The Beothuk Institute has written Premier Andrew Furey expressing its frustration over a lack of consultation on a decision to rename Red Indian Lake.
The institute was established in 1997, some 170 years after the original body was incorporated as a charitable organization.
Since 2000, the institute has partnered with Dr. Ingeborg Marshall in a lengthy project taking steps to work with the DNA project and has worked closely with the provincial archaeology office on digs at Burnside and the Exploits River.
When the remains of Nonosabasut and Demasduit were repatriated, the Beothuk Institute said it felt slighted as at no time where they asked to have input, nor were they advised of the success of the repatriation efforts.
At the time, they said they tried to contact the Premier’s Office, but to no avail.
The Beothuk Institute, which includes members of Mi’kmaq, Innu, Inuit, and European descent, has put forward some suggestions for renaming the lake, expressing the belief that a Beothuk name would be more appropriate.
They include Beothuk Woodum (Beothuk Pond), Beothuk Lake, or Red Ochre Lake.
Petitioner Comments on Public Reaction to Renaming
Meanwhile, the man behind a petition on government’s decision to rename Red Indian Lake is moved by how the issue has united people in the region.
Michael O’Brien of Buchans launched the Change.org petition asking the government to hold consultations on renaming the lake to a Mi’kmaq term.
He says the general consensus is that the change was announced with no public consultation or discussion on the lake’s association with the Beothuk.
O’Brien says area residents, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike were shocked that they knew nothing whatsoever about the name change. They’re asking that the motion be withdrawn and that residents be consulted on the issue.
O’Brien fears that without the Beothuk being recognized in the name of the lake, in a generation or two their memory and association with the area will be lost.
The provincial government indicates that consultation on the name change took place with Indigenous leaders.
