The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 30

The International News Weekly CANADA
February 02, 2018 | Toronto
05
Halifax is not the garrison town
of Edward Cornwallis: Mayor
The Canadian Press
Halifax : Halifax council
has voted to immediately
remove a statue of
Edward Cornwallis from
a downtown park, with
several councillors calling
the bronze figure of the
city's controversial military
founder 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."
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."
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."
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.
Three gunshots fired the
night Indigenous man died
on Saskatchewan farm
The Canadian Press
BATTLEFORD : The Crown says evidence will show that
three shots were fired the night a 22-year-old Indigenous
man was killed on a Saskatchewan farm. Crown prosecutor
Bill Burge told the trial of Gerald Stanley on Tuesday
that court will hear from the farmer's son, Sheldon, who
came out running when he and his father thought someone
was trying to steal a vehicle from their yard in August.
2016.
Burge told the jurors they will hear that Sheldon Stanley
went inside to get his keys because a grey Ford Escape
SUV was starting to drive away when it hit another vehicle
in the yard. "As he was running into the house, he heard
two gunshots. When he got out of the house with his car
keys, he heard another gunshot. He looked. He saw his father
standing by the driver's door of this vehicle with a gun
and a clip in his hand," Burge told court.
"Sheldon Stanley approached the vehicle and saw Colten
Boushie in the driver's seat slumped toward the steering
wheel." Burge said there were two females in the back
seat of the vehicle. Two other males had jumped out of the
SUV and ran away. Burge told the jury an autopsy found
Boushie died from a gunshot wound that entered behind
his left ear and exited through the side of his head. Police
recovered a Ruger-style handgun.
Stanley, who is 56, has pleaded not guilty to seconddegree
murder. RCMP Cpl. Terry Heroux was called to
the Stanley farm the night of the shooting and took several
photos. Some of them show the SUV, its front left wheel
worn down to the rim, with the doors open and a body under
blankets on the ground. Dark blood stains can be seen
on the seat and dashboard. A broken .22-calibre rifle was
found next to the vehicle. Heroux said the barrel was bent
but there was a bullet in the chamber and five in a clip.
Confidentiality an issue in whether to release Hehr report: Trudeau
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA : Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau says confidentiality
will be a factor in deciding
whether to release the findings of
an investigation into allegations
of misconduct levelled against
Liberal MP Kent Hehr.
When asked today whether
the results of the probe will be
made public, Trudeau was noncommittal,
saying each case
must be handled differently.
He says that while confidentiality
is important in some circumstances,
it may not be as important
in others. Hehr resigned
from federal cabinet last week after
he was accused of making inappropriate
sexual remarks during
his time as a member of the
Alberta legislature.The Prime
Minister's Office has engaged
lawyer Christine Thomlinson
to conduct an independent investigation
into the allegations.
Trudeau says he wants to get
to bottom of the allegations, but
also wants to ensure the probe is
carried out properly. "Every situation
has multiple factors that
we look into. Confidentiality is
important in some cases, less so
in others," Trudeau said as he entered
the weekly Liberal caucus
meeting in Ottawa.