Daily BrewHalifax junior high school changes name from Cornwallis after complaints
Edward Cornwallis has been dead for 235 years, but the debate over his deeds is far from over.
The Halifax school board has voted unanimously to change the name of Cornwallis Junior High amid pressure from native groups who consider the 18th century British general to be a butcher.
The motion to change the name was tabled by Kirk Arsenault, the Mi'kmaq member of the school board. He sees plenty of battles ahead in province where Cornwallis' name can be found on plenty of streets and parks.
Cornwallis is particularly reviled by the Mi'kmaq due to a bounty he offered on scalps from the tribe.
Cornwallis founded Halifax in 1749, violating a treaty with the Mi'kmaq, and ruled as governor of Nova Scotia. He is not to be confused with his nephew, Charles Cornwallis, who gained fame as a general during the American War of Independence.
He is known for waging brutal frontier warfare against both the French and native populations of Nova Scotia, in which both combatants and and civilians were often brutally killed.
While the British paid for Mi'kmaq scalps, the French paid the Mi'kmaq for English ones. However, Daniel Paul, a Mi'kmaq author and historian, said in an interview with the Globe and Mail that the Mi'kmaqs who carried out scalping were very different from the British. He said that while scalping was official British policy, Mi'kmaqs who took part in the practice were acting outside the authority of their leaders.
The junior high school has yet to be given a new name. Community consultation will take place to determine a new moniker.
Not everyone is enthusiastic about changing the names of schools or monuments over crimes committed long ago. While Halifax city councillor Darren Fisher acknowledges Cornwallis committed some terrible acts, he doesn't think Canadians should start down a revisionist path.
"I don't want to open up my own can of worms here ... But history is laced with people, famous people, that have done things that go against everything that we stand for as acceptable today," said Fisher speaking to the National Post. "The last thing you want to see is half of North America start being renamed."
When it comes to Nova Scotia, however, that is exactly what Arsenault is seeking. "As far as we are concerned, anything with the Cornwallis name on it has to go."
(Photo credit: Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)
