![]() | |
![]() | |
Location | Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (in storage) |
---|---|
Designer | J. Massey Rhind |
Opening date | June 22, 1931 |
Dedicated to | establishing Halifax and British rule of law |
Dismantled date | January 31, 2018 |
The Statue of Edward Cornwallis was a bronze sculpture of the military/political figure Edward Cornwallis atop a large granite pedestal with plaques. It had been erected in 1931 in an urban square in the south end of Halifax, Nova Scotia, opposite the Canadian National Railway station. Cornwallis was the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (1749–1752) and established Halifax in 1749. A Cornwallis Memorial Committee was struck in the 1920s and a statue was raised to pay tribute to Cornwallis and to promote tourism.
Since the 1980s the existence of the statue has generated significant controversy. To the Mi'kmaq First Nation, the first residents of the area, the statue symbolized the injustices they had suffered through the colonial period, and up to the present day. To many other Nova Scotians, the statue represented the founding of the city and had local historical value. According to historian John G. Reid, the conflicting viewpoints centred on the issue of historical memory, that is, "how the past should be publicly remembered." [1]
In 2018, after several public protests at the site, the statue and pedestal were removed on order of the Halifax Regional Council, citing safety concerns and concerns about the statue being vandalized and placed in storage. In 2021, the park was renamed "Peace and Friendship Park". [2]
During Cornwallis' term as Governor of Nova Scotia, he oversaw the founding of Halifax and Dartmouth, established the first law courts (court of General Sessions, County Court, and Supreme Court), erected forts at Grand Pre, Chignecto and Halifax, organized a militia of 840 men and established a public school for orphans. [3] [4] His administration also established the first Jewish community, the first German community and the first protestant dissenting congregation in present-day Canada. [5]
The arrival of Cornwallis in 1749 was during a period of armed resistance by the indigenous Miꞌkmaq, who objected to the founding of Halifax and the British colonization of Miꞌkmaꞌki, their traditional lands. The Mi'kmaq militia executed raids upon British settlements and Cornwallis responded with orders to bring back the scalps of Mi'kmaq persons. The order was not effective and Father Le Loutre's War as it is known now, would continue past the term of Cornwallis, who resigned in 1752 and returned to England. [3] The Mi'kmaq were defeated along with the French and Acadians in the French and Indian War and made peace with the British under the Halifax Treaties. The Mi'kmaq still contest the possession of Miꞌkmaꞌki and land claims actions are underway in New Brunswick and elsewhere. [6]
Nova Scotia Premier Edgar Nelson Rhodes set up the Cornwallis Memorial Committee in the late 1920s to erect a statue to recognize Edward Cornwallis as the "Founder of Halifax" and to promote tourism. [7] The statue was made by J. Massey Rhind and unveiled on June 22, 1931, on the 182nd anniversary of Cornwallis' arrival to Halifax as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. It was positioned in the center of a paved area within the new Cornwallis Park, across the street from the train station and the new Nova Scotian Hotel. The CA$20,000(equivalent to $345,366 in 2021) [8] statue was paid for primarily by Canadian National Railway. [9]
The statue is a 9 feet (2.7 m) tall bronze on a 10 feet (3.0 m) tall stone pedestal. The statue was modelled on Roman examples of statues of emperors, in a form of triumphalism. [10] The design was deliberate. Archibald MacMechan who served on the Cornwallis Memorial Committee compared the founding of Halifax to that of ancient Rome, praising Cornwallis' "sterling manhood" and considering him an example to "men of English blood the world over [who] are accustomed to give voice to a just pride in the achievements of their race, as a colonizing power..." [10]
During one of the speeches at the unveiling of the statue, Cornwallis was described as "a virile, strong, stand fast face with a touch of sternness in it which is usually to be found in the faces of all men who achieve – all leaders of men and all pioneers." [9] The Mi'kmaq militia had executed armed resistance throughout Father Le Loutre's War, preventing the British from establishing a stronghold over Mi'kma'ki. The speeches at the unveiling of the Cornwallis statue played down the Mi'kmaq armed resistance, simply giving passing reference to the Mi'kmaq being obstacles to settlement. [11]
