Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, located in the country's Atlantic region. It has a big island called Newfoundland and a part on the mainland called Labrador. The whole province is 405,212 km² (156,453 sq mi) and, as of 2025, about 549,738 people live there. Most people live on the island of Newfoundland, especially on the Avalon Peninsula, where the capital city, St. John's, is.

The province has special borders: Labrador touches the province of Quebec and a tiny part of Nunavut on Killiniq Island. Nearby in the ocean is the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

Until 1949, Newfoundland was its own country within the British Empire, called the Dominion of Newfoundland. But because of hard times during the Great Depression and after the First World War, the people chose to join Canada. On March 31, 1949, it became Canada’s tenth province. Later, in 2001, the province’s name was changed to “Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Names

In 1499, King Henry VII called the land "new founde land" in a letter. Sebastian and John Cabot explored it in 1497. In Portuguese, it is called Terra Nova, meaning "new land". This name is used on the island, like in Terra Nova National Park. The name "Labrador" comes from a Portuguese navigator named João Fernandes Lavrador.

In the Inuttitut/Inuktitut language spoken in Nunatsiavut, Labrador is called Nunatsuak, meaning "the big land". Newfoundland is called Ikkarumikluak, meaning "place of many shoals".

In 1999, the government wanted to change the province's name to "Newfoundland and Labrador" to show that Labrador is an equal part of the province. This change became official in 2001.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province in Canada, located in the northeastern part of North America. It has two parts: Labrador, which is connected to mainland Canada, and Newfoundland, an island in the Atlantic Ocean. The province also includes over 7,000 small islands. The highest point in the province is Mount Caubvick, and the highest point on Newfoundland is Cabox.

Newfoundland is roughly triangular, with each side about 400 km long. Labrador is also triangular, and its border with Quebec follows natural features like rivers and latitude lines. Together, Newfoundland and Labrador cover a total area of 405,720 km² (156,650 sq mi).

Main article: Geology of Newfoundland and Labrador

Labrador is part of the Canadian Shield, an ancient area of tough rocks. The shape of Newfoundland's land was influenced by moving tectonic plates, and Gros Morne National Park shows this very well. The Long Range Mountains on Newfoundland’s west coast are part of the Appalachian Mountains.

Newfoundland and Labrador have many different climates. Newfoundland has cool summers because it is near the ocean, while Northern Labrador has a cold tundra climate, and southern Labrador has a very cold subarctic climate. The province often experiences strong winds, snow, rain, and fog, which can make travel difficult.

Climate data for four places in the province is shown in graphs, including St. John's, Gander, Corner Brook, and Wabush. The data comes from 30 years of records. The ocean keeps coastal temperatures a bit milder in winter and a bit cooler in summer than inland areas, leading to changing weather, lots of rain and snow, and more clouds.

History

Main article: History of Newfoundland and Labrador

Further information: Monarchy in Newfoundland and Labrador § History

Early history and the Beothuks

People have lived in Newfoundland and Labrador for about 9,000 years. The Maritime Archaic peoples were hunters who lived along the Atlantic Coast of North America from about 7000 BC to 1500 BC. They lived in longhouses and other simple homes. They traded over long distances using white chert, a type of rock, as a form of money. The southern group of these people was in Newfoundland by 5,000 years ago.

The Maritime Archaic peoples were later replaced by the Dorset culture, who also lived in Newfoundland. They were very good at living in cold places and mostly ate sea animals they hunted through holes in the ice. Their way of life was badly affected when sea ice decreased during a warm period known as the Medieval Warm Period.

Beothuk settlement

The Beothuk culture is thought to be the most recent group of people who moved from Labrador to Newfoundland around 1 AD. The Inuit, who mostly lived in Labrador, are descendants of the Thule people, who came from western Alaska around 1000 AD and moved east across the High Arctic tundra. Researchers think the Dorset culture did not have the same tools or technology as the Inuit, which gave the Inuit an advantage.

Over time, these groups formed small bands and larger tribes. The Innu live in an area they call Nitassinan, which is most of what is now Quebec and Labrador. They hunted caribou, deer, and small animals. Some coastal groups also fished and collected maple sugar. The Innu fought with Inuit groups along the coast of Labrador.

