Book Review: Viola Desmond’s Canada

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BOOK REVIEW: VIOLA DESMOND’S CANADA
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Canada like the US has a lot of history of anti-Black racism. Race and ethnicity are issues
that are still in the public domain today with human rights activism over time, having brought
about an end to slavery and racial discrimination.1 Even so, Canadians have been made to believe
that they are better off as compared to Americans in regard to accommodating the Blacks. They
consider themselves as having embraced diversity and thus moral than their US counterparts who
are still struggling with racism issues. In the book “Viola Desmond’s Canada: A History of
Blacks and Racial Segregation in the Promised Land” by Reynolds, the author indicates that
majority of Canadians today do not know of the Black life history in Canada and perhaps the
reason why they belief they are positive about embracing racial diversity, unlike the US.2
Reynolds indicates that the history of African Canadians remains a marginalized field in the
country’s history. As a result of the marginalization, this author argues that it is absolutely right
to conclude that majority of Canadians that see anti-Black racism as being an American
phenomenon, do not fully understand the African Canadian experience.3 Reynolds thus presents
1 "New Book Examines Centuries Of Anti-Black Racism In Canada | CBC News".
2018. CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/policing-black-lives-
book-sheds-light-anti-black-violence-racism-history-canada-1.4362065.
2 Reynolds, Graham. 2016. Viola Desmond’s Canada: A History of Blacks and Racial
Segregation in the Promised Land. Journal of Critical Race Inquiry. Winnipeg, MB:
Fernwood Publishing. Vol. 4, No. 1 (2017) pp. 74-77
3 Reynolds, Graham. 2016. Viola Desmond’s Canada: A History of Blacks and Racial
Segregation in the Promised Land. Journal of Critical Race Inquiry. Winnipeg, MB:
Fernwood Publishing. Vol. 4, No. 1 (2017) pp. 74-77
Marie Marguerite Rose’ possessions included documents on West Indian immigration into
Canada, the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, Canada’s minstrel shows, as well as an

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his book to educate them on the Black Canadian experience. Reynolds’ account of the Black
Canadian experience is not reliable as it only discusses the life of the Blacks in Nova Scotia
while paying minimal attention to related accounts in other parts including Ontario, Quebec and
New France.
Reynolds’ book has two parts. Part 1 of the book gives an overview of Canada’s Black
settlement as well as anti-Black racism history. The first two chapters of this part focus on
African slavery in the New France as well as the events regarding the Black Loyalist
settlement in the country’s Maritime Provinces. They also present an account of the
Underground Railroad while describing the different segregation and discrimination forms
which transpired between 1880 and 1960 across Canada. Crucial legislative acts including the
prominent people and organizations that fought to end the segregation in the country are also
highlighted. At the end of the second chapter, Reynolds describes the case of Viola
Desmond’s historic choice at the Roseland theatre where she sat in the section that was
reserved for Whites in Nova Scotia, including an account of her subsequent arrest. The first
part ends in chapter three where Wanda Robson, Viola Desmond’s younger sister writes on
her experience while growing up in Nova Scotia as a Black woman. This also includes
Wanda’s discrimination experience in Nova Scotia as well as an account of what she
recollected regarding Viola Desmond’s incident. Part 2 of the book provides a documentary of
various primary documents which are directly related to the anti-Black discrimination history
in Canada. Among them include several possessions of Marie Marguerite Rose who was freed
as a slave in Canada’s New France. These possessions included documents on West Indian
immigration into Canada, the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, Canada’s minstrel shows, as well
interview involving Pearleen Oliver and the civil rights activism that she was devoted to
in Nova Scotia.