Since the 1980s, the most notable advocate for the removal of the Cornwallis statue from a public space has been Daniel N. Paul, author of the 1993 book We Were Not the Savages . [12] Paul has suggested renaming the park Donald Marshall Jr. Memorial Park and replacing the statue with one of Donald Marshall Jr., wrongly convicted of murder in his youth and a fighter for the rights of the Mi’kmaq people. [13] The statue has been a site for protests since as least 2008, when several Mi'kmaq youth gathered at its base to mark the second annual Aboriginal Day of Action. [14]
Historian John G. Reid asserts that the statue reflects the imperialist, colonial times of its creators in the early part of the twentieth century. Reid writes that the creation of the statue "was governed not by history but by a potent mixture of imperialism, a racially-charged triumphalism based on the savagery-civilization binary, state promotion, and an economic agenda." [15] He writes further, "The ideology that had underpinned the raising of the statue had offered a strong and positive answer to any such concerns [of imperialist conquest] - the establishment of Halifax was a triumph of civilization over savagery, and Cornwallis was the city's courageous founder." [9]
Reid identifies that Paul's work, along with historians from the 1980s onward, helped to highlight the violence used in the process of colonization. [16] Reid suggests that Paul's work has been part of larger efforts to target Cornwallis in a symbolic manner, "representing the broader reality that colonization was not a benign process in which the significance of indigenous people was just that they were an inconvenient obstacle, but rather was an invasion and – like all invasions – was bitterly resisted." [1]
There is also concern about the message the statue sends about Cornwallis. Dr Reid says, “When you have somebody on a pedestal in public place of that kind, then what you are doing essentially is validating that person.” [17] Reid felt that the continued presence of the Cornwallis statue normalized the colonial process.
In April 2017, the city council voted to appoint an expert panel which would include Mi’kmaq representatives to recommend a way forward to deal with commemorations of Cornwallis in the city. [18] During the Halifax Regional Council meeting, on July 18, 2017, an account from the group called Removing Cornwallis was read by Mayor Mike Savage, with respect to the group's Declaration for a Call to Action. [19]
On July 1, 2017, a mourning ceremony was held at the Cornwallis statue site in Halifax. It was a ceremony to remember the missing indigenous women. It was disrupted by five members of the Canadian Armed Forces, calling themselves members of the right-wing Proud Boys. The five were suspended from the Forces and the Forces' leadership apologized. The incident was used to amplify Dan Paul's allegations against Cornwallis and to support the argument that, despite the wording of the Halifax Treaties, the Mi'kmaw never surrendered to the British and that Nova Scotia is unceded Mi'kmaq lands. [20]
On July 15, a group of protesters arrived at the site with the intention of removing the statue. City of Halifax workers arrived and covered up the statue with a black tarpaulin. The shroud covered the statue for the duration of when the protesters were at the scene. The City crew removed their covering. However, an orange tarpaulin was attached to the statue to obscure it, later that evening. [21]
On January 31, 2018, the statue was removed after City Council voted 12–4 in favour of moving the statue into storage. Both the statue and the stone pedestal on which it stood were placed in storage. [22]
On January 28, 2019, Temma Frecker, a Nova Scotia teacher at The Booker School and member of the Monarchist League, was awarded the Governor General's History Awards for her students' proposal to retain the statue in Cornwallis Park. Her proposal was to include the Cornwallis statue among three other statues of Acadian Noël Doiron, Black Nova Scotian Viola Desmond and Mi'kmaw hereditary grand Chief John Denny Jr. The four statutes would be positioned as if in a conversation with each other, discussing their accomplishments and struggles. [23]
The joint Halifax-Mi'kmaw task force on the commemorations of Cornwallis and Indigenous History recommended:
In 2020, the Halifax Council voted to accept the recommendations. [24] The street and park have since been renamed.
Citadel Hill is a hill that is a National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Four fortifications have been constructed on Citadel Hill since the city was founded by the English in 1749, and were referred to as Fort George—but only the third fort was officially named Fort George. According to General Orders of October 20, 1798, it was named after King George III. The first two and the fourth and current fort, were officially called the Halifax Citadel. The last is a concrete star fort.
