Viola Desmond Public School is a dual track elementary school named after after Canadian civil rights activist Viola Desmond and is located in the City of Vaughan at the intersection of Farrell Road and Via Romano Boulevard. It opened in the fall of 2019.
Viola Desmond was a teacher and an entrepreneur. She operated a training academy for young Black women who were often excluded from local programs. In 1946, Viola Desmond challenged racial discrimination at a Nova Scotian cinema by refusing to leave an area designated for white persons. The police forcibly removed her, injured her hip and held her overnight in prison. Desmond was then fined and charged with defrauding the Government of Nova Scotia. After this experience, Desmond protested against the Nova Scotian government’s charges which stemmed from racial discrimination.
In 2010, Desmond received a posthumous free pardon from the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and in November 2018 she became the first Canadian woman to appear alone on the $10 bill.