Mi'kmaqs pull out of Cornwallis statue talks
HALIFAX • The mayor of Halifax says a municipal process to rethink how the city honours its controversial founder may not go ahead as planned after the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs withdrew.
Mike Savage said councillors are evaluating their options after the municipality’s efforts to revisit tributes to Halifax founder Edward Cornwallis were derailed on Friday when the assembly announced it was pulling its participation.
“We have to determine if the process goes ahead or not, and that’s a discussion that council will have to have,” said Savage.
“It was always going to be hard work, and I still think the process is one that has integrity, but if it’s not going to happen, then we’ll have to adjust.”
The assembly has called for a statue of Cornwallis to be immediately removed from a downtown park, saying its members have run out of patience with a process that has dragged on for “far too long.”
The mayor said the assembly’s decision came as a surprise to councillors, but the Mi’kmaq chiefs are not alone in their frustration with the slow pace of progress.
“I think we’re all disappointed that the process has taken as long as it has, but it’s a very new thing for us on council. We’ve never done something like this before,” he said.
“I don’t want to point fingers as to who’s to blame for how long it took, because I just don’t think it’s helpful to look back. I’d rather look forward.”
Halifax councillors voted last fall to launch a special advisory committee that would provide council with advice on what to do with Cornwallis commemorations, as well as make recommendations for honouring Indigenous history.
Savage pointed to the vote as evidence that council has seen movement on the Cornwallis issue since a similar motion, which would have had experts weigh in on the matter, was narrowly defeated in 2016.
The committee was to be made up of eight community members, four of whom would be based on nominations put forward by the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs. The assembly said it submitted names of potential Mi’kmaq panellists, but the committee has yet to be formed.
For some, Cornwallis is a brave leader who founded Halifax with his entourage of soldiers and settlers trying to survive in a new world.
But others see him as the commander of a bloody and barbaric extermination campaign against Mi’kmaq inhabitants, exemplified in the 1749 scalping proclamation.
“What I want to see is some kind of a process that leads to a greater understanding of why these things matter. You know, that may be somewhat naive to think that that can happen, but I believe in the power of government to do good work,” Savage said.