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Monday, July 18, 2011

1785 Charter Was Discriminatory, Man Says

A Saint John man wants the mayor to acknowledge that wording in the city's first Royal Charter was inappropriate towards Black Loyalists. 

David Peters tells CHSJ News he's been lecturing on the subject for 17 years, and says the 1785 Charter was discriminatory in five ways.

He says Black Loyalists were not allowed to vote, live in the city, sell their goods or own a business, and weren't allowed to fish in the Saint John Harbour.

Peters says he's already received letters of recognition from federal Heritage Minister James Moore and Saint John MP Rodney Weston and just wants council  to acknowledge the Charter was prejudicial and would not be accepted in today's society.