'Heave-Ho': Edward Cornwallis

Back in the day, when I was a cub reporter at the 'Mail-Star,' our page one editor, the legendary Bill McCall, was famous for composing crisp headlines.
One of his favourite banner heads, often placed above the masthead, which appeared at least once per week, read, "(Insert topic name) Stirs Local Scene.'

We reporters would share a lot of chuckles ... privately, mainly because we had so much respect for Bill, who had covered the famous Lindbergh flight back in 1927.
(Bet you didn't know, Dear Reader, that Charles Lindbergh flew over Halifax on that historic solo flight across the Atlantic, and that our local newspapers played a vital role in reporting his progress toward Paris.)
Bill McCall and his headlines would be right in the thick of it today, as the 'politically correct' crowd have another spin at revising history: they want to banish the name of our Halifax founder, Edward Cornwallis, from historical accounts.
This is just their latest salvo.
A couple of years ago, the story had again reared its ugly head, had been brought to H.R.M. Council, discussed over several sessions in great detail, but the action proposal narrowly defeated.
This time, the public discussion follows the publication of a poem by Rebecca Thomas, Halifax's 31-year-old aboriginal poet laureate.
(Bet you didn't know, Dear Reader, that we HAD an official poet laureate. And we have had one, from time to time, over the last centuries!)
According to a recent story by CTV News, she chided 'councillors for shutting down debate last year over how the city commemorates its controversial founder.
Edward Cornwallis issued a bounty on the scalps of her Mi'kmaq ancestors -- men, women and children -- but is still honoured with a park, statue, and even a street within a stone's throw of the city's Mi'kmaq friendship centre.'
Local officials had already renamed 'Cornwallis Junior High' school, and elders at historic 'Cornwallis Street Baptist Church' are proposing to change their official name.
(Don't know yet, Dear Reader, the fate of the actual 'Cornwallis Street.')
Let's look at the historical context here, shall we?
In 1749, commercial interests from Halifax, England -- backed up by a powerful British military garrison -- had founded a town beside a large harbour, to defend North America from the French.
Cornwallis acted as commander of military forces in the area.
Local aboriginals, who had supported the French traders and settlers for generations, were forced to flee to woodlands to the north and east of the town.
These military practices, while cruel and heinous, were not isolated events -- then and now.
The British meant business!
Not far away, in 1755, in Grand Pré in the Annapolis Valley, Governior Lawrence, under British orders, carried out what came to be called the 'Expulsion of the Acadians' -- a brutal act of national genocide.
Land-owning Acadians in a most fertile and prosperous agricultural area saw their houses and crops burned, and were then rounded up in a chapel and shipped to American ports in New England, and as far south as Louisiana, to make way for English farmers.
And so, 350 years later, political correctnessw dsemands that we erase the name of the founder of Halifax area schools, statues and streets.
Can you imagine Americans canceling the name of the Father of their Country, an inept and cruel military commander and slave owner, from their nation's capital, the State, the University, schools and all the places that claim: 'George Washington slept here.'?
That would be plain ridiculous.
Halifax Municipal Council has formed a special 'panel' to investigate the situation and report later this year for discussion and possible action.
(Remember, Dear Reader, the hours and hours Council spent discussing the famous / notorious / contentious 'cat bylaw' or the 'keeping-of-hens' bylaw?)
Apparently, they don't have more important topics to discuss than making our city's founder 'walk the plank'!