VICTORIA–To the two Texan tourists, the murals were pretty pictures, of a history not their own, painted from a time long ago.

But when Paul and Jamie Trahan looked more closely at the four murals that encircle the grand rotunda in the B.C. Legislature, the nakedness popped out at them, as did the subtler message of the artwork.

"I didn't notice the breasts, quite honestly," said Jamie Trahan as she peered at the works by George Southwell, who completed the murals in the mid-1930s. "It seemed like it was part of the background."

It was Paul Trahan who recognized the problem after studying the murals a bit more.

"They make the natives look like slaves," said the Austin resident. "If there's a problem, I would imagine that's the problem that some people are seeing."

Trahan said in Texas and throughout the U.S., paintings or murals of African Americans as slaves would be taken down because the history is still too fresh for many.

After a decade of controversy, that's what the B.C. government is doing with the murals, which were commissioned as a gift to the province and depict four scenes from colonial history. The paintings are supposed to represent courage, enterprise, labour and justice and depict native men and women, bare-chested and working or watching as clothed colonial men sign documents or supervise.

"First Nations have always maintained the murals are demeaning and degrading and do nothing more than uphold negative stereotypes of First Nations as a conquered and subservient people," said Grand Chief Edward John of the First Nations Summit.

Premier Gordon Campbell, who is shaping his second mandate to be more conciliatory, said the government is launching a new relationship to build a better future for aboriginal people in the province.

"What I would like to accomplish, ... as we build a spirit of reconciliation and understanding, is really to have a spirit of respect," he said.

When native leaders come to the Legislature to sign agreements, Campbell said they have told him they feel uncomfortable because of what is depicted in the murals.

The motion to remove the murals, which will cost about $280,000 because they are painted onto the walls and may be damaged in the process of extraction, was approved by the legislature in April. Only three members opposed it.

One of them, Liberal Blair Lekstrom, said he voted against his government's decision because he believes the murals are part of the history of the province and the building.

"My preference would have been we add onto the murals to reflect that there have been changes so people can watch our history as it changed through the years," he said. A report is being prepared to determine exactly how the murals will be removed and where they will go.

The artist Southwell, who died in 1961 at age 96, was a generous man who never spoke unkindly about anyone, said his granddaughter Jane Munro. At the time the paintings were commissioned, the colonial perspective was the norm and that's a history that cannot be painted over with a brush, she said.

"The murals are in some ways a convenient token. They're something with which the government could do an exorcism and use as a message to unload all the things they wish hadn't happened," she said. "Now they can say this is reform and you and your concerns are welcome here."

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While Munro said that is a worthy objective, she views the murals' removal as an easy way out for the government to ignore the larger issues of continued poverty in First Nations communities and the lack of agreements on land claims.

Rick Goodacre, executive director of the B.C. Heritage Society, said the best thing for the murals would be to put them away safely and bring them back in a few decades so they can be assessed once again from the vantage point of perspective.