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By RON FANFAIR
In 1946, Viola Desmond refused to leave a New Glasgow theatre balcony that was reserved for Whites.
Her actions inspired the Civil Rights Movement in Canada, motivating Blacks to fight for their human rights.
Just over seven decades later, Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) annual awards celebrating Desmond’s courage and militant stand took place for the first time in a theatre – The Elgin & Winter Garden in downtown Toronto – that donated the space.
“Viola Desmond made it possible for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous & People of Colour) women to sit in theatre seats they pay for,” said TMU Chancellor Donette Chin-Loy Chang who pledged $5,000 to a student bursary. “And it is ironic that this theatre we are in now is the venue for this event because it opened the same year, 1913, as the Roseland Theatre in Nova Scotia which denied Viola ‘a good seat’ that she paid for.”
This was Chin-Loy Chang’s first community event since her instalment as TMU’s sixth Chancellor last month.
“Viola Desmond’s story is close to my heart,” she said. “While checking out of a supermarket recently, I pulled out a $10 bill to pay and asked the cashier if she knew whose photo was on the bill. She had no clue. When I told her, she was fascinated by the story of this Canadian legend.
“Events like the Viola Desmond Awards bring our community together by celebrating the achievements of Black women and gender-diverse people who follow in the legacy of Viola Desmond. At Toronto Metropolitan University, that legacy lives every day in our deep commitment to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion.”
Over 160 women have received awards and bursaries in Viola Desmond’s name in the last 16 years.
The recipient of the TMU Alumni Award, Ashley Jane Lewis, learned about the trailblazer in Grade 6 while being one of two Black students in high school in Aurora.
“This honour is enormous because Viola Desmond’s actions have triggered some incredible changes that have led to the freedoms I and many others enjoy in this country,” said the New Media Artist & Creative Technologist who is in the Black Scholars Institute inaugural cohort.
“The idea that there is some semblance of connection between her legacy and my work is very touching.”
Lewis’ work, which focuses on interactive installations, bio-art, social justice and speculative design, offers a model that Black communities can adopt to deepen relationships to mutual aid, networked information and resource distribution.
She draws inspiration from living organisms like slime mould, mycelium and other organic cultures to explore pathways to a more equitable future.
During her undergraduate studies at TMU, Lewis designed The Obama Board, a keyboard that swaps the sound of the note with a word from Barack Obama’s inauguration speech in 2009.
Second-year Journalism and LGBTQ+ Studies student Cris Nippard was the recipient of the Student Award.
“The award is a big deal for me, particularly in the political climate we are seeing in the West with a lot of hatred towards women and people of colour,” said the 19-year-old who is the Programming Outreach Support Lead at the Toronto Met Students’ Union Queer Space. “It is nice to see there are still these spaces where we are celebrating diverse members of our community who are putting in the hard work.”
Growing up in Scarborough was challenging for Nippard who is passionate about human rights and social justice, particularly for racialized queer and trans people.
“Being young, Black and gay was confusing for me as I didn’t see a lot of representation,” she said. “With Gen-Z Media, I realized I could get people to listen to the things that are important to me. I figured I could be the change I want to see in the world.”
TMU student bursaries were presented to Hermela Taye, Titilayo Coker-Oshiwoga and 2024 RTA School of Media Studies graduates Faith-Ann Clarke and Chelsi Campbell.
“I understand how much media can impact how we view ourselves, how we view others and how we treat other people,” said Campbell who is a first-generation Canadian. “I want to contribute to authentic and accurate representations of Black women…To be recognized with an award that honours such a pivotal change maker in Black Canadian history is very meaningful to me.”
She was among the second cohort in the Onyx Scholarship program which includes personalized training and career coaching, mentorship, interview preparation and other job-readiness resources.
From a young age, Clarke has had a passion for media production and storytelling.
“Active participation in joining and creating Black-led clubs, creating authentic media featuring underrepresented communities and addressing systemic issues Black Canadians face reflect her commitment to advocacy, positive change and her resilience and leadership that have helped her navigate the educational system despite its inherent challenges,” said her nominator. “Faith-Ann embodies Viola Desmond’s legacy of resilience by employing her problem-solving skills and maintaining courage and strength in the face of barriers and challenges throughout her post-secondary career.”
Learning about Desmond in elementary school inspired Clarke who is a Bell Media floor director.
“She had courage and resilience and I always wanted to use my voice to follow in her footsteps,” she said.
This was the first time TMU’s Office of the Vice-President, Equity & Community Inclusion (OVPECI) partnered with a Faculty to host the event.
