It had been erected in 1931 in an urban square in the south end of Halifax, Nova Scotia, opposite the Canadian National Railway station.

According to historian John G. Reid, the conflicting viewpoints centred on the issue of historical memory, that is, "how the past should be publicly remembered.

[5] The arrival of Cornwallis in 1749 was during a period of armed resistance by the indigenous Miꞌkmaq, who objected to the founding of Halifax and the British colonization of Miꞌkmaꞌki, their traditional lands.

The order was not effective and Father Le Loutre's War as it is known now, would continue past the term of Cornwallis, who resigned in 1752 and returned to England.

[7] The statue was made by J. Massey Rhind and unveiled on June 22, 1931, on the 182nd anniversary of Cornwallis' arrival to Halifax as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.

"[9] The Mi'kmaq militia had executed armed resistance throughout Father Le Loutre's War, preventing the British from establishing a stronghold over Mi'kma'ki.

[11] Since the 1980s, the most notable advocate for the removal of the Cornwallis statue from a public space has been Daniel N. Paul, author of the 1993 book We Were Not the Savages.

[14] Historian John G. Reid asserts that the statue reflects the imperialist, colonial times of its creators in the early part of the twentieth century.

Reid writes that the creation of the statue "was governed not by history but by a potent mixture of imperialism, a racially-charged triumphalism based on the savagery-civilization binary, state promotion, and an economic agenda.

"[15] He writes further, "The ideology that had underpinned the raising of the statue had offered a strong and positive answer to any such concerns [of imperialist conquest] - the establishment of Halifax was a triumph of civilization over savagery, and Cornwallis was the city's courageous founder.

The incident was used to amplify Dan Paul's allegations against Cornwallis and to support the argument that, despite the wording of the Halifax Treaties, the Mi'kmaw never surrendered to the British and that Nova Scotia is unceded Mi'kmaq lands.