Don’t Judge Historic Figures Without Knowledge of Our History

A worker prepares to remove the statue of Edward Cornwallis in downtown Halifax on Jan. 31. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

WINNIPEG—Last fall, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario demanded that Sir John A. Macdonald’s name be stricken from all public schools in the province. More recently, Halifax city council voted to remove the Edward Cornwallis statue that had stood downtown since 1931.

Both decisions were vigorously debated and public opinion remains sharply divided.