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Newfoundland and Labrador

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Newfoundland and Labrador
Map
CountryCanada
ConfederationMarch 31, 1949 (12th)
Government
 • Lieutenant-GovernorEdward Roberts
 • PremierDanny Williams
Federal representationParliament of Canada
House seats7 of 338 (2.1%)
Senate seats6 of 105 (5.7%)
Population
 • Total
528,430
GDP
 • Rank9th
 • Total (2005)$21.534 billion
 • Per capita$41,733 (6th)
Canadian postal abbr.
NL (formerly NF)
Postal code prefix
A
Rankings include all provinces and territories

Newfoundland and Labrador (Template:Lang-fr) is a province of Canada, the tenth to join the Confederation. Geographically, the province consists of the island of Newfoundland and the mainland Labrador, on Canada's Atlantic coast. On entry into Canada in 1949, the entire province was known as Newfoundland, but since 1964, the province's government has referred to itself as the "Government of Newfoundland and Labrador", and on December 6, 2001, an amendment was made to the Constitution of Canada to change the province's official name to "Newfoundland and Labrador". In general day-to-day conversation, however, Canadians still refer to the province in a general way as "Newfoundland," while the Labrador region of the province is usually referred to as simply Labrador.

While the name "Newfoundland" is derived from English as "New Found Land", Labrador is named after Portuguese explorer João Fernandes Lavrador.

The province's population is 505,469 according to the 2006 national census. [1] People from Newfoundland are called "Newfoundlanders" (and at times "Newfies", though this can be seen as a pejorative) while people from Labrador are called "Labradorians". Newfoundland has its own dialects of the English, French, and Irish Gaelic languages. The English dialect in Labrador shares much with Newfoundland. Furthermore, Labrador has its own dialects of Innu-aimun and Inuktitut.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Newfoundland and Labrador

As well as the long border on the mainland with Quebec on the Labrador peninsula, the province has a short border with Nunavut on the small Killiniq Island, ending at Cape Chidley. All islands off the northern coast of Quebec belong to the territory of Nunavut.

Newfoundland also shares a territorial water border with France, with the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

History

Main article: History of Newfoundland and Labrador

Colony of Newfoundland

Newfoundland has a number of historical firsts. The oldest known settlement anywhere in The Americas built by Europeans is located at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. It was founded circa 1000 A.D. by Leif Ericson's Vikings. Remnants and artifacts of the occupation can still be seen at L'Anse aux Meadows, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island was inhabited by the Beothuks and later the Mi'kmaq.

John Cabot became the first European since the Vikings to discover Newfoundland (but see João Vaz Corte-Real), landing at Bonavista on June 24, 1497. On August 5, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert formally claimed Newfoundland as England's first overseas colony under Royal Prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I.

From 1610 to 1728, Proprietary Governors were appointed to establish colonial settlements on the island. John Guy was governor of the first settlement at Cuper's Cove. Other settlements were Bristol's Hope, Renews, South Falkland and Avalon which became a province in 1623. The first governor given jurisdiction over all of Newfoundland was Sir David Kirke in 1638. The island of Newfoundland was nearly conquered by New France explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in the 1690s.

Newfoundland received a colonial assembly in 1832, which was and still is referred to as the House of Assembly, after a fight led by reformers William Carson, Patrick Morris and John Kent. The new government was unstable and divided along sectarian lines between the Catholic and Protestant populations of the colony. In 1842, the elected House of Assembly was amalgamated with the appointed Legislative Council. This was changed back in 1848 to two separate chambers. After this, a movement for responsible government began.

The Dominion of Newfoundland

Main article: Dominion of Newfoundland
Colonial Building

In 1854, Newfoundland was granted responsible government by the British government. In an 1855 election, Philip Francis Little, a native of Prince Edward Island, won a majority over Sir Hugh Hoyles and the Conservatives. Little formed the first administration from 1855 to 1858. Newfoundland rejected confederation with Canada in the 1869 general election.

As part of the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale of 1904, France abandoned the `French Shore', or the west coast of the island, to which it had had rights since the Peace of Utrecht of 1713. Possession of Labrador was disputed by Quebec and Newfoundland until 1927, when the British privy council demarcated the western boundary, enlarged Labrador's land area, and confirmed Newfoundland's title to it.