“For me and our office, this is one of the important lights of the year,” said Tanya ‘Toni’ De Mello who is the OVPECI Vice-Chair. “It is an important and wonderful celebration where we get to showcase our Black women and gender diverse people on our campus who are demonstrating excellence and, more than that, are making a contribution to change our entire community.…What the Viola Desmond Awards are about is to make sure that the Black women and gender-diverse people who are making those changes today in our community are not invisible, that they are up on a stage, that they are in light and that we say we see you and we recognize you. You matter.”
TMU’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law put their hand up to be the inaugural host partner.
“This TMU signature initiative is, not surprisingly, very much aligned with our values at the Law school,” noted Donna Young who is the inaugural Dean. “At Lincoln Alexander Law, we are training future lawyers how to adapt to an increasingly innovative innovation-based economy and how to design solutions for evolving societal changes, including equity, inclusion and access to justice.
“Our faculty and staff bear a collective responsibility not only to prepare our students to become skilled professionals, but to inspire their development to become engaged, informed and passionate citizens who are committed to serving their communities.
“Tonight is an important opportunity to gather as a community and to learn about the formidable Black women and gender-diverse people who are truly making a difference in their professional and personal lives. I can’t wait for all of you to hear more about them and come away inspired to take meaningful actions in service of a more inclusive, equitable and stronger future for all of us.”
The Law School launched the Viola Desmond Community Leader Awards that were presented to Charlene Theodore, Luanda Campbell and Safia Thompson.
“For me, the award is a signifier of collectivity, connectedness and a recognition of community contribution,” said Thompson who is a McCarthy Tetrault LLP Litigation Associate. “Viola Desmond’s story is particularly inspiring to me as she was a Canadian civil rights activist and successful businesswoman who owned a beauty salon and a beauty school that catered to the Black community at a time when racial discrimination was prevalent.
“My mother is a hairstylist by trade, and I also worked in the beauty industry for 10 years before pursuing law. I’ve always been excited to someday fuse my passion for both advocacy and beauty in a way that makes sense to me while being able to continue engaging in important work that impacts the Black community and other diverse communities that I care about. I hope to one day do so and continue Ms. Desmond’s legacy of both excellence and giving back.
“I’m humbled to be able to be recognized alongside so many other incredible Black women who have been on the frontlines doing the necessary work, standing up for what is right and eating the word ‘no’ for breakfast.”
Thompson was the Lincoln Alexander School of Law’s inaugural class valedictorian.
“I always say that TMU feels like home, but it only feels that way because of the administration, staff and students who work so hard to prioritize community,” the Law School Black Students Association co-founder added. “The care and compassion to always try to act in ways that positively affect not just myself, but also others, is something I carry with me having left TMU. In particular, being part of an inaugural class at Lincoln Alexander has shaped the way I think and navigate the legal profession and the way I think about and understand the rule of law.”
In 1995, Campbell was kicked out of West Hill Collegiate Institute for questioning the limited inclusion of Black music while doing an independent study requiring research on different music genres.
The teacher, who also taught Law, told the Grade 11 student that Black music was not important to study after she tried to enlighten her about Africa’s influence on music.
Instructed to fill out a discipline form and ‘pen her feelings’ about what took place, Campbell was banned from the Music class and directed to write her upcoming exams, held a week after the ejection, in the school’s office.
When her mother, Elaine Campbell, and community worker Ken Johnson showed up at the school for answers, they were ignored and the Vice-Principal advised them to leave the premises.
Suspended from West Hill, she dropped out and finished high school at an alternative learning centre.
Becoming a mother at age 16 interrupted Campbell’s dream of becoming a lawyer or teacher.
In 2021, she established scholarships for Black law students in Ontario and launched Enbridge’s Legal Mentorship Program, pairing first-year Black and Indigenous law students with the company’s lawyers.
“To be part of building community for these young lawyers at TMU means everything to me,” said Campbell who is Enbridge’s Campus Recruitment Advisor. “While I didn’t get to pursue law, I got to see my daughter accomplish that and I am now supporting a generation of other law students.”
Born a year before her mom was ejected from high school, Kafela Campbell graduated from Lincoln Alexander School of Law last June.
“It is a great day to see my mom, who wanted to become a lawyer, being recognized for the work she is doing for young lawyers,” she said.
A voracious reader, Theodore learned about Desmond while in grade school.
“They didn’t teach a lot of Black history then,” the former Canadian Association of Black Lawyers director said. “I filed her away in my mental Rolodex as one of the women I thought was very cool. As a graduate of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, I have a connection to Nova Scotia where Desmond is from and is the birthplace of Black culture and heritage in Canada.
“I have always admired her for her courage, so to be given an award in her name for what I am called to do is an honour.”
While at Dalhousie, she received an International Bar Association commercial law fellowship in England and, in 2020, became the Ontario Bar Association’s first Black president.
