Viola Desmond, a Nova Scotia businesswoman who once refused to sit in a blacks-only section of a Nova Scotia movie theatre, will be the first woman other than a Queen or a Princess to appear on the front of a Canadian banknote.
Desmond’s image will be featured on Canada’s next $10 bill, which will be issued in 2018. The announcement was made Thursday morning, capping a nine-month selection process.
Desmond passed away in 1965. Her sister, Wanda Robson, was on hand for the announcement in Ottawa Thursday.
Desmond, a business woman who owned a beauty salon, refused to sit in a blacks-only section of a Nova Scotia movie theatre in 1946. She was arrested and fined for “attempting to defraud the provincial government” on the 1-cent differential on the price between the black section in the theatre balcony and the white section on the floor.
She filed a legal challenge to the fine, but was unsuccessful. She ultimately received a posthumous free pardon from the Nova Scotia government in 2010.
A list of 461 nominations was collected from 26,000 submissions collected between March 8 and April 15. “The response was amazing,” said Stephen Poloz, governor of the Bank of Canada. “Within two days we received more than 10,000 nominations.”
Nominees were required to be Canadians by birth or naturalization who demonstrated outstanding leadership or achievement for the benefit or the service of the country. Nominees must have been deceased for at least 25 years. Fictional characters were not considered.
An advisory panel heard from historical experts and narrowed the nominations down, first to a long list of 12, then a short list of five: Viola Desmond, Pauline Johnson, Elizabeth (Elsie) MacGill, Fanny (Bobbie) Rosenfeld, and Idola Saint-Jean.
The Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, picked the final name based on consultations with Poloz. Morneau, Poloz and Patty Hajdu, minister of status of women, announced the finalist on Thursday in Ottawa.
“As Governor of the bank, I have long believed that it was time for a woman, in addition to Her Majesty, to be on one of Canada’s bank notes. And we also heard from Canadians who told us that it was long overdue,” Poloz said.
The design and security features of the new bill have yet to be determined. Desmond’s portrait will appear on the front, and the reverse side will feature images connected with the struggle for rights and freedoms, the bank said. The new note will appear in late 2018.
Women have appeared on Canadian banknotes before. The five Alberta women who argued the “persons” legal case in the 1930s and senator Thérèse Casgrain are among the various images from Canadian human rights history that appear on the reverse side of the 2004 “Canadian Journey” series of the $50 bill. Some female members of the royal family, such as Princess Mary (1897-1965), appeared on the front of some bank notes printed in the 1930s.
The bank said it will launch another consultation to identify another iconic Canadian whose image will appear on the front side of the next edition of the $5 note, which is due “a few years” after the Desmond $10 bill rolls out in 2018.
The current version of the $10 bill features Canada’s first prime minister, John A. Macdonald. Wilfrid Laurier, the first francophone prime minister, appears on the current version of the $5 bill. The bank says Macdonald and Laurier will appear on future versions of the $50 and $100 bills, though the bank didn’t specify whose face will land where. The $20 bill will continue to feature the reining monarch.
William Lyon Mackenzie King and Sir Robert Borden will not appear on future bank notes.
Financial Post
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