Removing statue a ‘local’ issue

WOLFVILLE, N.S. — Federal Justice Minister Jody WilsonRaybould says she defers to the views of local Mi’kmaq leaders on whether a controversial statue of Halifax’s founder should be moved. The Liberal cabinet minister was in Wolfville, N.S., Thursday to attend a meeting with Nova Scotia chiefs and MPs to discuss increased self-government for Mi’kmaq communities in the province. Last month protesters pledged to remove a bronze monument to Edward Cornwallis in a Halifax park, but instead the city temporarily covered it in a tarp. Cornwallis, as governor of Nova Scotia, founded Halifax in 1749 and soon after issued a bounty on Mi’kmaq scalps in response to an attack on colonists.

Some members of the Mi’kmaq community have called for removal of tributes to Cornwallis, calling his actions a form of genocide.