Renewed calls for history museum at Cornwallis public engagement session

The question of what to do with the Edward Cornwallis statue is one that has been posed many times since the statue’s removal in January 2018. The controversial founder of Halifax is known for  putting a bounty on Mi’kmaq scalps in 1749.

To help the municipality find a way to commemorate both the municipality’s founder and recognize and commemorate Indigenous history, a task force was created. Thursday night a public engagement session was held to get input from more community members.

READ MORE: ‘Send him back’: Halifax hosts first consultation on commemorating Cornwallis

Historian and archaeologist David Jones attended the session, where he renewed his call for a history and civic museum in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).

“How can we better portray our Indigenous history, the history of everyone and European history from the early days of the founding of Halifax?” he asked.

The Cornwallis statue is currently being held in a storage facility in Burnside, but Jones says that’s not all that’s been stored away that should be in a museum.

“There’s a warehouse in Burnside full of thousands of artifacts from the collection of the former city of Dartmouth from the old Dartmouth museum, and those artifacts would tell stories not just of Dartmouth history and Dartmouth people, but of Halifax and surrounding areas as well,” said Jones.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's a warehouse in Burnside full of thousands of artifacts from the collection of the former city of Dartmouth from the old Dartmouth museum, and those artifacts would tell stories not just of Dartmouth history and Dartmouth people, but of Halifax and surrounding areas as well," said Jones.

But he says it’s also important that the museum tell the history of the Mi’kmaq, which could help the city move towards reconciliation.

“We talk about Halifax being founded in 1749, but the Mi’kmaq people have been in this province for 13,500 years. Those stories are interesting and valuable, and are something that is important to protect.”

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Mayor Mike Savage acknowledged it’s important to properly promote the municipality’s heritage. saying council will listen to the advice from the task force.

“We’re not going to go build a new museum tomorrow, but we are looking now at what assets we have,” he said.

“We have a number of historical artifacts locked away in a warehouse, so we need to build some facilities to showcase our history, and not just in the core of our city but all over HRM.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We have a number of historical artifacts locked away in a warehouse, so we need to build some facilities to showcase our history, and not just in the core of our city but all over HRM."

The task force itself will not be finalizing their report until late 2020. In the meantime, further public engagement sessions will be held next week.