HALIFAX—A chance for residents to have their say about how Indigenous history should be commemorated in Halifax takes place this week.

On Monday and Tuesday, the Task Force on the Commemoration of Edward Cornwallis and the Recognition and Commemoration of Indigenous History is hosting the second and final phase of public engagement, according to a release.

During these events, residents are invited to join “facilitated conversation circles” to discuss how the municipality should recognize and commemorate Indigenous history in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), and how history in general should be commemorated and what we should take into consideration when doing so.

The sessions will take place Monday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Zatzman Sportsplex in Dartmouth, and Tuesday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre on Gottingen Street in Halifax. Both facilities are accessible.

Those interested in participating are asked to confirm their attendance and RSVP online through halifax.ca as space is limited. For those who can’t make an engagement session, thoughts are welcome via email at clerks@halifax.ca.

Phase one of public engagement began in June and focused on the commemoration of controversial Halifax founder Edward Cornwallis on municipal assets, including the statue, park and street. It also looked at how best to recognize and commemorate Indigenous history in HRM as part of a more complete history.

Cornwallis was sent from England to Nova Scotia to be governor in 1749 and settled what would become Halifax, then known to the Mi’kmaq as K’jipuktuk. That year, Cornwallis issued a bounty on the scalps of Mi’kmaw men, women and children in response to a raid on a sawmill in what would become Dartmouth.

In summer 2017, tensions culminated in a protest that saw the Cornwallis statue temporarily draped in a black tarp by order of Mayor Mike Savage. Council later voted to strike a committee to examine the commemoration of Cornwallis and Indigenous history.

That committee was delayed, and council voted to remove the statue of Cornwallis and put it in storage to try to bring the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs (ANSMC) back into the process.

The external task force is now an equal partnership between Halifax and the ANSMC.

Public input from both phases will help inform the task force’s final report, due within two years, which will include recommendations to regional council.

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