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CHARLOTTETOWN — A national park in Prince Edward Island that bears the name of a controversial British general will be renamed.

Parks Canada confirmed Friday that it will add a Mi’kmaq name to the Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst National Historic Site, which is near Charlottetown.

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Indigenous critics have long complained that the General Jeffery Amherst’s name should be removed because he stands accused of trying to wipe out the Mi’kmaq by giving them blankets inflected with smallpox.

Catherine McKenna, the federal minister responsible for Parks Canada, issued a statement saying the Mi’kmaq name “skmaqn” (pronounced Ska-MAA-kin) will be added to the park’s name.

McKenna said skmaqn means “the waiting place” and is thought to have its origins in the mid-1700s when Mi’kmaq and French leaders met annually at the site to renew their military alliance.

The official name of the site will now be Skmaqn–Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst National Historic Site of Canada.