The Gassy Jack monument in Gastown, Vancouver was defaced with red paint on Tuesday, in protest against the historical figure. An online petition for the statue's removal has been created as well, reports CBC News.
The Gassy Jack statute in Gastown has been splattered with red paint. Indigenous women have spoken previously about the monument needing to be taken down due to Jack’s treatment of Indigenous girls. @CBCVancouver
— Angela Sterritt (@AngelaSterritt) June 16, 2020
Background https://t.co/5Q224PSGtZhttps://t.co/TNN60OtI3h pic.twitter.com/Oj6DCd6kEj
The statue honours Jack Deighton, and the neighbourhood of Gastown is named after him. Deighton owned a Vancouver saloon in the 1860’s and he was referred to as “Gassy” Jack because of his talkativeness.
The statue has caused controversy in recent years as indigenous women spoke out against Deighton’s past—mainly about his marriage to a 12-year-old girl from Squamish when he was 40-years-old. They add that the statue is an oppressive symbol against indigenous people.
The Gassy Jack Statue in Gastown has been vandalized. (Picture via Bentstrings84 on @reddit) pic.twitter.com/gXeJBoP5tm
— Amanda Wawryk (@AmandaWawryk) June 16, 2020
An online petition on Change.org calling for the removal of the Vancouver statue has gathered about 2,500 signatures so far.
Many historical statues have been defaced and even torn down by protestors since the ongoing protests throughout Europe and North America that were spurred by the police killing of George Floyd on May 25.
The City of Vancouver notified police about the vandalism and the paint has been cleaned from the statue.
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