A New Glasgow, N.S., homeless shelter named after civil rights icon Viola Desmond has changed its name after a request by the family of the late Black rights activist.

Previously known as Viola’s Place, the shelter has been the subject of recent complaints by residents, business owners and municipal politicians related to disturbances, thefts and drug use around the property.

Desmond’s brother-in-law, Joe Robson, said the family asked staff to change the name because of the activity around the shelter and the negative attention it has been receiving recently.

“We looked at it as a slur on the Desmond name,” said Robson, who was married to Desmond’s sister, Wanda.

The shelter, which opened in 2018, will now be called Northstar Shelter and Support Services.

“We had reached out to the family a couple times to have a discussion, but we weren’t successful in being able to do that, so we just decided to move forward with the change out of respect for the family,” said Lisa Deyoung, executive director of the shelter.

Desmond, a Halifax-born entrepreneur, was jailed in 1946 for sitting in the whites-only section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow. In 2010, she received a posthumous apology and free pardon at Province House.

Family says it was never consulted

Robson said the family was not consulted before the shelter was named after Desmond, which left many relatives upset.

“They were not happy,” he said. “It was disrespecting Viola.”

Family members only found out after receiving calls from people living in New Glasgow, said Robson, who resides in North Sydney, N.S.

The non-profit organization that manages the shelter will continue to operate as the Viola’s Place Society, Deyoung said.

A number of shelters in Nova Scotia are facing public backlash due to growing homeless populations in their communities and the problems that can come with that, she said.

So, there are some positives to getting a new name.

“It felt important to kind of change our name, but also the exciting piece of it was just kind of giving us an opportunity to kind of start fresh,” she said.

Naming the shelter Northstar represents a path forward, hopefully with less tension in the community and more collaboration to help people experiencing homelessness, Deyoung said. 

While the name might be changing, Deyoung said the shelter’s priorities are staying the same. 

“We still represent equality and inclusion and the things that Viola Desmond stood for,” she said. 

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