CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - A Mi’kmaq elder took his fight to have the Amherst name removed from a P.E.I. historic site to local MPs Wednesday.
Keptin John Joe Sark brought a petition with 600 names advocating for the removal of Gen. Jeffery Amherst from Skmaqn—Port-la-Joye—Fort Amherst National Historic Site of Canada to a meeting with P.E.I. MPs Sean Casey and Wayne Easter.
Sark, along with representatives from the Council of Canadians and Native Council of P.E.I., gave them the petition in the hopes they would present it to the House of Commons and to Catherine McKenna, minister of environment and climate change.
They also wanted Casey and Easter to support their position in the removal of the Amherst name from the national historic site.
“He wanted to exterminate all Indigenous people so to me, and to a lot of Mi’kmaq people, it’s disgraceful and also insulting to have his name on a public place,” said Sark, a member of the Mi'kmaq Nation traditional government, in an interview with The Guardian.
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Casey said they plan to present the petition to the minister, as well as the House of Commons once it’s in the proper format.
However, Casey says they can’t support their position to remove the Amherst name.
“They were asking us to reject the recommendation that was made by the elected leadership and we were not in a position to do that,” said Casey.
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The Mi’kmaq name Skmaqn (pronounced Ska-MAA-kin) was the historic name proposed by the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I. last fall after extensive consultations within the Mi’kmaq community by the Mi’kmaq leadership.
Parks Canada has since added the Mi’kmaq name to the P.E.I. national historic site.
“The Government of Canada rightly took the recommendation of the elected leadership of the Mi’kmaq people at face value,” said Casey. “It’s not for us to go behind the recommendation that was made.”
“If I was to argue for different than that, then I would be imposing my will, as someone of British ancestry, on the Mi’kmaq community,” said Easter.
Leo Broderick, chair of the Council of Canadians, said having the Amherst name alongside the Mi’kmaq name is problematic considering Gen. Amherst advocated for the eradication of Indigenous populations.
“We find the solution offered by adding the Mi’kmaq name not good enough,” said Broderick. “We know that many Islanders are interested in having the name Amherst dropped from that park.”
Sark plans to recommence the petition process, but only 25 names are needed in a paper petition in order for it to be presented to the House of Commons.
The petition with 600 names will be given to minister of environment and climate change.
Sark admits he walked away from the meeting upset after a comment made by Easter.
However, in an interview with The Guardian, Easter clarified that he said “I can’t help what happened in the time of my great-great-great-grandfather…. I can’t help what happened in previous times, that’s part of history and we have to move on.”
