Dear Editor:
The following letter was sent to Halifax Regional Council by a member of the Halifax Jewish community, who is a daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
Take care,
Daniel N. Paul
Mi’kmaw Saqmawiey (Eldering)

May 12, 2016

Dear Members of the Halifax City Council,

In my capacity as a Holocaust educator, who has been teaching courses on the history of the Holocaust for the last twenty years, I feel compelled to write to you to express my profound disappointment with the Council’s decision not to move on with removing the name of Edward Cornwallis from the city landmarks.

I am also a daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and the history of the Holocaust is my family history; in fact, I will be giving a keynote address at the Yom HaShoah commemoration ceremony in Moncton, NB, this Sunday. I am also an immigrant to Canada from Poland, who has always been grateful to this country and this province for allowing me and family an opportunity to live  here and pursue our dreams.

It is difficult for me, however, to maintain pride as a Nova Scotian when I read about the terrible history of the Mi’kmaq. When Mi’kmaw scholars compare their history to the Holocaust, I know this is not just a hyperbole and a rhetorical device. During the war, my father was hunted down for five years, and he was one of very few family mem ...