Opposition grows against renaming Red Indian Lake
Province’s Indigenous leaders expected to release joint statement within next couple of days regarding Red Indian Lake
Premier Andrew Furey and the province’s Indigenous leaders held a meeting Tuesday afternoon where the issue of renaming Red Indian Lake and the negative reaction to the new name and the lack of consultations with area residents was likely discussed.
The premier’s office referred The Telegram to the Indigenous leaders after the meeting. The premier has said it’s an Indigenous issue and the provincial government is only helping facilitate the meetings and motion to change the name of the central Newfoundland lake.
The name Red Indian Lake is seen as derogatory to the Beothuk people, who had lived on the shores of the lake before they were wiped out by disease, starvation — by having their traditional hunting and food-gathering routes cut off — and attacks by European settlers.
The renaming is a step in preparing for the repatriation of the remains of two Beothuk — Nonosabasut and Demasduit — that were taken from their burial hut at Red Indian Lake in the 1820s.
Chief Mi’sel Joe of Miawpukek First Nation — who had suggested a Mi’kmaq name, Wantaqo’ti Qospem, meaning “Peaceful Lake,” also declined an interview Tuesday, preferring to wait until Indigenous leaders released a joint statement regarding the issue. The release is expected within the next couple of days.
Meanwhile, the calls continue for further consultations and that any new name for the lake be a Beothuk word.
Newfoundland and Labrador MP Scott Simms says he’s getting “a great deal of input” from residents who live near
Red Indian Lake who are angry they were left out of the consultations.
Simms, the Liberal MP for Coast of Bays-centralnotre Dame, said even though the matter is provincial jurisdiction, he decided to write to the provincial government and ask if it would postpone renaming the lake until area residents can have a say.
He said the issue is important in the area.
“The concern here is that although there is a great deal of respect for the consultations so far, most feel the inclusion of local residents, both Indigenous and nonindigenous, was overlooked,” he said.
Simms’ letter reflects what is seen on social media, and in emails and letters to the editor of The Telegram, and official letters sent by centralarea towns to the provincial government.
Some residents have also started petitions.
Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation Minister Lisa Dempster introduced the motion to change the name of Red Indian Lake last Wednesday in the House of Assembly.
Simms said his letter asks that the provincial government delay debate on that motion until after local people are consulted.
Derm Corbett, mayor of the Town of Buchans, which is near Red Indian Lake, said the town, on behalf of its residents, has also made a formal objection to the provincial government regarding the “total lack of consultation on the proposed name change for Red Indian Lake.”
The remains of Nonosabasut and Demasduit were transported from Scotland to Newfoundland and Labrador in March 2020, where they remain in the care of The Rooms in St. John’s. It is hoped that the final resting place of the remains will be at Red Indian Lake.