Vancouver’s ‘Gassy Jack’ statue torn down
Posted February 14, 2022 9:55 am.
Last Updated February 14, 2022 6:54 pm.
Participants of Vancouver’s Women’s Memorial March have torn down a statue of John Deighton, better known as “Gassy Jack” in Gastown on Monday.
Indigenous leaders have previously called for the statue to be replaced, saying the namesake is a symbol of oppression.
Vancouver’s “Gassy Jack” statue torn down on Feb. 14, 2022. (Submitted)
Video of the statue being torn down shows demonstrators holding up red dresses, representative of missing and murdered Indigenous women, as they pulled on ropes tied to the statue’s neck.
After a few seconds of pulling, the statue began to wobble before it crashed to the ground.
The crowd burst into cheers, banging drums, and celebrating the fallen statue.
People then covered the fallen statue in red paint, similar to how it was defaced in 2020.
Later in the day, police announced they would be investigating the incident as “mischief.” No arrests have been made, and police say no one was injured.
The statue has previously been defaced with red paint, and met with an online petition calling for it to be taken down and replaced.
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According to Cease Wyss, a member of the Squamish Nation, John Deighton, a saloon owner and operator in Gastown in the 1860s, married two Squamish women in his lifetime. After his first wife died, he married her niece — a 12-year-old girl known as Madeline, or X̱áliya.
In response, the Squamish Nation has released a statement saying members, including direct descendants of Madeline, were involved in consulting with the City of Vancouver on a process to remove the statue. Councillor and spokesperson Wilson Williams (Sxwíxwtn) wrote:
“The Squamish Nation needs to lead work that involves our ancestors through respect and collaboration. In that spirit, the Squamish Nation had come to an agreement with the City of Vancouver to remove the Gassy Jack Deighton statue. The discussions were ongoing, focused on a culturally safe and respectful process that would bring dignity and healing to all involved. The Nation was in consultation with our community and the descendants of our respected ancestor Madeline – Gassy Jack’s former wife. She was a courageous woman our Nation looks up to, and today has many descendants alive in our community. We are concerned about unsafe actions that risk people’s personal safety and remain focused on supporting justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.”
The 31st annual Women’s Memorial March took to the streets Monday in Vancouver, to grieve the women who have gone missing or been murdered in the Downtown Eastside.
The march did not announce the plan to tear down the “Gassy Jack” statue prior to the event.
Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people face disproportionately high rates of physical and mental abuse, and organizers say the march is also a call for justice and to change systemic issues.
FILE: Vancouver Missing and Murdered Womens March 2018 (Photo by Lasia Kretzel)
The first march was held in 1992 in response to the murder of a woman on Powell Street. Her name is not said out of respect for her family.
The march began at noon and paused at areas where some of the missing women were last seen, or where murdered women were found.
#womensmemorialmarch making its way towards Alexander st. @CityNewsVAN pic.twitter.com/XDebNF35CP
— Kier Junos (@kierjunos) February 14, 2022
The ceremony was meant to bring several family members of the victims together, in order to share in healing circles to remember their loved ones.
The B.C. government issued a statement ahead of the march, praising the efforts of Indigenous women and Elders, such as lead women’s march elder Rita Blind, for championing the call to action to end violence.
