Community members in The Pas 'banded together even stronger' to restore defaced murals: organizer

Community members in a northern Manitoba town displayed the community's true spirit when they quickly banded together to restore two murals that were defaced with racist graffiti ahead of Orange Shirt Day, a resident says.

A mural created by a group of Grade 10 and 11 students at Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute in The Pas that depicts the seven sacred Indigenous teachings — love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility and truth — was found vandalized on Thursday, with several black "X" marks over the figures in the mural.

A second mural, created by Flin Flon artist Mike Spencer, was defaced with a swastika.

But just hours after calls to remove it were posted on social media, community members worked to fix the murals, which are hung along fences that back onto a walking path in the town. 

"Even though somebody tried to do something to disturb the peace of the mural, so to speak, at the end of the day everybody's banded together even stronger," said Gabrielle Swan, a co-founder of The Pas Guest List — an organization that raises money for community art projects and helped fund the walking path murals.

"So I think that for us as a community, this is just another opportunity for us to come together to decide who we want to be as a community and how we want to move forward."

Carolyn Cowley, who lives in The Pas, noticed the markings while walking by with her 10-year-old daughter and her friend Thursday. She took pictures of the graffiti and posted them to social media, because the girls were confused about why it happened, she said.

"I did my best to explain how unhealed and uneducated some people are still, but for them to decide if they want to believe in good or other negative ways," she said in a Facebook message.

She said the girls knew what had happened wasn't good, and were "even happier" to see the community come together the next day to repaint the murals.

"It's all about the next generations," said Cowley.

Diverse and talented community: mayor

The walking path mural project was introduced about two years ago, when an area throughout the walking paths was seeing a rise of vandalism. The Pas Guest List took on the project to deter graffiti by instead installing vibrant artwork to enhance the community, Swan said. 

"It's just a really great way for the community at large to get exposed to different types of art. The walking path is frequented by many people, and since the murals have been installed, we've definitely seen an uptick in the number of people that are using it," she said. 

Each of the students who helped create the seven sacred teachings mural worked on a different panel over the past school year, under the guidance of their teacher, Jill Perchaluk. 

The mural was installed just last week.

Swan said it's been gratifying to hear positive feedback from people who appreciate the murals, since the students worked hard on the project and are proud to showcase their work. 

The first mural in the walking path art project was created by B.C. artist Murray Siple, and was installed along the path last September. It was followed by Spencer's mural, which was put up last October.

"Our community is diverse," said Andre Murphy, mayor of The Pas — a town of about 5,600 that's 520 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

"We have lots of talented young people in our community, and when provided with the opportunity, they will shine. And when we have these small, you know, hiccups that come up, we'll take care of it."

Murphy said town staff and community volunteers had cleaned up the murals by early Friday morning. 

"I couldn't ask for anything more beautiful in our community to be added," he said. 

Winnipeg artist Jackie Traverse and students from Mary Duncan School in The Pas have created another mural, dedicated to missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people,that will be revealed on Monday in connection with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The community will host a round dance and feast at noon. 

The walking path murals project has committed to collaborating with artists to bring 20 more murals to the community within 10 years, Swan said, adding that she hopes a park near the paths will soon be dedicated to displaying the ways art and nature merge together.