New Song out Today

I'm releasing a song today called "Mary Ann" to mark Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. This song remembers and honours Mary Ann MacKinnon, a woman from Kings County PEI who was murdered for the stand she took against gender-based violence many years ago.
This is a collaboration between me and Patricia MacAulay, a visual artist and a family member of the woman at the heart of the song. For me, it was a true honour, very humbling to be asked to take this project on.
If you'd like to know the rest of the  story, you can keep reading.

Artwork by Patricia MacAulay

In the summer of 1951, a neighbour and former boyfriend abducted and raped Mary Ann’s oldest daughter, Estelle. Distraught and injured, she reported this to her mother, and together they went to the RCMP barracks to complain. The police investigation led to criminal charges. The young man publicly blamed Mary Ann for these circumstances. On November 9, 1951, the night before the trial, he rode over to her eastern PEI farmhouse, aimed a gun through the kitchen window, and shot her while she kneeled at the family rosary. Already widowed, she left eleven orphaned children behind. The assailant was found not guilty on a murder charge due to “insanity” and he never had to face the original charges.

Patricia says, “I have always wanted some sort of public acknowledgement of Mary Ann as a person and a recognition of the courage she showed in standing up for her daughter. How many young women on this Island have returned home after as assault and have either told no one or when they do share their experience with others, they are warned to be quiet to stay safe or keep the peace? Our belief in the safety of girls and women on PEI has been purchased by women’s silence.” 

She continues, “When we have a public remembrance for someone, we offer aspects of that person to others. For me, learning about Mary Ann has given me a resolve to stand up against threats, harassment, assaults – every form of violence. Sharing this song provides an opportunity for others to find some meaning for themselves while showing respect to Mary Ann and her surviving family members.” 

With this goal in mind, Patricia told the story to Catherine and asked if she could write and record something beautiful and memorable. “I thought that Catherine would have the artistry and sensibility to do justice to Mary Ann’s story, and I was right,” Patricia says. 

Patricia describes the moment she heard what Catherine had created. “When Catherine sent me the first recording, I clicked “play” and immediately burst into tears. It was more than I could have imagined. She captured and conveyed not only the details of Mary Ann’s story and its emotional resonance but found hope and caring within it.”  

In response to the song, Patricia created her own artwork, an embroidered piece that seeks to convey the weight and sorrow of the events along with the irrepressible spirit that threads through Catherine’s words and music. 

“This was a very satisfying, healing process,” Patricia concludes. 

Islanders can be the first to hear the song by attending the service and candle lighting ceremony in Memorial Hall at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. It starts at noon and honours the memory of the women murdered in the 1989 Montreal Massacre and Island women murdered by those who knew them. It will also feature a Mi’kmaw ceremony honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada.

This project was made possible through support from the Gender Based Violence Arts Grant Program offered by the Inter-Ministerial Women’s Secretariat and Innovation PEI as part of the National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence.