The distinctness of the maritime archaic aboriginals, the paleo-eskimos, and the Beothuks is a primary theme at the Parks Canada exhibit at Port aux Choix in Newfoundland. It is hard to believe that the results of this mitochondrial analysis is being seen as either surprising or fresh news. What is surprising is that people continue to hold onto untested beliefs that all aboriginal communities and peoples are somehow linked together. Why?

The essential truth is that very different peoples have arrived, in this case in Newfoundland, and lived and settled, some for thousands of years, some for centuries, and some for only a decade; and, that this unfolding of arrivals and leavings continues. In retrospect, it seems to make little sense to continue to talk of first peoples, whether Aboriginal, French, or English. Life is far more complex, and exciting.