Newfoundland remained a colony until acquiring dominion status on September 26, 1907, along with New Zealand. It successfully negotiated a trade agreement with the United States but the British government blocked it after objections from Canada. The Dominion of Newfoundland reached its golden age under Prime Minister Sir Robert Bond of the Liberal Party.

In 1934, the Dominion gave up its self-governing status as the Commission of Government took its place. Following World War II, the Commission held elections for the Newfoundland National Convention which debated the dominion's future in 1946 and 1947. Two referenda resulted in which Newfoundlanders decided to end the commission[2], and join the Canadian Confederation in 1949.

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

Official Flower Purple pitcher plant
Official Tree Black Spruce
Official Bird Atlantic Puffin
Official Animal Caribou
Official Mineral Labradorite
Official Dog Newfoundland dog & Labrador Retriever
Provincial Anthem Ode to Newfoundland
Provincial Holiday June 24, Discovery Day
Patron Saint St. John the Baptist
Official tartan
Great Seal
Official logo
File:Logo-NFLD.jpg

In 1946, an election was held for the Newfoundland National Convention to decide the future of Newfoundland. The mechanism of the Convention was established by the British Government to make recommendations as to the constitutional options to be presented to the people of Newfoundland to be voted upon in a national referendum. Many members only wished to decide between continuing the Commission of Government or restoring Responsible Government. Joseph R. Smallwood, the leader of the confederates, moved that a third option of confederation with Canada should be included. His motion was defeated by the convention. But he did not give up, instead gathering more than 50,000 petitions from the people within a fortnight which he sent to London through the Governor.

The UK, having already insisted that if Newfoundland chose Confederation or a return to Responsible Government, it would not give Newfoundland any further financial assistance, added the third option of having Newfoundland join Canada to the ballot. The option of joining the US was not offered. After much debate, the first referendum was held on June 3, 1948 to decide between continuing with the Commission of Government, returning to Responsible Government, or joining the Canadian Confederation. The result was inconclusive, with 44.6% supporting the restoration of Responsible Government, 41.1% for confederation with Canada, and 14.3% for continuing the Commission of Government. No option had won a clear majority; so under the rules of the referendum, the option which won the fewest votes was dropped and a new run-off referendum was scheduled for late July 1948. Between the first and second referendums, rumours were spread that Roman Catholics had been instructed to vote by their bishops for Responsible Government. (This was not accurate; on the west coast of Newfoundland, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. George's, Bishop Michael O'Reilly and his congregation were strong supporters of confederation.) Prompted by the Confederate Association, the Orange Order was incensed and called on all its members to vote for confederation. The Protestants of Newfoundland outnumbered the Catholics at a ratio of 2:1. This was believed to have greatly influenced the outcome of the second referendum. A second referendum on July 22, 1948, which asked Newfoundlanders to choose between confederation and dominion status, was decided by a vote of 51% to 49% for confederation with Canada. Newfoundland joined Canada (just before the expiry) on March 31, 1949.

Not everyone was satisfied with the results, however. Peter Cashin, an outspoken anti-Confederate, questioned the validity of the votes. He claimed that it was the "unholy union between London and Ottawa" that brought about confederation.

In 1959, a local controversy arose when the provincial government pressured the Moravian Church to abandon its mission station at Hebron, Labrador, resulting in the relocation southward of the area's Inuit population, who had lived there since the mission was established in 1831.


Map of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In the 1960s, Newfoundland developed the Churchill Falls hydro-electric facility in order to sell electricity to the United States. An agreement with Quebec was required to secure permission to transport the electricity across Quebec territory. Quebec drove a hard bargain with Newfoundland, resulting in a 75-year deal that Newfoundlanders now believe to be unfair to the province because of the low and unchangeable rate that Newfoundland and Labrador receives for the electricity.

Politics of the province were dominated by the Liberal Party, led by Joseph R. Smallwood, from confederation until 1972. In 1972, the Smallwood government was replaced by the Progressive Conservative administration of Frank Moores. In 1979, Brian Peckford, another Progressive Conservative, became Premier. During this time, Newfoundland was involved in a dispute with the federal government for control of offshore oil resources. In the end, the dispute was decided by compromise. In 1989, Clyde Wells and the Liberal Party returned to power ending 17 years of Conservative government.

