Advertisement
According to the version of the legend on the City of Bathurst website, a pirate known as Captain Craig enjoyed visiting "Indian Villages" because he "knew that the inhabitants were vulnerable," thus easy to exploit."After exchanging a few of their precious pelts for lancy [sic] goods and other items that had no value whatsoever, they gave them alcohol, then they stole all the furs that they owned," the site states.A maritime pilot, who is never fully flushed out as a character, then boards the pirate ship and discovers two "Indian girls" tied up and covered with fur pelts. "The pirates had kidnapped them, while their parents were drunk," the story continues. "The captain and his first mate intended to have their way with these two girls and to throw them in the sea afterwards. This is what they did, or tried to do, at each trip."The pilot ultimately returns the girls home. After the women are safe on land, the pirate ship hits a rock and sinks, drowning all the scoundrels. Later that evening the ship reappears on the surface of the water, engulfed in hellfire, with apparitions of the dead pirates steering the ghost vessel out to sea.Over the phone Tuesday, Adrienne Hazen, who sits on the board of the Bathurst Arts Society, emphasized that they based the paintings on this "official" version of the legend that's on the City of Bathurst website.So let me get this. The #HospitalityDays committee likes to display yet another incident of rape of women. #mmiw pic.twitter.com/qYrzudujdp
— Crow's Nest (@CrowPatty) July 24, 2015
Advertisement
Advertisement
Hazen went on to say that some of the Bathurst Arts Society members, who are ladies in their 80s, were particularly hurt that their painting was taken down. "They're suffering too now," she said.There was plenty of hurt to go around. When Patty Musgrave, who lives in Moncton, saw photos her friend sent her of the paintings, she was appalled. She's part of a network of women who are calling for a national inquiry into the 1,200 Indigenous women who have been killed or disappeared across Canada since 1980."It really upset me, and angered me, and caused me pain," she told VICE over the phone Tuesday. "I'm sure the artist didn't mean any malcontent, but the fact of the matter is, they didn't stop to think about how that impacts us as women, and not just Indigenous women, all women."She posted the photos on her Twitter feed and an Idle No More Facebook group, where they were widely shared. Public pressure led the arts society to take down the painting.Musgrave is part Irish and part Mi'kmaq, and didn't grow up on a reserve. She said the arts society "for sure" should have consulted Mi'kmaq people before deciding to paint the mural.This is #BathurstHospitalityDays "Phantom Ship" story in art! Omg. I'm sick. @windspeakernews @DavidBellCTV @APTNNews pic.twitter.com/bBxFKnkf5c
— Crow's Nest (@CrowPatty) July 24, 2015
Advertisement