Debate over controversial Halifax figure renewed

• The story of Col. Edward Cornwallis in Nova Scotia is told two ways: The tale of a brave leader and his entourage of soldiers and settlers trying to survive in a new world, or the commander of a bloody and barbaric extermination campaign against Mi’kmaq inhabitants.

On Tuesday, Halifax council will debate a motion that could change how the city remembers its controversial founder.

Rookie councillor Shawn Cleary has proposed asking staff to come up with terms of reference and a potential expert panel to weigh in on the commemoration of Cornwallis in the city. The expert panel would also examine ways to commemorate indigenous history in the region.

A similar proposal, narrowly defeated 8-7, polarized council last year.

“In the face of great odds, he persevered through the winter and against local hostilities,” said John Boileau, chairman of the Halifax Military Heritage Preservation Society. “With Cornwallis as leader, Halifax was founded.”

Other accounts describe a brutal colonial campaign against the local inhabitants.

“The British raided the land and killed the Mi’kmaq — men, women and children,” said Daniel Paul, a Mi’kmaq elder and historian. “It was genocide.”

When the British government needed a leader to stomp out indigenous resistance in Nova Scotia, it turned to Cornwallis. With a group of settlers and military personnel, the neophyte governor arrived in Chebucto Harbour in June 1749. The Mi’kmaq greeted his entourage with hospitality.

But peace was short-lived. Cornwallis wasted no time asserting British control over the region and the new town he christened Halifax.

After a treaty between the British and Maliseet chiefs, the Mi’kmaq were left as the sole opposition.

The British made it clear they expected the indigenous population to submit to colonial domination. In response, the Mi’kmaq declared war, attacking military, shipping and trade targets.

On Oct. 2, 1749, Cornwallis and his military council approved an infamous scalping proclamation to “take or destroy the savages.”

The decree promises a reward of “ten Guineas for every Indian Micmac taken, or killed, to be paid upon producing such savage taken or his scalp.”

Boileau, chairman of the military preservation society, argues the proclamation only targeted male warriors because it refers to “his” scalp, although male pronouns have traditionally been used as gender-neutral.

Boileau says if women and children had been targeted, the proclamation would have included a different price on their scalps.

Boileau added: “To say Cornwallis put a bounty on the scalp of every man, woman and child is absolutely incorrect ... it’s alternate facts.”

But Saint Mary’s University history professor John Reid disagrees. He said the scalp and prisoner proclamation wasn’t confined to warriors.

“There was no restriction,” he said. “It just says any ‘savage.’ ”

After three years as governor, Cornwallis resigned. It wasn’t until 1899, that the idea of Cornwallis as the founder of Halifax surfaced, Reid said.

“Cornwallis really was a pretty minor historical figure,” he said, noting Cornwallis was “reinvented” through the late 19th century and early 20th century idea of imperialism.

Much of the debate has centred around the statue of the governor in Cornwallis Park, near Halifax’s train station.