In 1992, the federal government declared a moratorium on the Atlantic cod fishery, because of severely declining catches in the late 1980s. The consequences of this decision reverberated throughout the provincial economy of Newfoundland in the 1990s, particularly as once-vibrant rural communities faced a sudden exodus. The economic impact of the closure of the Atlantic cod fishery on Newfoundland has been compared to the effect of closing every manufacturing plant in Ontario. The cod fishery which had provided Newfoundlanders on the south and east coasts with a livelihood for over 200 years was gone, although the federal government helped fishermen and fish plant workers make the adjustment with a multi-billion dollar program named "The Atlantic Groundfish Strategy" (TAGS).

Newfoundland and Canadian Government delegation signing the agreement admitting Newfoundland to Confederation in December 1948. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent and Albert Walsh shake hands following signing of agreement.

In the late 1980s, the federal government, along with its Crown corporation Petro-Canada and other private sector petroleum exploration companies, committed to developing the oil and gas resources of the Hibernia oil field on the northeast portion of the Grand Banks. Throughout the mid-1990s, thousands of Newfoundlanders were employed on offshore exploration platforms, as well as in the construction of the Hibernia Gravity Base Structure (GBS) and Hibernia topsides.

In 1996, the former federal minister of fisheries, Brian Tobin, was successful in winning the leadership of the provincial Liberal Party following the retirement of premier Clyde Wells. Tobin rode the waves of economic good fortune as the downtrodden provincial economy was undergoing a fundamental shift, largely as a result of the oil and gas industry's financial stimulus, although the effects of this were mainly felt only in communities on the Avalon Peninsula.

The Newfoundland Red Ensign was an unofficial commercial ensign from 1904 to 1931.

Good fortune also fell on Tobin following the discovery of a world class nickel deposit at Voisey's Bay, Labrador. Tobin committed to negotiating a better royalty deal for the province with private sector mining interests than previous governments had done with the Churchill Falls hydroelectric development deal in the 1970s. Following Tobin's return to federal politics in 2000, the provincial Liberal Party devolved into internal battling for the leadership, leaving its new leader, Roger Grimes, in a weakened position as premier.

The pressure of the oil and gas industry to explore offshore in Atlantic Canada saw Newfoundland and Nova Scotia submit to a federal arbitration to decide on a disputed offshore boundary between the two provinces in the Laurentian Basin. The 2003 settlement rewrote an existing boundary in Newfoundland's favour, opening this area up to energy exploration.

In 2003, the federal government declared a moratorium on the last remaining cod fishery in Atlantic Canada - in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. While Newfoundland was again the province most directly affected by this decision, although communities on Quebec's North Shore and in other parts of Atlantic Canada also faced difficulties.

James Cook's 1775 Chart of Newfoundland

Premier Grimes, facing a pending election that fall, used the Gulf cod decision and perceived federal bias against the province as a catalyst to try to rally citizens around his administration. Grimes called for a review of the Terms of Union by which the province had become a part of Canada and on July 2, 2003, the findings of the Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada (which Grimes had created in 2002) were released. It noted the following stressors in the relationship between the province and Canada:

  • the huge impact of the destruction of resources of cod
  • development of hydroelectricity resources of Labrador by Quebec, primarily to their benefit
  • chronically high unemployment
  • lowest per-capita income in Canada
  • the highest tax rates
  • the highest emigration

The report called for the following:

  • more collaborative federalism
  • an action team to deal with the fishery
  • collaboration between Canada, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador on the development of the Gull Island hydro site
  • revision of the Atlantic Accord so that offshore oil and gas reserves primarily benefit the province
  • immediate and realistic negotiations on joint management of the fishery

In October 2003, the Liberals lost the provincial election to the Progressive Conservative Party, led by Danny Williams.

From late October 2004 to early January 2006, Premier Williams argued that then Prime Minister Paul Martin had not held up his promises for a new deal on the "Atlantic Accord". The issue is the royalties from oil: currently, 70 cents on each royalty dollar are sent back to the federal government through reductions in payments by the federal government with respect to its "equalization program". The province wants 100% of the royalties to allow the province to pull itself out of poverty on a long-term basis.

