A ceremony in St. John’s put the Newfoundland and Labrador’s Indigenous history front and centre on Friday.
The province unveiled a bronze statue of a widely known Indigenous Beothuk family, who now sit on the steps of the Confederation Building.
John Cabot still stands at the bottom of the steps, but the new statue recognizes those who had lived in Newfoundland and Labrador for generations when the colonists arrived.
Premier Andrew Furey said the statue is part of the province’s truth and reconciliation efforts.
“Statues don’t reverse time. It will take time. 500 years of missteps will take time to redress,” Furey said.
The new statue is of Demasduit, her husband Nonosabasut and their infant son.
Demasduit died of tuberculosis in 1820, a year after European settlers kidnapped her. It’s believed she was taken in retaliation for an alleged theft. Nonosabasut was murdered as he tried to prevent her from being taken.
The couple’s remains were buried in central Newfoundland, but were stolen in the 1800s and held at a Scottish museum.
It’s a moment Mi’sel Joe will never forget. Though he retired as administrative chief of Newfoundland’s Miawpukek First Nation, Joe was instrumental in the repatriation of the remains of Beothuk Demasduit and Nonosabasut from Scotland. He spoke at the unveiling of a statue commemorating them outside Confederation Building.
Former Miawpukek First Nation chief Mi’sel Joe said the statue is the Beothuk equivalent to the red shirts and ribbons that symbolize missing and murdered Indigenous women.
“This is their red ribbon. We should remember what happened to them, and there was nothing less than genocide that happened to them, and that’s what we have to remember,” he said.
After years of advocacy by Miawpukek First Nation, Demasduit’s remains were returned to Newfoundland from Scotland in 2020.
Currently stored at The Rooms, the province said a final resting place circle has formed to develop a plan to lay the remains in their final resting place.
Statues of Demasduit and Nonosabasut were also unveiled recently in Botwood on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. They’re near the site where Demasduit died.
Joe is eager to see the remains brought back to Central Newfoundland.
“They’re not home yet. I mean, there’s a long stick from here, the statue, to where their remains need to go from where they are right now,” he said.
Artwork by Craig Goudie of Grand Falls-Windsor was also unveiled on Friday. In a painting, Goudie depicted the Beothuk people who formerly lived in parts of the island of Newfoundland.
Five more pieces of artwork from each of the province’s five Indigenous governments will also be displayed as part of a permanent exhibit in the east block lobby of the Confederation Building.
The pieces will be unveiled at later dates.
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