Amherstburg councillor proposes keeping town's name, but changing its meaning

A councillor in Amherstburg has put forward a motion to keep the town's name but change its meaning, to distance itself from the longstanding controversy regarding the person whom the town was named after.

In a statement presented to her fellow councillors on Mar. 14, Coun. Patricia Simone acknowledges the controversial nature of Amherstburg's namesake, General Jeffrey Amherst, "due to his role in protecting Canada while also expressing the desire to exterminate the race of Indigenous people during Pontiac's War."

She also makes mention of "his advocacy of biological warfare in the form of gifting blankets infected with smallpox as a weapon."

That's why she's proposing that Amherstburg change the definition of the town name's meaning — moving away from General Amherst and instead referring to the "etymological root" of the word.

The etymological root of "Amherst" refers to "a place amongst the woods or a settlement amongst the woods," while the root of "burg" derives from a "walled or defensive settlement.”

According to Mayor Aldo DiCarlo, the motion is "well put" and does a good job of addressing that "we can't change how we got here."

"But we should be able to change on how we reflect on the meaning and try and make it clear to the people that we don't stand for what happened in the past," said DiCarlo. "We are different today."

He added that changing the name of the town altogether isn't an easy call to make and requires a lot of consultation from the community before moving ahead with a step like that.

"You're talking about a town that's over 200 years old now and there is some attachment to the name from the residents, without condoning anything that General Amherst did," DiCarlo said.

"At this point, I have not heard a lot of support for changing the name. Frankly, I've heard very little about changing the name, but a lot of feedback on trying to find a way to distance ourselves from the name and be respectful of the Indigenous people who have been there."

But for University of Windsor Indigenous scholar Andrea Sullivan-Clarke, the legacy of General Amherst is defined by his genocidal acts against Indigenous people.

"You grew up with the story — that there were these uses of smallpox blankets," she said, adding the story was "discounted by scholars" and "discredited" until recent years.

"I understand the difficulties and the costs for changing a town name. But we can't just neglect history. So as for those stories about the use of smallpox blankets, we don't want that to be whitewashed. We want it to be out there that he was actually advocating for this use, as a strategic measure against Indigenous people."

Coun. Simone's motion calls for council to "denounce the statements and actions made by General Jeffrey Amherst, agreeing that we do not share his expressed views or values."

But for Amherstburg resident Julie Gibb, the proposed move to change the meaning of the town's name does not go far enough to make any real positive change.

"Trying to justify the name of a town by changing the meaning of a word or a name just seems so crazy to me. It's embarrasing," she said. "It doesn't change anything ... We all know [the history] so you can't change that."

Christian Morrison echoed his disdain with the councillor's motion.

"I can't imagine a town council taking this forward. If they do, really, we'll be the laughing stock," he said.

Meanwhile, John, who did not want to provide his last name to CTV News, expressed his support for the motion, noting that many people don't associate the name of the town with its controversial namesake in their day-to-day life.

"We haven't really delved into the meaning of the name of Amherstburg. But I think the name of the town is really something that's a landmark. It's a place that all of us are familiar with," he said. "I think you'd have a big problem if you change the name from Amherstburg and leave the history out. Just enjoy the community."