Toward the end of 2004, Williams ordered the Canadian flag to be removed from all provincial buildings as a protest against federal policies, and asked for municipal councils to consider doing the same. The issue, dubbed the "Flag Flap" in the media, sparked debate across the province and the rest of Canada. The flags went back up in January 2005 after much controversy nationwide and Paul Martin stating that he would not negotiate with the province if the flags were not flying. At the end of January, the federal government signed a deal to allow 100% of oil revenues to go to the province, resulting in an extra $2 billion over eight years for the province. However, this agreement has led other provinces such as Ontario and Quebec to try to negotiate their own special deals as they too claim that the federal government is taking advantage of them financially. The "equalization program" remains a controversial issue in negotiations between Premier Williams and current Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

As of 2005, 4 of the 10 amendments to the Constitution of Canada have been concerned with Canada's tenth province.

Newfoundland Shield

Notable Newfoundlanders & Labradorians

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador
1897 Newfoundland postage stamp, the first in the world to feature mining.

According to the 2001 Canadian census,[1] the largest ethnic group in Newfoundland and Labrador is English (39.4%), followed by Irish (19.7%), Scottish (6.0%), French (5.5%), and First Nations (3.2%) - although over half of all respondents also identified their ethnicity as "Canadian."

Population since 1951

Year Population Five Year
 % change 		Ten Year
 % change 		Rank Among
Provinces
1951 361,416 n/a n/a 9
1956 415,074 14.8 n/a 9
1961 457,853 10.3 26.7 9
1966 493,396 7.8 18.9 9
1971 522,100 5.8 14.0 9
1976 557,720 6.8 13.0 9
1981 567,681 1.8 8.7 9
1986 568,350 0.1 1.9 9
1991 568,475 0.02 0.1 9
1996 551,790 -2.9 -2.9 9
2001 512,930 -7.0 -9.8 9
2006* 509,677 -0.6 -7.6 9

*Preliminary 2006 census estimate.

Source: Statistics Canada[3][4]

See also

References

  • Atlas of Newfoundland and Labrador by Department of Geography Memorial University of Newfoundland, Breakwater Books Ltd; ISBN 1-55081-000-6; (1991)
  • G.J. Casey and Elizabeth Miller, eds., Tempered Days: A Century of Newfoundland Fiction St. John's: Killick Press, 1996.
  • Karl Mcneil Earle; "Cousins of a Kind: The Newfoundland and Labrador Relationship with the United States" American Review of Canadian Studies Vol: 28. Issue: 4. 1998. pp : 387-411.
  • C. R. Fay; Life and Labour in Newfoundland University of Toronto Press, 1956
  • Lawrence Jackson, Newfoundland & Labrador Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd; ISBN 1-55041-261-2; (1999)
  • Gene Long, Suspended State: Newfoundland Before Canada Breakwater Books Ltd; ISBN 1-55081-144-4; (April 1, 1999)
  • R. A. MacKay; Newfoundland; Economic, Diplomatic, and Strategic Studies Oxford University Press, 1946
  • Patrick O'Flaherty, The Rock Observed: Studies in the Literature of Newfoundland University of Toronto Press, 1979
  • Joseph Smallwood ed. The Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John's: Newfoundland Book Publishers, [1961] 1984), 2 vol.
  • This Marvelous Terrible Place: Images of Newfoundland and Labrador by Momatiuk et al., Firefly Books; ISBN 1-55209-225-9; (September 1998)
  • True Newfoundlanders: Early Homes and Families of Newfoundland and Labrador by Margaret McBurney et al., Boston Mills Pr; ISBN 1-55046-199-0; (June 1997)
  • Biogeography and Ecology of the Island of Newfoundland: Monographiae Biologicae by G. Robin South (Editor) Dr W Junk Pub Co; ISBN 90-6193-101-0; (April 1983)

Footnotes

  1. ^ http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/photogalleries/census.html
  2. ^ Letters Patent - Administration of Newfoundland and its Dependencies - George V - January 30th, 1934
  3. ^ StatCan 2001 Census - population
  4. ^ Canada's population. Statistics Canada. Last accessed September 28, 2006.


52°37′28″N 59°41′06″W / 52.62444°N 59.68500°W / 52.62444; -59.68500

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