BR Halifax Ditching Founder – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
May 6, 2016

HALIFAX – History is coming back to haunt the founder of Halifax.

City council will consider a proposal to scrub the name of its controversial founder, Edward Cornwallis, from public commemorations.

Councillor Waye Mason says he will introduce a motion this week to update municipal markers bearing the name of Nova Scotia’s first governor, including a park and a street with Cornwallis’s name.

Mayor Mike Savage says he supports bringing the motion to council for consideration.

The proposal comes in response to campaigns to remove Cornwallis’s name from public places in light of his treatment of indigenous people.

Cornwallis founded Halifax in 1749 and soon after issued a bounty on the scalps of Mi’kmaq men, women and children.

A group calling for the Cornwallis River to be renamed is presenting a plan to several regional councils next month.

A Halifax junior high named for Cornwallis was renamed in 2012.

The city is also contemplating the future of a statue of Cornwallis opposite the city’s train station.

(The Canadian Press)

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