SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Homage to Demasduit

Honourable senators, today I am pleased to present Chapter 82 of “Telling Our Story.”

Colleagues, yesterday in the historic Town of Botwood, Newfoundland and Labrador, a very special ceremony took place to mark another step on our continuing path of reconciliation. A bronze statue was unveiled in a healing garden atop Blueberry Hill, overlooking the beautiful Bay of Exploits, to commemorate 200 years since the death of one of the last known Beothuk in Newfoundland and Labrador. The statue depicts Demasduit, her husband and their infant child.

In the fall of 1818, a small group of Beothuks captured a boat and some fishing equipment near the mouth of the Exploits River. On March 1, 1819, John Peyton Jr., and eight armed men went up the Exploits River to Beothuk Lake in search of the Beothuks and their equipment. When they came into contact with a small group of Beothuks, things went terribly wrong.

A dozen Beothuks fled the campsite, with Demasduit among them. As a nursing mother, she begged for mercy when captured. Nonosabasut, her husband and the leader of the group, was killed while attempting to negotiate for Demasduit’s release. Her infant son died two days after she was taken.

Demasduit was taken to Twillingate and, for a time, lived with the Anglican priest Reverend John Leigh. The reverend renamed her Mary March, after the Virgin Mary and the month in which she was kidnapped. Eventually, she ended up being moved to St. John’s, brought there by Reverend Leigh and her captor, John Peyton Jr. It was there where Lady Hamilton painted her portrait.

During the summer of 1819, after the people of St. John’s and Notre Dame Bay raised the money, several attempts were made to return Demasduit to her people, without success. Captain David Buchan was to go overland to Beothuk Lake in November, but, sadly, Demasduit took ill. On January 8, 1820, she died from tuberculosis at Ship Cove, now called Botwood, aboard Buchan’s vessel, the Grasshopper. Her body was left in a coffin on the lakeshore, where it was found by her fellow Beothuks and returned to her village where, initially, she was placed in a burial hut beside her husband and child. Her remains and her husband’s remains were later removed by William Cormack, brought to Scotland and held in the National Museum of Scotland.

In 2015, Chief Mi’sel Joe spearheaded an effort to have the remains of Demasduit and her husband brought back home to Newfoundland. There was resistance at the beginning, but anyone who is familiar with Chief Joe is fully aware that he is dedicated to every cause that he takes on. In 2020, after 191 years in Scotland, the remains were repatriated to Canada and are now stored at The Rooms in St. John’s.

In 2022, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador announced plans for a new cultural centre at Beothuk Lake to serve as a final resting place for the remains. With the unveiling of the statue yesterday, our well-known sculptor Morgan Macdonald said about his latest project, “It’s a huge responsibility to take this part of heritage in our province and do it justice.”

He added that he took care to research the family and portray them as accurately as possible.

James Sceviour, the Mayor of Botwood, said that the chosen location for the statue is very fitting as the site overlooks the area where Demasduit is believed to have died, noting that Demasduit’s ancestors would have used the river running from the Bay of Exploits as a seasonal migration route to travel from their winter homes to their summer fishing grounds.

Andrew Furey, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, called the unveiling of the statue a step toward reconciliation. He said that the statues and the spirits they capture will now forever be a monument of the past, a gathering place for reflection today and a beacon of light and hope for the path of reconciliation.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this momentous project. It is just another great reason to come visit our beautiful province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you.