Town of Amherst renames street named after controversial British general

New street signs for Ancestral Drive in Amherst, N.S, were erected by the town on Feb. 10, 2023. (Town of Amherst)

The Town of Amhert, N.S., has given a street named after a controversial 18th century British general a new name.

Lord Amherst Drive will now be known as Ancestral Drive.

Street signs bearing the new name were erected by the town on Friday.

The town says the renaming process began last year after residents brought forward concerns about the street’s namesake.

Gen. Jeffery Amherst openly expressed a desire to eradicate Indigenous populations and advocated using blankets laced with smallpox to quell their rebellions.

Montreal also gave a street named after Amherst a new name in 2019.

The city renamed Amherst Street to Atateken Street -- a Mohawk word meaning brotherhood.

At that time, Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said the new name was a step towards reconciliation.

Amherst Mayor David Kogon says his town’s change was also done in the name of reconciliation.

“While renaming this street will not make everyone happy, the town council believes it is a small step in the right direction, one that helps our diverse town move towards meeting our goal of being a more inclusive and equitable community,” he said in a news release.

The town council’s newly-formed Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Advisory Committee received several suggestions for a new street name, each with inclusion, diversity and equity in mind.

The committee then gave its Ancestral Drive recommendation to council and it was approved last May.

The town says the name change took several months in order to give businesses enough notice.

“The key factor resulting in the committee recommending Ancestral Drive to council was its unequivocal inclusiveness in promoting the efforts of all of our ancestors in building this great town, no matter who you were or where you lived,” said the committee’s chairperson, Coun. Hal Davidson.

Amherst isn’t the only Nova Scotia town to rename a street in recent months.

In Dec. 2022, Halifax Regional Council approved the renaming of Cornwallis Street to Nora Bernard Street in honour of the late Mi’kmaw activist.

Edward Cornwallis, the street's namesake, founded Halifax in 1749 and gave a proclamation which saw his government pay a bounty to anyone who killed a Mi’kmaw person in a bid to drive them off the province’s mainland.

The Town of Bridgewater, N.S., also recently changed the name of its Cornwallis Street to Crescent Street and the Town of Lunenburg, N.S., is currently looking for new names from the public for its own.