Accrediting Carrie M.
Best
By:
Kiran Bal
Canadian history has documented
the way in which a young, brave Black woman by the name of Viola Desmond pushed
back against racial segregation by refusing to sit in the “Black section” of a
theater she frequented. Many poems and short films about Desmond’s life have
either been written, or are in the works. However, the accuracy behind whether
or not Desmond was the initial trailblazer against racial segregation in the
theater has proven to be not so accurate. In Constance Backhouse’s article “I was Unable to Identify with Topsy” Backhouse
wrote about a woman named Carrie. M. Best who brought a lawsuit against racial
segregation in Nova Scotia to court four years prior to Desmond after Best
experienced the same racial discrimination. The Backhouse paper reported on an eventful court case
that has been buried
in Canadian legal archives for many years. In 1942, Carrie Best brought an action against a Nova Scotia theatre,
charging the owners with overt racial discrimination in a public place.
In
December of 1941, Norman Mason apparently decided it was time to respect the
racist complaints of some of his White patrons who felt as though African-Canadians
and Whites should be seated separately (after years of having so seating
arrangements). He instructed the staff of the Roseland Theatre to insist that a
new seating policy be implemented, and when several African-Canadian high
school girls refused to comply, he had them forcibly ejected from the theatre.
When Carrie Best learned what had happened, the forty-one year old woman
resolved to take action. (Best v. Mason and Roseland Theatre, 1942). Her first
strategy was to go to the theatre in person and insist that the discriminatory
policy be dropped. When this failed, she wrote a letter to theatre-owner Norman
Mason directly. In clear and forceful language, she recounted what had transpired,
laid out her arguments against the discrimination, and demanded a change in
policy. Best would actively attend the theatre and refuse to sit in the balcony
seats that were designated for coloured people—as a result she was consistently
thrown out of the theatre.
In
1941, there were no Canadian statutes expressly prohibiting racial segregation
in public facilities. The first such legislation would not appear until 1947,
when the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights Act, Canada's first comprehensive human
rights statute, outlawed discrimination in hotels, restaurants, theatres,
business ventures, employment, housing and education.
Best
ended up taking Mason and the theatre to court only to lose her case. The
preceding Judge Graham conceded that theatres advertised their services
generally to the public. However, it was his view that "the management had
the right to exclude anyone from the theatre." Theatres were no different
from private dwellings, as far as Judge Graham was concerned. "The
ordinary citizen had the right to exclude anyone from their home unless a contract
had been entered into," he stated before urging the jury to disregard any
other questions raised in the litigation. All else was "irrelevant.
Frustrated but not defeated Best took up a career in journalism, going on to
start The Clarion newspaper and
through her passionate writing and active resistance against racial segregation
she won many awards and acknowledgements of public service. Four years later
when Viola Desmond experienced the same prejudice, Best helped her formulate
her case. Desmond, unlike Best, won her case, which is perhaps why her story
has been better documented—her story and victory illustrates a progressive
stride for Black Canadians whereas Best’s case is an example of the oppressive
discriminatory nature of legislation in Canada that is forgotten in Canadian
history. In spite of the fact that the
fights of both of these women are equally valid and both helped to ameliorate
racist segregation by making valid contributions to the community, it is
important to create an accurate timeline of Black Canadian history and appoint
credit to all Black women who fought for equality and justice in order to
create a more complete and accurate reiteration of Black Canadian history.
The link below is an example of the
way Viola Desmond’s story has been documented in a Canadian Heritage Moment:
Constance
Backhouse Article:
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