Halifax council has voted to immediately remove a statue of Edward Cornwallis from a downtown park, with several councillors calling it a barrier to reconciliation.
After just over an hour of debate, it took less than 10 seconds for council to vote 12-4 to temporarily place the statue in storage until a decision is made on its long-term fate.
“The Cornwallis statue has become a powerful symbol,” Mayor Mike Savage told council. “I believe its continued presence on a pedestal in the middle of a city park is an impediment to sustained progress and forging productive, respectful and lasting relationships with the Mi’kmaq in the spirit of truth and reconciliation.”
He added: “Halifax is not the garrison town of Edward Cornwallis. It’s a thriving, diverse, modern city that I believe will be largely shaped by those who’ve been here the longest and those who are finding it for the first time.”
WATCH: Calls for action to remove Cornwallis statue resurface in Halifax
Morley Googoo, regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said the decision to take down the statue is a “huge opportunity for the city.”
“Other municipalities across the country are dealing with the same very question about how to have a new relationship with Indigenous Peoples,” he told reporters following council’s decision.
“Being here today and witnesses how we talked about it and the progress we’ve made in Halifax, I’m very proud to be here.”
Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq chiefs had called Friday for the statue to be taken down immediately, because a panel appointed in October to study how the city commemorates Cornwallis had not even met yet.
“If we want reconciliation, we pull down the statue immediately,” said Coun. Richard Zurawski. “Let’s end the 500 years of broken promises and take away this visual symbol of supremacy.”
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Savage told council that the issue of truth and reconciliation has been a long time coming. Speaking from prepared notes, he said “we are all a product of our history,” but we do not have to be a prisoner to it.
The mayor told council that removing the statue is not about re-writing history, but acknowledging that history is also not “cast in bronze.”
Cornwallis is a disputed character seen by some as a brave leader who founded Halifax, but by others as the commander of a bloody and barbaric extermination campaign against Mi’kmaq inhabitants.
“The status quo is completely untenable. The statue is a barrier to reconciliation,” Coun. Sam Austin said during the debate.
“Cornwallis will always be in the history books. This is about how we commemorate him.”
A staff report suggested the Cornwallis statue could be taken down and stored at a cost of about $25,000.
It said it is concerned about rising tensions around the statue, citing a planned protest Sunday that could result in “damage to the statue, conflicts among protesters and counter-protesters and personal injury.”
“The statue has increasingly become a flashpoint for protests,” states the document, dated Jan. 27.
“Clashes arising from protests and counter-protests of controversial statues in other jurisdictions have in some cases resulted in injury and damage to public property and in a worst case, death. There is a reputational risk to Halifax from the attention associated with this unrest.”
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It said it is concerned about rising tensions around the statue, citing a planned protest Sunday that could result in “damage to the statue, conflicts among protesters and counter-protesters and personal injury.”
“The statue has increasingly become a flashpoint for protests,” states the document, dated Jan. 27.
“Clashes arising from protests and counter-protests of controversial statues in other jurisdictions have in some cases resulted in injury and damage to public property and in a worst case, death. There is a reputational risk to Halifax from the attention associated with this unrest.”
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One councillor, Steve Adams, called instead for leaving the statue but adding statues of Acadians, Mi’kmaqs and others in a “Founders Plaza” with interpretive panels.
“This is not the way to run a city, based on threats of violence,” he said.
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.
But the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs has said it was frustrated with a process that has dragged on for “far too long.”
The assembly said it submitted names of potential Mi’kmaq panellists, but the committee has yet to be formed.
The council report also called on the mayor to “re-engage” the assembly in the committee.
“Removing the statue offers the opportunity to reduce the current volatility around discussions of commemoration, protect the statue, and undertake a public engagement in a less charged environment than is currently the case,” it states.
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