The region's largest school board is renaming a Maritime school.
The Halifax Regional School Board voted Wednesday night to change the name of Cornwallis Junior High School.
The school was named after the founding father of colonial Halifax, Edward Cornwallis, but history has not been kind.
In October 1749, Cornwallis ordered a bounty on the heads of the Mi'kmaq people, and in recent years activists have fought to have his name removed from a park, a street, and the school.
Kirk Arsenault, the newly appointed Mi'kmaq representative on the board, put forward the motion for the change. It passed unanimously.
"I think the vote shows that society has broadened its mind thought on these issues," Arsenault told CTV News. "I think that upcoming generations will make change because they think differently."
"They don't look at it as changing history; they look at it as renaming a school."
Native Historian Daniel Paul was also pleased with the decision.
"I think what the school board did today was courageous," says Paul. "It's the first step and I hope it's not the last step."
"I hope we eventually see the park renamed and the statue taken down and the street given a new name and so on and so forth. It can happen."
There is no word yet on what the school's new name will be, but the board has promised that the community and the school will have input.