The Mi'kmaq are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Miꞌkmaꞌki.
Edward Cornwallis was a British career military officer and was a member of the aristocratic Cornwallis family, who reached the rank of Lieutenant General. After Cornwallis fought in Scotland, putting down the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, he was appointed Groom of the Chamber for King George II. He was then made Governor of Nova Scotia (1749–1752), one of the colonies in North America, and assigned to establish the new town of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Later Cornwallis returned to London, where he was elected as MP for Westminster and married the niece of Robert Walpole, Great Britain's first Prime Minister. Cornwallis was next appointed as Governor of Gibraltar.
The Cornwallis River is in Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a meander length of approximately 48 kilometres (30 mi) through eastern Kings County, from its source on the North Mountain at Grafton to its mouth near Wolfville on the Minas Basin. The lower portion of the river beginning at Kentville is tidal and there are extensive tidal marshes in the lower reaches. In its upper watershed at Berwick, the river draws on the Caribou Bog while a longer branch continues to the official source, a stream on the North Mountain at Grafton.
Nora Bernard was a Canadian Mi'kmaq activist who sought compensation for survivors of the Canadian Indian residential school system. She was directly responsible for what became the largest class-action lawsuit in Canadian history, representing an estimated 79,000 survivors; the Canadian government settled the lawsuit in 2005 for upwards of C$5 billion.
The Battle at St. Croix was fought during Father Le Loutre's War between Gorham's Rangers and Mi'kmaq at Battle Hill in the community of St. Croix, Nova Scotia. The battle lasted from March 20–23, 1750.
The Raid on Dartmouth occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on May 13, 1751, when a Miꞌkmaq and Acadian militia from Chignecto, under the command of Acadian Joseph Broussard, raided Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, destroying the town and killing twenty British villagers and wounding British regulars. The town was protected by a blockhouse on Blockhouse Hill with William Clapham's Rangers and British regulars from the 45th Regiment of Foot. This raid was one of seven the Natives and Acadians would conduct against the town during the war.
Tufts Cove is an urban neighbourhood in the community of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour in the North End of Dartmouth. The neighbourhood boundaries of Tufts Cove are approximately from Albro Lake Road in the south to Highway 111 in the north, and from Victoria Road in the east with the harbour to the west.
The Battle at Chignecto happened during Father Le Loutre's War when Charles Lawrence, in command of the 45th Regiment of Foot and the 47th Regiment, John Gorham in command of the Rangers and Captain John Rous in command of the navy, fought against the French monarchists at Chignecto. This battle was the first attempt by the British to occupy the head of the Bay of Fundy since the disastrous Battle of Grand Pré three years earlier. They fought against a militia made up of Mi'kmaq and Acadians led by Jean-Louis Le Loutre and Joseph Broussard (Beausoliel). The battle happened at Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia on 3 September 1750.
The Raid on Dartmouth (1749) occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on September 30, 1749 when a Mi'kmaw militia from Chignecto raided Major Ezekiel Gilman's sawmill at present-day Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, killing four workers and wounding two. This raid was one of seven the Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadians would conduct against the settlement during the war.
The attack at Mocodome was a battle which occurred during Father Le Loutre's War in present-day Country Harbour, Nova Scotia on February 21, 1753 which saw two British mariners and six Mi'kmaq killed. The battle ended any hope for the survival of the Treaty of 1752 signed by Governor Peregrine Hopson and Mi'kmaq chief Jean-Baptiste Cope.
Daniel Nicholas Paul,, was a Canadian Miꞌkmaq elder, author, columnist, and human rights activist. Paul was perhaps best known as the author of the book We Were Not the Savages. Paul asserts that this book is the first such history ever written by a First Nations citizen. The book is seen as an important contribution to the North American Indian movement. One writer stated, "It's a Canadian version of Dee Brown's bestseller Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and, as such, served a valuable purpose in raising public consciousness about Miꞌkmaq history, identity, and culture."
