Page 14 - The heart of Leadership
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Viola Desmond
She was the first Canadian woman to appear on our currency. She
was a pioneer for Black rights in Nova Scotia. On November 8,
1946, Desmond went to the movies at Roseland Theatre in New
Glasgow, and after purchasing her ticket, she sat in the lower
section, the lounge near the screen. When the manager informed her
that the seating area was reserved for white customers only, she
refused to leave.
She was forcibly abducted, imprisoned, and fined for defying
authority, but she continually fought the charges and was finally
pardoned in 2010, 45 years after her death. Montreal named a street
in her honor. A woman of heart and courage.
Nellie McClung
She won the right to vote for Manitoban women in 1916, making
Manitoba the first province in Canada to do so. Writer, teacher, wife,
and mother of five, Nellie McClung always fought for women's
rights. Later in her career, she moved to Alberta, where she became
a provincial member of parliament and later the first woman to sit
on the board of directors of the CBC, as well as being part of the
Canadian delegation.
* (Top 10 Most Influential Canadians - National Globalnews.ca)
*René Lévesque
René Lévesque began his career as a journalist at the CHNC radio
station in New Carlisle when he was only 15 years old. During his
student years in Quebec City, he worked as an announcer at CKCV
and Radio-Canada. In December 1943, thanks to his fluency in
French and English, he was recruited as a war correspondent by the
Office of War Information, the American press service responsible
for covering U.S. military operations in Europe. He was deeply
affected by this war experience, especially the discovery of the
Dachau concentration camp, which he could never forget.
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