CHARLOTTETOWN — A Mi'kmaq leader says it's an insult that a national park in Prince Edward Island bears the name of a military general who wanted to kill aboriginal people with smallpox.
John Joe Sark -- a member of the Mi'kmaq Nation traditional government -- says the name of General Jeffery Amherst should be removed from the park near Charlottetown.
He says the Port-la-Joye--Fort Amherst historic site is insulting because Amherst's goal was to wipe out aboriginal peoples.
Sark wants the federal government to change the name to reflect how Mi'kmaq people lived in the region long before and ever since European settlers.
Amherst College in Massachusetts said last month the British military commander who served in the 1700s would no longer appear in official communications or as a mascot.
Lord Jeff -- as he was known around campus -- was widely seen an oppressive figure who supported using blankets infected with smallpox to kill aboriginal people.