Stronger Together - Celebrating International Women's Day

2 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2019 Celebrating International Women's Day STRONGER TOGETHER It has been asserted — and it is worth being reminded — that women's rights are human rights. That truth is demonstrated in the righteous rising of Canadian Viola Desmond. And according to Louise Waldman, it's high time more people knew her name. "When the museum first opened in 2014, people coming through our Canadian Journeys gallery had heard of Rosa Parks, but nobody had heard of Viola Desmond," says Waldman, manager of communications and marketing at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR). Viola Irene Desmond, a Canadian businesswoman, was born in 1914 and resided in Nova Scotia. While attending a movie theatre in 1946, she refused to leave the designated whites-only area to take a racially designated seat in the segregated theatre. When authorities prosecuted her on tax evasion for the one-cent difference in the price of the seats, Desmond fought back, helping to spur the civil rights movement in Canada. Desmond was granted a posthumous pardon in 2010 (she passed away in 1965 in New York) and the government of Nova Scotia acknowledged her rightful resistance to racial discrimination and apologized for prosecuting her. In November 2018, the Bank of Canada officially launched a new $10 bill featuring Desmond's image, along with an image of the CMHR to represent human rights and an eagle feather representing Indigenous rights. Desmond is the first Canadian woman to appear on a banknote in regular circulation. Her sister, Wanda Robson, was present when the design for the bill was unveiled in Halifax, and she also attended the launch ceremony at the CMHR in Winnipeg. "Wanda Robson is just an incredible woman," says Waldman. "She told me about how Viola took her stand in 1946, and was put in jail, lost her court case and was convicted and fined. She was embarrassed, and lots of people in the community were embarrassed, and they just wanted it to go away." Wanda underwent her own transformation when she went to university as an adult. "She had a professor who was teaching about civil rights stories in Canada and she realized in the middle of his lecture, 'Oh my god, he's telling my sister's story.' It was a wake-up call that she was learning about her sister's story in this university classroom and she realized how profound her sister's act had been. "She became very active in making her sister's story well- known," says Waldman. "And it's been a highlight of my career to have met Wanda, who is an amazing woman." When Robson came to Winnipeg last November to celebrate the dedicated bank note, it was only meant to be a quick visit. But the 92-year-old woman stayed on her feet and visited with guests and staff for six hours. Since her graduation from Cape Breton University in 2004 — at the age of 76 — Wanda Robson has continued to carry the torch for her sister and her community. "The Viola Desmond story is key to Canadians waking up to our own history and coming to recognize the human rights heroes in our history that haven't had the recognition they deserve," Waldman says. "Viola Desmond's is just one of those stories — just imagine how many hundreds more that we still need to discover!" There will be plenty of stories to explore at the CMHR on International Women's Day. Themed activities on through March 10 include a special 75-minute guided tour that focuses on women's rights. Waldman says the tour starts in the Nelson Mandela exhibition and moves through Canadian Journeys, "where visitors will discover Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, one of the women who challenged the Indian Act provision that saw her lose her status if she married a non-Indigenous person." Tours are offered in English at 10:30 a.m. and in French at 1 p.m. The cost is added to general admission. Learn more about activities and tours at humanrights.ca ◗ FROM THE WOMEN OF CITY COUNCIL Celebrang INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY L to R: Councillors Rollins, Lukes, Sharma, Santos, Gilroy A Notable Woman LEARN ABOUT VIOLA DESMOND AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS HEROES AT CMHR BY WENDY KING "The Viola Desmond story is key to Canadians waking up to our own history and coming to recognize the human rights heroes in our history that haven't had the recognition they deserve. Viola Desmond's is just one of those stories — just imagine how many hundreds more that we still need to discover!" Late Canadian civil rights activist Viola Desmond's sister, Wanda Robson, holds one of the first $10 bills featuring Desmond's image. The bill was launched last fall at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Below: Robson and Desmond at the Hi- Hat Club in Boston, circa 1950. Photos courtesy of the Bank of Canada

• Cover