Racial segregation in Canada is a subject that is frequently ignored. In our history books, we are often taught about segregation in the United States and the courageous stories of African-Americans who protested against it. However, they fail to mention the hardships that African-Canadians faced. On a stormy winter night in 1946 in Nova Scotia, Viola Desmond, a young African-Canadian was the subject of a racist act, the results of which brought racial segregation to the Canadian forefront.

In November 1946, Viola Desmond, a beauty salon owner, was headed to Sydney, Nova Scotia for a business trip when her car broke down in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. To pass the time, Desmond decided to go to the local Roseland Theatre while repairs were being made on her vehicle. After purchasing her ticket, the 32 year old, unaware that blacks were solely sold tickets for balcony seats, sat in the lower section of the theatre, sector designated to the whites. She was then approached by an usher and was told that her ticket was not valid for that section of the theatre. Consequently, she was asked to move to the balcony.

Desmond decided to return to the ticket booth to pay the difference between the upper and lower section of the theatre. However, she was told that people like her were not permitted to procure downstairs tickets. Desmond then realized that her race was the basis of this discriminatory seating situation. Although Canada never had laws advocating racial segregation, it was nevertheless expected by society for black Canadians and white Canadians not to attend the same schools, to live in different residential areas and to use separate public facilities. Desmond found it unjust that African-Canadians were not treated equally to whites because of racial differences. Keeping that in mind, she returned to her seat and sat indignantly in the unmarked "whites only" section of the theatre. The usher then approached her for the second time and demanded that she sit in her designated area, the balcony. However, Desmond refused to move insisting that she had done nothing wrong. The usher notified the manager who then called the authorities. They turned to violent means and dragged the resisting Viola Desmond out of the theatre and into jail, injuring her hip.

The following day, she was brought to court and charged with attempting to defraud the Nova Scotia government by not paying the one-cent tax difference between the balcony and lower section of the Roseland Theatre, thus having to pay a $20 fine in addition. This incident immediately triggered a complete outrage amongst the black community. With the help of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP), Desmond decided to fight the charge in court. When she faced the Nova Scotia Supreme Court a year later in 1947, they dealt with the case as if it were a matter of tax-evasion, not racial injustice. Not once was it mentioned that she was a black woman or that the theatre had a racist seating policy. Subsequently, her case was dismissed.

Viola Desmond was the very first black woman to challenge racial segregation in the courts. She contributed to raising awareness about the severity and authenticity of racial segregation in Canada through her courageous acts. She was one of the first people to stand up against racial injustice, and her refusal to be mistreated by racist people did nothing but good for the Nova Scotia community. She is currently known as a Canadian civil rights icon and is often compared to Rosa Parks, although her incident occurred almost a decade before the Civil Rights Movement stimulators.

To conclude, Viola Desmond's contribution to the Canadian society continues to live on six decades after the 1946 Roseland Theatre incident took place. For instance, on April 14th 2010, the government of Nova Scotia issued Canada's very first posthumous pardon to Viola Desmond. Also, in February 2012, Canada Post unveiled a stamp featuring Desmond's portrait to honour the icon during Black History Month in Nova Scotia. It is important that we never disregard the many contributions of African-Canadians for they are too valuable to be forgotten.

The essays submitted pursuant to the RBC^® Black History Month Student Essay Competition and provided herein are the original work of the students who have entered the Competition. Royal Bank of Canada assumes no responsibility for material that is false, inaccurate or violates or infringes upon the rights of third parties, including privacy and intellectual property rights.