N.S. Indigenous community praises move to change name of Cornwallis House

A name change to a downtown Halifax building is gaining praise from Nova Scotia’s Indigenous community.

“It’s wonderful, in one word. The more Cornwallis names that disappear in the next few years, the better for everybody involved,” Daniel Paul, a Mi’kmaq elder and historian, said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's wonderful, in one word. The more Cornwallis names that disappear in the next few years, the better for everybody involved," Daniel Paul, a Mi'kmaq elder and historian, said.

Recently, the owner of a building on Spring Garden Road changed the name from Cornwallis House to Bond Building.

READ MORE: Edward Cornwallis considered: The man behind Halifax’s divisive debate

While the owner of the building wasn’t available for an interview explaining the reason for the renaming, it’s a move supported by people long advocating for reconciliation with the Mi’kmaq people.

“I think this shows that it’s quite easy,” El Jones, a Halifax activist, said. “Sometimes we act like you can’t change history, we’re all going to die if we change this history and I think this is a really nice sign that this building shows that, you can just quietly come and do it.”

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In the past months, protests have been held calling for the removal of the Edward Cornwallis statue in Halifax because of the way he treated Mi’kmaq and colonized their land.

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“Cornwallis is the person who proclaimed a scalping proclamation against Mi’kmaq women and children. So, not just soldiers, not warriors but innocence,” Jones said. “He spoke about the need to push Mi’kmaq people off the peninsula forever, so essentially declaring a race war against Mi’kmaq people.”

Paul was so offended by the commemoration of Cornwallis that he refused to set foot in the building while it still carried the Halifax founder’s name.

“Why should I go into anything that has some sense of honouring a person that I have no respect whatsoever for?” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Why should I go into anything that has some sense of honouring a person that I have no respect whatsoever for?" he said.

The Cornwallis debate was brought back to municipal council in April by Coun. Shawn Cleary.

He said he was inspired by a poem read by Indigenous Halifax Poet Laureate, Rebecca Thomas,  called Not Perfect.

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READ MORE: Halifax to re-visit controversy over founder Edward Cornwallis

“In that poem she [Thomas] re-visited what council debated back in 2016 and that was this idea that we need to re-visit Conrwallis and our history and the way we honour people in our municipality,” Cleary said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "In that poem she [Thomas] re-visited what council debated back in 2016 and that was this idea that we need to re-visit Conrwallis and our history and the way we honour people in our municipality," Cleary said.

A staff report outlining the next moves recommended to council in addressing the Cornwallis statue concerns is expected this fall.

Paul says that’s a welcome move for those who believe in the need for reconciliation.

“We’re all going toward that statue in the park and at the end of the day, I hope and pray that that will be the ultimate move that we’ll see this city and this province move toward complete reconciliation with the Mi’kmaq,” Paul said.