Though the federal government has yet to publicly announce the new name for the CCGS Edward Cornwallis which is currently undergoing refit at Shelburne ship repair, they have updated the Canadian Vessel Registry with it.
CCGS Edward Cornwallis is now registered as CCGS Kopit Hopson 1752.
The name is a reference to the 2 signatories of the 1752 Peace and friendship treaty between the Mi’kmaq people and the British which was signed By Chief Kopit, and Cornwallis’ successor as Governor of Nova Scotia, Peregrine Thomas Hopson in November 1752.
Last March I devoted a post and a herald column to advocating for the ship to be renamed post refit.
Do you realize that a few years after the treaty was signed, Chief Kopit was taking money from the French for British scalps?
in the 1750’s the Brits hated France and were at war with them. for at least the last hundred years, the French and British have been on friendly terms, so much so, that they fought the Germans, twice , for them. The treaty Kolpit and Hopson signed was legal, is still valid, and has mostly been ignored by the crown for the last 200 years or so. If the Brits and French can make up and be friends, perhaps we can forget about a few scalps and move on.
that said, Cornwallis was a fuckup, and a shitty officer. He deserves no commemoration.
Forget about a few scalps? That’s pretty disgusting.
the Germans killed tens of thousands of Canadians in two world wars. if we can move on from that, we should be able to move on from this.
Shhh that doesn’t fit the narrative that peter is desperately trying to paint. It’s just a few scalps after all don’t be such. Spigot LOL
you don’t even have the guts to put your name on your opinion. are you Afraid your neighbours in North Vancouver will find out your a Conservative and start shunning you?
Assholes in Ottawa caving into a bunch of useless whiners,snowflakes & assholes,to damn stupid to realize YOU CAN,T CHANGE HISTORY by changing a name. These WIMPS, WHINERS & SNOWFLAKES have NEVER sailed on a ship,don,t know what a hard day of work is like & are completely useless.I work on the that ship & the name should have NEVER been changed.
Your right, changing a name doesn’t change history. so why do you care who the ship your on is named after? The historical record says Cornwallis was bad at his job and he was sent here to get him out of England because they were sick of dealing with him. Seems like a worthy name sake for a vessel to me, but i understand why you seem to be happy with it.
What ship where you on an how long where you their I was there for 35 years . So if you did any years on a ship a name means something to the crew like Cornwallis I did 10 years on the old girl an the new one. Cornwallis many have been a ass an we had a lot ass running this country like Trudrau Harper an Trudrau agine and he made a bigger mess of thing just to kiss ass. So go an play with your fire truck.
Hi Peter;
What precisely are your references for Cornwallis’ alleged incompetence?
He was a bad commander in battle, and suffered high losses. Cornwallis was part of the Admiral Byng’s mission to relieve the garrison at Minorca – you may recall they decived to turn around and go home, and Byng was executed, resulting in the quip about sometimes its good to shoot an admiral, to motivate the others. In Scotland, he locked civilians in their homes and torched them, cruel even by the days standards.
As for his time in Halifax he overspent, and didn’t follow his instructions from the Board of Trade, eventually leading to his recall.
Wela’lin for the information, Peter . . . and great work on rebuttals to the malcontents complaining about the name change. In the light of residential schools, language & culture loss, and a variety of other injustices, this is a very minor adjustment to make. Perhaps they don’t realize that history gets written down and can be read by those who can, or are interested, in a library or even online.
As well, More has been written (not to mention, come into public awareness) since the initiative to take Cornwallis off his metaphorical pedestal. His legacy in Scotland & New Scotland was one of tragedy, rape, pillage, and general mayhem. He deserves no commemoration.
And, as an aside, before the other malcontents get up on their high horses, the idea that Cornwallis is judged but contemporary mores is ludicrous. He twin brother, Frederick (for example) was the frickin’ Archbishop of Canterbury! What kind of Christian morality allows for rape & pillage . . . not to mention the scalping that Cornwallis order (a mere 3 months after arriving in what he considered a hellhole).
Jordan has made some poor judgements of late but this one was far past due.
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