Nov 09, 2022
By Andy Johnson
The Toronto International Film Festival is renaming its largest cinema after civil rights activist Viola Desmond and launching an initiative to support Black women creators in her honour.
Desmond was the Black woman, who police dragged out of a Nova Scotia theatre in 1946 for refusing to leave the white section of the audience.
TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey says the organization is pledging to raise $2-millon over the next five years to provide support to Black women creators, develop programming for Black audiences and amplify the stories of Desmond and her sister Wanda Robson who died earlier this year.
It took 63 years for Nova Scotia to issue Desmond a posthumous apology and pardon. She died in 1965 but in 2020 she again made news when she was depicted on the Canadian $10.00 bill.
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