Viola Desmond and the Ten Dollar Bill

~ Report by Myra McFarlane ~

February, 2021

On February 18th some 22 members & guests were treated to a presentation from Boyd Laanstra, Senior Analyst, Visual Content, for the Bank of Canada about how Viola Desmond got on the $10 bill, and more generally, about the process for making our award-winning currency by the Bank of Canada.

First of all, a very public thank you to Boyd for his interesting, informative and moving presentation. As one of our members most eloquently stated: “he is one of the most effective speakers I have ever seen, in such a nice quiet way. Fascinating subject matter too.”

What we learned from Boyd, was that aside from managing Canada’s monetary policy, the Bank takes responsibility for the production of our bank notes through a long-standing contract with the Canadian Banknote Company. In addition to their commercial function, the Bank recognizes that bank notes are in fact cultural artefacts, and are intended to reflect not just our current values as a country, but the values to which we collectively aspire. That’s why, when the Prime Minister announced in 2016 that the next portrait featured on the ten-dollar bill would be a woman, the Bank knew they had to get it right.

They conducted a cross country campaign, asking Canadians to nominate individuals based on some pretty wide criteria: the person had to have been deceased for twenty five years at the time; had exercised leadership, and had been a Canadian woman. That was it. Over a six week period more than 26,000 individuals or groups visited the website, and 461 women were deemed “qualified for further consideration”. To further narrow the choice, an advisory committee was struck, who added a few other criteria:

The individual chosen had to have:

• Overcome barriers
• Left a legacy
• Resonate(d) with Canadians
• And achieved something lasting

The list was narrowed down to twelve; then a public opinion poll was commissioned, and five names were sent along to the Minister of Finance, who was present, along with Ms. Desmond’s sister, Wanda Robson, at the December 2018 unveiling.

Not only was the portrait subject consulted on, the overall design of the bill was reviewed through several lenses including the CNIB for accessibility purposes, and Ms. Robson, Viola’s sister.

If you take a look at the $10 bill, you will see that it’s the first bill to employ a vertical orientation, and that the images on the back reflect the overall theme of Rights and Social Justice in Canada.

What Boyd was too modest to mention is that our $10 is award winning. In 2019 the International Bank Note Society awarded the International Bank Note of the Year award to our own $10 bill.

He then went on to whet our whistle for more by showing us the short list for the portrait subject for the upcoming $5 bill. It’s with the Minister of Finance now for decision. The list was developed by an advisory committee on which a historian well known to this group (Charlotte Gray) sat, among several other well known Canadians.

We can’t wait to see the outcome.

Now, lest you wonder why Viola Desmond? Boyd gave us a short history of her singular achievement. You may think you know about Canada’s Black history in Nova Scotia. You may think you know about the Black Loyalists that founded Birchtown, on land they were granted by the crown, and the ongoing tension in Halifax. What you may not know is that in 1946, private organizations were allowed to serve who they wanted, in whatever manner they chose, and not just in Halifax, but that’s another story.

So when Ms. Desmond, an entrepreneur with interests throughout Nova Scotia was effectively refused admission to the main floor of the Roseland Movie Theatre because of her colour, and she chose to challenge that refusal, and was then literally dragged out of the theatre, thrown into jail for the night and brought up before a magistrate the next day with no legal counsel and convicted under the provincial Theatres, Cinematographs & Amusements Act, which ostensibly had nothing to do with race, but as we learned, had everything to do with who could sit where in the theatre.

All this to say, with community support and only 64 years later, Ms. Desmond was officially pardoned by the Government of Nova Scotia, and 10 years after that, is honoured for being a civil rights pioneer in Canada.

Thank you also to our members, for the provocative questions and lively discussion that ensued.

We can’t wait to see the results of the $5 bill consultations, and to visit the Bank Museum once we are all vaccinated and allowed out of our homes!