanda Robson two weeks ago at her home in North Sydney to record Robson getting a sneak peek of the $10 banknote. Robson was described by LeBlanc as instrumental in ensuring her sister’s story and legacy weren’t forgotten.

A moving recording of Robson pulling the banknote from an envelope and admiring it was shared during Monday’s Halifax launch event.

“This $10 bill coming out with Viola’s picture is awesome. Everything on this bill is so significant. It’s so significant to Canada. To Canada. When I say Canada, I tell you the tears come up in my eyes because I love Canada,” Robson said in the video.

“I grew up in Canada, in Nova Scotia, and to have a bill for my sister? A Canadian bill.”

Robson went on to say there were many people to thank for what she called the journey to justice.

“On behalf of my family I thank you. Words. That’s just words. I can say no more. I’ve said it all,” she concluded.

The reverse side of the new $10 bill features the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. That’s where Robson was on Monday, honoured with making the first purchase using the new banknote featuring her sister’s image.

That first purchase was a book about Desmond’s life and legacy co-written by her and Cape Breton University professor Graham Reynolds. She planned to give it to her 12-year-old granddaughter.

Christine Hanson, director of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, called the launch of the Desmond banknote “significant not because of its monetary value, but for its symbolic power.”

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“Viola Desmond’s image on the $10 bill celebrates the power of a small, courageous act. … We all know that the road to justice for Ms. Desmond was a long one. The justice she sought came later. Today we are still striving for equality and equity and there does remain a great deal of work to be done,” Hanson told the crowd.

“The new note can serve as a reminder to all of us that it is not always the large magnificent moves that bring about change. It can remind us that a part of our collective history has to be recognized. … What happened to Viola Desmond is an early account of consumer racial profiling. She was treated differently because of the colour of her skin, and sadly this practice still continues today in Nova Scotia and across Canada.”

The Bank of Canada said the new $10 banknote should be available at local bank branches across Canada in the coming weeks.

For those who lined up to get their hands on some of the first $10 Desmond bills in Halifax, it was a momentous Monday.

“I think this is a significant moment for us as a people and for me as an immigrant coming to Canada and seeing Viola being recognized. It means that I’m more accepted in this society and it’s great for me and it’s a great moment. It’s amazing,” Njabulo Nkala said moments after getting one of the treasured new bills.

“I’ve lived in Halifax for 15 years, I work with the Black communities, I’m part of the community here. I think with this note, it’s not that we’ve arrived, but I think it recognizes our struggles, where we have come from, and I think it speaks to where we are going as a people too.”

Monique Thomas was also all smiles as she emerged from the lineup with her crisp new $10 bill featuring Desmond.

“It’s just really important for Halifax to have an African Nova Scotian woman on the $10 bill. It’s really exciting. This is really inspiring for me,” she said. “To see someone that looks like me on the $10 bill is just really amazing.”

A number of events to celebrate and commemorate Desmond are taking place in Halifax from Wednesday until Sunday. Marika Parris, events co-ordinator for the North End Business Association and a member of the Celebrate Viola planning committee, encouraged people would celebrate by attending the events this week.

“It is a momentous event, a great accomplishment. I feel so proud, I feel proud to be a part of the north end. I was born and raised around here so I’m extremely proud to be a part of this event and the planning committee has been amazing,” Parris said in an interview.

“What does this mean to the Black community of the north end? It gives them the spotlight. It shows them that we are a people of great pride and significance. It’s nice to be shown here.”

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Yvette d’Entremont is a Halifax-based reporter focusing on health. Follow her on Twitter: @ydentremont

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