CONVICTION

Province of Nova Scotia 
County of Pictou
Town of New Glasgow, N.S.

Be it remembered that on this 9th day of November, A.D., 1946, Viola Desmond, of 

the town of the Town of New Glasgow, in the County of Pictou, is convicted before the 

undersigned, Rod G. MacKay, a Stipendiary Magistrate in and for the said Town of 

New Glasgow, for that she, at the said Town of New Glasgow, on or about the 8th  day 

of November, A.D., 1946, unlawfully did enter a theatre, to wit, the Roseland Theatre, 

the same being a place where a tax is imposed by  “The Theatres, Cinematographs 

and Amusements Act” without paying the said tax, contrary to the said “The Theatres, 

Cinematographs and Amusements Act,” Section 8 [8] [a], and it was thereby adjudged 

that the said Viola Desmond, for her said offense, should forfeit and pay the sum of Twenty 

Dollars to be paid and applied according to law, and should pay to Henry McNeil, The 

Informant herein, the sum of Six Dollars for his costs in this behalf, and, if the said sums 

were not paid forthwith, it was further adjudged that the said Viola Desmond should be 

imprisoned in the common gaol** of the County of Pictou for the term of one month.

Given under my hand at the said Town of New Glasgow, the day and year first above 

written.

Rod G. MacKay

A Stipendiary magistrate in and for in the said Town of New Glasgow.

(The above is a copy of the actual court record for the conviction of Viola Desmond.)

** (gaol is a British variant of JAIL, pronounced as is jail)