Dive group floats idea of sinking Cornwallis statue

An organization whose mission is to promote dive tourism in our province is floating an unusual idea.

The Nova Scotia Underwater Council (NSUC) wants to sink the statue of Edward Cornwallis in the Halifax Harbour.

The group says many cities around the world have placed statues in underwater parks to draw tourists to their regions.

NSUC secretary David Pate thinks Halifax could do the same, allowing divers to see underwater life slowly cover “this ugly piece of our past.”

“When everybody was debating what you could do with it, should it be in a museum or all sorts of places, I thought, well if it's just going to end up stuck in a storage unit, why not put it someplace where people can still talk about it, put it in context and it also becomes sort of a historical lesson as it slowly gets absorbed back into the environment,” he told NEWS 95.7's The Sheldon MacLeod Show.

The Cornwallis statue is about 2.7 metres tall. The council says it would need to go in a spot over 20 metres deep where it would be out of shipping lanes and accessible from shore.

The NSUC has contacted members of Halifax Regional Council, and according to Pate, some have responded by saying they're interested in the idea.

A report released by the task force on the commemoration of Edward Cornwallis and Indigenous history recommends never returning the statue to a position of public commemoration. 

The task force members want it to remain in storage until a civic museum can be opened, which could take some time.

“They still have to make a decision on what they're going to do with the statue, we're just offering this as a potential opportunity, which we think perhaps would be more useful than just letting it gather dust,” Paid said. 

Pate moved to Halifax 30 years ago and says he was stunned to find a statue of Cornwallis when he arrived.

“I'm originally from Scotland and I can assure you there's no memorials to that man in Scotland because of what he did there,” he explained. “I was not in the least bit surprised that there were people campaigning for its removal.”

The NSUC is also hoping to see an underwater park in St. Margarets Bay one day soon.

“We're in the process of trying to get ratification for that from the various federal and provincial agencies. That would be something that's created around art works,” Pate said.