An introduction to Grand Falls-Windsor: its history, the Nations whose lands it sits on, and Indigenous community life today, with sources.
Indigenous history of Grand Falls-Windsor
The Beothuk once lived along Newfoundland’s south and northeast coasts. In 1819, English fishers captured a Beothuk woman named Demasduit. While held, she helped build a dictionary of the Beothuk language. Shanawdithit, who recorded Beothuk history, died in 1829. Mi’kmaq and Innu oral traditions hold that Beothuk descendants married into other Indigenous nations. In 2019, the remains of Demasduit and Nonosabasut were returned to Canada from Scotland.
Treaty and territory
Grand Falls-Windsor lies in the Exploits River system, an inland homeland of the Beothuk people. Mi’kmaq people live here today, and the town is part of a ward of Qalipu First Nation.
Nearby: Bishop's Falls · Botwood · Badger · Buchans · Gander · Norris Arm
Indigenous Grand Falls-Windsor today
Mi'kmaq people are part of life in Grand Falls-Windsor. Qalipu First Nation was created in 2011 as a landless band for Mi'kmaq people in Newfoundland. Its members live across the island, and none live on a reserve. Grand Falls-Windsor is one of the areas represented in its nine electoral wards, alongside places such as Corner Brook and Gander Bay. Members elect a chief, two vice-chiefs and nine ward councillors. The demand for recognition was huge. About 105,000 people applied to join, far more than the government expected. After stricter rules in 2014, around 24,000 people were confirmed as founding members. Beothuk history is also remembered here. The town's provincial museum was renamed the Demasduit Regional Museum in 2021, out of respect for Demasduit. It was previously called the Mary March Provincial Museum. The museum presents exhibits on the Beothuk alongside geology, industry and natural history. Visitors learn there about the Beothuk who were pushed inland to this river system.
More on the region: Indigenous Newfoundland and Labrador · all of Canada.
Printing for Grand Falls-Windsor
Alongside its own line, XUSI screen prints custom apparel for schools, teams, businesses, Nations and events in Grand Falls-Windsor. Ten garments minimum, up to four colours, design help included, and a full quote before anything runs.
The clothing side is Indigenous-designed and Indigenous-owned, out of Saskatoon on Treaty 6. See custom screen printing, or shop the XUSI line.
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