New $10 bill starring Nova Scotian will debut in Halifax next week

Canadians will get their first peek at the new $10 bill featuring civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond at an event in Halifax next week.

The banknote will be unveiled Thursday at the Halifax Central Library by federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz.

Morneau announced in December 2016 that the businesswoman-turned-civil-libertarian will become one of the few Canadian women to be celebrated on the face of her country's currency.

Desmond built a business as a beautician and, through her beauty school, was a mentor to young black women in Nova Scotia.

In 1946, she rejected racial discrimination by sitting in a whites-only section of a New Glasgow, N.S., movie theatre. She was arrested and fined.

Desmond's story received little attention until recent years. Herlegacy is being increasingly recognized. Her name now graces a Halifax Transit harbour ferry, and there are plans for streets named in her honour in Montreal and Halifax.