Jeff Webb: "From what we know of the Beothuk, they were very similar to the Innu of Labrador in culture and in way of life. 'The Beothuk' is the name they called themselves. No one knows for sure what they meant. But for many other ethnic groups, their name meant 'the people' or 'the human beings'. And no one knows or probably ever will how close the Beothuk and Innu saw themselves. Maybe they saw themselves as close and the difference is from a European [perspective]. Or maybe they saw themselves as different. I suspect had they survived our relations with them would be similar to our relations with the Innu, and there would be a reserve somewhere in Central Newfoundland.
The thing about counterfactual history is it requires a couple of things to have been different. For the Beothuk to have persisted, there would have had to be a larger population initially. There were so few of them in the 18th century that the loss of even a small number of Beothuk to violence or disease or famine was enough that the population was not sufficient. There were not enough adults left to provide. There is a biological critical mass. The difference between the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia and the Beothuk of Newfoundland is that the Mi'kmaq had a much bigger population. They could lose 90% [of their population] and still function as a society. But the Beothuk could not lose 90% and still harvest resources or raise children.
The other thing that would have to have been different is that they would have to engage in active trade, rather than scavenging for their needs. Again, like the Innu and Mi'kmaq, they would need to-engage in the fur trade. This would have enabled them to get food from the Europeans, get supplies. But the Beothuk chose to scavenge, which worked well in the short term: they stayed on their own and preserved their culture. But in the long term they had no one to rely on for support during that rough month or month and half when there was no game available. The Beothuk had no kind of cooperation with their neighbours. They were truly on their own.
Does the existence of a culture matter? I don't have a mystical view of them. Because they are extinct it is easy to romanticize, to think that they were doomed to die, that they were unique among humanity. A lot of ethnic groups in the world no longer exist for a variety of reasons. I hesitate to say it's not tragic because it is. Clearly it's a tragedy when people die. It is inhumane to not be moved. But to think of the Beothuk as an extinct race reinforces some 18th century concepts. It's like the Great Auk and the Beothuk are analogous. This is dehumanizing."
Jeff Webb teaches history at Memorial University and writes about cultural and political history. He is the editor of Newfoundland and Labrador Studies.
