By Leveller staffCornwallis Statue

The statue of Halifax founder Edward Cornwallis was removed from the park that bears his name on Jan. 31. The Halifax regional council voted 12-4 the day before to remove the statue after public outcry and months of campaigning by the Mi’kmaq and their allies.

On Jan. 26, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs issued a community notice stating that council was taking too long to form a promised committee to review the commemoration of Cornwallis. The chiefs voted unanimously in calling for the statue to be “removed immediately.”

However, the recommendation to council contained in a staff report for the meeting agenda, which was obtained by CBC News, cites “unrest” as the catalyst for the decision to put the statue in storage.

“The most immediate concern around the statue is one of public safety,” the report states.

“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.”

The former Nova Scotia governor is infamous for directing the British military’s genocidal campaign against the Mi’kmaw people. Cornwallis’ 1749 scalping proclamation offered a cash bounty for the murder of every Mi’kmaw man, woman and child.

While the removal of Cornwallis sparked celebration, others were disappointed, claiming that removing statues serves to erase history.

Anishinaabe comedian Ryan McMahon implores us to think outside of the box, however, arguing that the statue could be put to better use outside of a storage facility.

Here are some of McMahon’s alternative uses for “a perfectly good, heavy bronze thing,” as discussed on CBC Radio’s Day 6.

  1. Deploy it as a paperweight in Ottawa. McMahon is concerned that “every time a big gust of wind blows through from all the hot air floating around the House of Commons, all the Liberal Party’s future promises to Indigenous Peoples might get lost in a policy paper tornado on the Hill.”        
  2. Billet the statue out to lonely white supremacists – since it’s the perfect companion for “delicate snowflakes whose ideas fall apart the moment someone stands up to them.”
  3. Use it to anchor the big yellow Canada 150 duck – as opposed to putting that into storage as well.        
  4. Feature it as the star attraction at the Canadian Colonialism Museum and Fun Park.
  5. Wheel it out as a goalie for NDN hockey tournaments across Canada. McMahon promises you can “win the whole tournament if you take Cornwallis’ scalp off with a slapshot.”

This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 10, No. 5 (Feb/Mar 2018).