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Last of the Beothuk

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  Last of the Beothuk by Clifton Bertram, August 6, 2026  The earliest settlements in the region of today’s Newfoundland and Labrador, and stretching as far south as Maine were those of the Red Ochre People, or Red Paint People, so-called because of their distinctive and extensive use of ochre, particularly in their burial practices. The Red Ochre people arrived in the region as early as 7000 BC to 6,000 BC as evidenced by the Pinware Hill, Cowpath and L’Anse Amour sites on the Strait of Belle Isle separating Newfoundland from mainland Labrador. Their houses were made by excavating depressions into boulder beaches, and they evolved from small single-family dwellings to longhouses up to 100 m in length and containing a number of rooms.   In addition to harvesting caribou for meat, skin and antlers, they hunted sea mammals including walrus, seals and small whales. They also fished and even practiced swordfish hunting, based on specialized bone and stone harpoon...
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Elbows Up on the Gordie Howe Bridge

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  Today, the Gordie Howe Bridge officially opened. Finally. After a decade of construction, cabinet-level interference, presidential threats, a flood of disinformation, and inflammatory demands. The second bridge spanning the Detroit River from Michigan to Ontario, The Gordie Howe Bridge was intended to relieve traffic across the Ambassador Bridge, a privately held span that funnels people, commercial goods and culture across North America’s busiest international crossing.   Every day the Ambassador Bridge was responsible for 10,000 vehicles daily, and 25% of Canada’s imports for a total of $360 million in trade per day. But that was before the second Trump administration, punishing tariffs, and especially , the President’s repeated threats of involuntary annexation. More than a decade earlier, on May 14, 2015, Stephen Harper, the Conservative Prime Minister of Canada and Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder announced that the planned new trade conduit was to be na...
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