To the editor,
The author Thomas C. Haliburton's character Sam Slick said something along the lines of "a college education shows how devilish little other people know." Teacher Cheryl LeBlanc-Weldon (quoted in "Dishonouring genocide," Reality Bites, Aug 14) should study the whole history of 1700s Nova Scotia to realize scalping bounties were paid by both the French and the English. Or is she proposing destroying the Fortress of Louisbourg again as it "honours" the French scalping bounties?
Halifax was established to protect New England's colonies from the French and Indians of Quebec. That the same thing happened in Dartmouth would have certainly made Halifax uneasy. The province has a place in the Annapolis Valley named Bloody Creek after the killing of English (British) soldiers. History records some soldiers were murdered while billeted in Acadian homes.
As time passed, treaties were made with the First Nations people and they are still trying to get the full benefit of those. We could become so involved in destroying structures and changing names that government could continue to ignore the real difficulties of citizens of Nova Scotia today. We have soup kitchens that are expanding while health and senior care are lacking for many now in need.
By --Blair Beed