Nova Scotia is a Canadian province located in Canada's Maritimes. The region was initially occupied by Mi'kmaq. The colonial history of Nova Scotia includes the present-day Maritime Provinces and the northern part of Maine, all of which were at one time part of Nova Scotia. In 1763, Cape Breton Island and St. John's Island became part of Nova Scotia. In 1769, St. John's Island became a separate colony. Nova Scotia included present-day New Brunswick until that province was established in 1784. During the first 150 years of European settlement, the colony was primarily made up of Catholic Acadians, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq. During the last 75 years of this time period, there were six colonial wars that took place in Nova Scotia. After agreeing to several peace treaties, the long period of warfare ended with the Halifax Treaties (1761) and two years later, when the British defeated the French in North America (1763). During those wars, the Acadians, Mi'kmaq and Maliseet from the region fought to protect the border of Acadia from New England. They fought the war on two fronts: the southern border of Acadia, which New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine, and in Nova Scotia, which involved preventing New Englanders from taking the capital of Acadia, Port Royal and establishing themselves at Canso.
The Burying the Hatchet ceremony happened in Nova Scotia on June 25, 1761 and was one of many such ceremonies in which the Halifax Treaties were signed. The treaties ended a protracted period of warfare which had lasted more than 75 years and encompassed six wars between the Mi'kmaq people and the British. The Burying the Hatchet ceremonies and the treaties that they commemorated created an enduring peace and a commitment to obey the rule of law.
Treaty Day is celebrated by Nova Scotians annually on October 1 in recognition of the Treaties signed between the British Empire and the Mi'kmaq people. The first treaty was signed in 1725 after Father Rale's War. The final Halifax Treaties of 1760–61, marked the end of 75 years of regular warfare between the Mi'kmaq and the British. The treaty making process of 1760–61, ended with the Halifax Treaties (1760–61).
The military history of the Mi'kmaq consisted primarily of Mi'kmaq warriors (smáknisk) who participated in wars against the English independently as well as in coordination with the Acadian militia and French royal forces. The Mi'kmaq militias remained an effective force for over 75 years before the Halifax Treaties were signed (1760–1761). In the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq "boasted" that, in their contest with the British, the Mi'kmaq "killed more men than they lost". In 1753, Charles Morris stated that the Mi'kmaq have the advantage of "no settlement or place of abode, but wandering from place to place in unknown and, therefore, inaccessible woods, is so great that it has hitherto rendered all attempts to surprise them ineffectual". Leadership on both sides of the conflict employed standard colonial warfare, which included scalping non-combatants. After some engagements against the British during the American Revolutionary War, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century, while the Mi'kmaq people used diplomatic efforts to have the local authorities honour the treaties. After confederation, Mi'kmaq warriors eventually joined Canada's war efforts in World War I and World War II. The most well-known colonial leaders of these militias were Chief (Sakamaw) Jean-Baptiste Cope and Chief Étienne Bâtard.
John Connor (1728–1757) was a mariner who ran the first ferry in Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, and was involved in the Attack at Mocodome during Father Le Loutre’s War, which effectively ended the Treaty of 1752.
Jean-Baptiste Moreau was first minister at St. John's Anglican Church (Lunenburg) (1753-1770) and one of the founding fathers of the community. He was one of two missionaries who first arrived in Halifax with Edward Cornwallis (1749) and served at St. Paul's Church (Halifax). His wife had the first child born in Halifax and was named Cornwallis after the Governor. Then in 1753 he was sent to help establish Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Rev Moreau served the community throughout the French and Indian War. He reported to Society for Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) in London, "…the number massacred by Indians in Lunenburg District during the War was 32." He learned the Mi'kmaw language and is reported to have baptised a number of Mi'kmaq children. He is buried in the crypt of St. John's Anglican Church
The Peace and Friendship Treaties were a series of written documents that Britain signed bearing the Authority of Great Britain between 1725 and 1779 with various Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Abenaki, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy peoples living in parts of what are now the Maritimes and Gaspé region in Canada and the northeastern United States. Primarily negotiated to reaffirm the peace after periods of war and to facilitate trade, these treaties remain in effect to this day.
shalan joudry is a Mi'kmaw writer, storyteller, and ecologist. She is known for her poetry collections, including the multi-award nominated Waking Ground.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)