03/06/2026
As a wealth management practice, we deal with money everyday. Not actual dollar bills, mind you - but money nonetheless. So in thinking of what to post to honour women for International Women's Day, we thought of a woman we see in our wallets from time to time but we might not know her story:
Viola Desmond built a career and business as a beautician and was a mentor to young Black women in Nova Scotia through her Desmond School of Beauty Culture. In 1946, Viola Desmond challenged racial discrimination when she refused to leave the segregated whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Viola Desmond was arrested, jailed overnight and convicted without legal representation for an obscure tax offence as a result. Despite the efforts of the Nova Scotian Black community to assist her appeal, Viola Desmond was unable to remove the charges against her and went unpardoned in her lifetime. Desmondโs courageous refusal to accept an act of racial discrimination provided inspiration to later generations of Black persons in Nova Scotia and in the rest of Canada. In 2010, Lieutenant-Governor Maryann Francis issued Desmond a free pardon. In December 2016, the Bank of Canada announced that Viola Desmond would be the first Canadian woman to be featured by herself on the face of a banknote โ the $10 note released on 19 November 2018. That same year, Viola Desmond was named a National Historic Person by the Canadian government. (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/viola-desmond)
If you want to read more about amazing Canadian women, google Dr. Emily Stowe, The Famous Five, Donna Strickland, Charlotte Small and Roberta Dunbar to name a few.
And of course, we can't forget the fabulous women on our team - Becca, Cathy, Katrina, Mary, Mya, Shelley and Robin. They make our practice what it is today.