Theodore, who made the list of ‘Canadian Lawyer Top 25 Most Influential’ in the justice system and legal profession in Canada four years ago, is the Chief Inclusion Officer at McCarthy Tetrault LLP that has been named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 12 consecutive years.
Naomi Wokocha, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts at TMU, was the recipient of the second Sidney & Mettelia Ferguson Memorial Award.
Leaving Jamaica in 1969, the husband and wife who passed away in 2016 and 2020 respectively, owned six special care homes in Toronto, including Sidmet Serenity Home on Keele St.
“As someone very dedicated to health equity, this award is satisfying since it is in the name of immigrants who cared about making others live healthy lives while in comfortable settings,” said Wokocha who plans to do a master’s in Health Ethics and PhD in Applied Philosophy.
Early Childhood educator Joy Wokocha was at the event to support her daughter.
“I am so proud of Naomi and just happy to be here to see her being celebrated,” she said. “She was a reading coach in Grade 1 for three kindergarten students. That is how much she loves to read. By the time she got to Grade 4, she was a prolific writer. I knew she was going to be special.”
Other award winners were Stephanie Latty who is an assistant professor in TMU’s Faculty of Criminology and Camara Chambers who is the Director of Leadership Development at The Dais, a public policy and leadership think tank at TMU.
Student awards were also presented to Alicia Gonsalves who is in Seneca@York School of Community Services Social Service Worker Program and Shanice Maria Samms who is in York University’s Department of Social Sciences.
Knowing Darrell Bowden is from New Glasgow, TMU Social Work student Jeff Perera visited his office in 2009 to find out how much he knew about Viola Desmond.
Bowden, then the Director in the Office of the Vice President of Equity & Community Inclusion, was very familiar with the trailblazer.
The idea he conceived to celebrate Desmond’s legacy was embraced by former TMU Vice-President for Equity & Community Inclusion Denise O’Neil Green and President & Vice-Chancellor, Mohamed Lachemi.
The Viola Desmond Awards was launched in 2009.
“We are here tonight to celebrate six Black women and gender diversity people whose dreams have changed for the better the communities around them,” said Lachemi. “These awards honour the legacy of Viola Desmond who was a Black woman that inspired Canada’s civil rights movement when she stood up against racism…Here at the Elgin & Winter Garden where everyone can sit freely, we feel Viola’s bravery resonate with us. We don’t have sections for people reserved based on race. I think about the courage she moulded back then and about the advice she went on to give others to do a little bit of good where you are.”
Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano, Provost & Vice-President Academic, said the awards program celebration is more than just a ceremony.
“It is truly a reflection of our dedication to cultivating Black flourishing within our community,” she said. “Each year, we celebrate exceptional individuals who are making significant impacts across various fields from education and medicine to law and the arts. I am very proud to play a role in advancing initiatives that directly support the Black community at the university.”
In acknowledging the award winners, Mayor Olivia Chow reminded them their work is vital.
“We are here celebrating Black potential, Black excellence in our city and the power of community joining together to turn the potential and excellence into impact,” she said. “We also celebrate all the hands that, through all the work you have done, are lifting the next generation of Black women and gender-diverse folks…We want to see what you accomplish next because we believe in you.”
Biding time as her car was repaired, Desmond went to see a movie. Sitting in the Whites-only section, the teacher-turned-entrepreneur who was on her way to Sydney in Cape Breton when the vehicle developed mechanical issues, was arrested and thrown into jail. Found guilty of not paying the one-cent difference in tax between the balcony and main floor tickets, she was fined $20 and ordered to pay $6 in court costs.
When efforts to overturn the conviction at higher levels of court failed, Desmond closed the business, moved to Montreal and enrolled in a business college. She eventually settled in New York where she died in 1965.
“She died with a criminal conviction,” said De Mello. “She was so heartbroken by what happened in her country that she moved to the United States. She died at age 51 and I would say probably of a broken heart. So, we must also acknowledge that the people doing this activism pay a heavy cost and we don’t just stand on their shoulders. We need to march in their footsteps because they paid a price.”
During her tenure as Nova Scotia’s first Black Lieutenant Governor, Mayann Francis – on the advice of the Executive Council – exercised the Royal Prerogative of Mercy in 2010 to grant a free pardon to Desmond which is based on innocence and recognizes that a conviction was an error.
That is the only time that a free pardon has been posthumously granted in Canada.
Designated a National Historic Person in 2017, Desmond’s image is on the $10 Canadian banknote, a Canada Post stamp, a Halifax Harbour Ferry and a Toronto park and streets in Montreal and New Glasgow. Three public schools also bear her name.
Longtime Viola Desmond Awards supporter Pamela Appelt was recognized at the event. She has been an honorary patron since the inception of the awards program.
