By Julia Ziolkowski
The monument in Minto Park on Elgin Street is a simple and quiet reminder of a large and ugly problem. This public work of art calls attention to violence against women. But recently this public function came into conflict with private rights. Charges against the husband of one woman commemorated on the monument were stayed, due to a six-year delay between his arrest and the trial.
On March 8, the attorney general’s office said it will not appeal the stay. At the urging of the suspect’s lawyer, the woman’s name, Sandra Campbell, was taken off the monument. This case brings up complex questions about what jurisdiction law has over art. If Sandra Campbell’s name stayed on the monument, her husband may have been able to get a court order to remove it, possibly on the grounds that it implicated him as responsible for her death.
The Women’s Urgent Action group, which maintains the monument, didn’t want to remove Sandra Campbell’s name but did so on the advice of its lawyer. Unfortunately, the group may have set a dangerous precedent for art by removing the name so easily.
Art is a means of political expression and should occupy a space separate from the legal process where statements can be made without fear of legal repercussions. In this case, artistic freedom should overrule censorship. As creators of the monument, the group should have the right to engrave in stone the names of women they feel have been victims of murder, regardless of whether a suspect is charged or found guilty. The monument is not about the suspect, it is about the woman who died.
The Women’s Urgent Action group believes Sandra Campbell is a victim of violence and murder, and they should have the right to express this on their monument. The philosophy of the women’s group is that the legal system doesn’t always work. The monument lets them voice this opinion. The circumstances surrounding Sandra Campbell’s death most likely will go unexplained unless new evidence is brought forward. Putting her name back on the monument would be a reminder her case has not been solved, but rather wiped from the public consciousness due to legal delays.
The Women’s Urgent Action group may engrave “Jane Doe” on Sandra Campbell’s empty rock. This generic name would not only commemorate her, but all women who have been victims of violence and whose deaths are unexplained. In this case, art will be able to speak for those who cannot.