The Mi’kmaq of southern Newfoundland mostly lived by the sea, catching fish. In winter, they went inland to hunt. Over time, the Mi’kmaq and Innu split their lands into areas each group controlled. Each area had its own leaders and a council of important people.

European contact

The oldest known records of Europeans reaching the area come from Viking (Norse) stories called the Icelandic Sagas over a thousand years ago. Around the year 1001, a Viking named Leif Erikson is said to have landed in three places to the west. The third place he called Vinland might have been Newfoundland. In the 1960s, archaeologists found evidence of a Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. In 1978, it was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

There are other old stories of Europeans finding the land, including tales of men from the Channel Islands who were lost at sea and found a land full of fish, and old Portuguese maps showing a place called Terra do Bacalhau, or land of codfish, west of the Azores. Some people also claim the monk Saint Brendan visited the island in the early 6th century.

In 1496, an explorer named John Cabot got permission from the English king to sail west. On June 24, 1497, he landed at Cape Bonavista. Historians are not sure if he landed in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, or even Maine, but the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom say Bonavista is where he landed. In 1499 and 1500, Portuguese explorers João Fernandes Lavrador and Pero de Barcelos mapped the coast. The former's name is where “Labrador” comes from.

Based on an agreement called the Treaty of Tordesillas, Portugal claimed the area John Cabot visited in 1497 and 1498. Portuguese explorers and mapmakers claimed Newfoundland and Labrador as part of the Portuguese Empire in the early 1500s. They set up seasonal fishing camps and even created taxes for fishing in Newfoundland waters.

When Europeans began to visit Newfoundland regularly in the early 1500s, the Beothuk were the only group living permanently on the island. They did not want to trade with Europeans and tried to avoid contact. English fishing operations cut off the Beothuk from their food sources.

In the 1700s, as European settlers moved further inland, conflicts grew between the Beothuk and settlers over resources. By the early 1800s, diseases, starvation, and cold weather had greatly reduced the Beothuk population, and they were gone by 1829.

European settlement and conflict

Main articles: Newfoundland Colony and Terre-Neuve (New France)

Before 1563, Basque fishermen who had fished near Newfoundland for years founded a place called Plaisance (today Placentia), which French fishermen later used. In 1583, Newfoundland became England's first colony in North America when Humphrey Gilbert, given authority by Queen Elizabeth I, landed in St. John's. European fishing boats had visited Newfoundland since John Cabot’s voyage in 1498, and seasonal fishing camps had been there for about a hundred years. Fishermen came from the Basque Country, England, France, and Portugal.

In 1585, during a war between England and Spain, Bernard Drake attacked Spanish and Portuguese fishing places. This helped England secure the island and led to the creation of colonial settlements from 1610 to 1728. The first settlement was at Cuper's Cove, with others at Bristol's Hope, Renews, New Cambriol, South Falkland, and Avalon, which became a province in 1623. The first governor to rule all of Newfoundland was Sir David Kirke in 1638.

Explorers found the waters around Newfoundland to be some of the best for fishing in the North Atlantic.^{[need quotation to verify]} By 1620, 300 fishing boats worked the Grand Banks, employing about 10,000 sailors from places like the Basque Country, Normandy, and Brittany. They dried and salted cod to sell in Spain and Portugal. An investment by Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore in the 1620s did not succeed because of French attacks and bad weather, so he focused on his other colony in Maryland. After he left, small business owners like Sir David Kirke used the facilities he built. Kirke became the first governor of Newfoundland in 1638.

Triangular Trade

A triangular trade with New England, the West Indies, and Europe gave Newfoundland an important economic role. By the 1670s, there were 1,700 permanent residents and another 4,500 who came in the summer.

This trade depended on the work of enslaved people from Africa. Salted cod from Newfoundland was used to feed enslaved people on plantations in the West Indies. Products like molasses and rum (Screech) came from these plantations and were shipped to Newfoundland and England. Some merchants in Newfoundland owned enslaved people, like St. John's merchant Thomas Oxford. John Ryan, a merchant and publisher, freed his enslaved servant Dinah when he died in Newfoundland in 1847, after slavery was abolished in 1833.

The Kirke brothers, who were involved in the triangular trade, took a young boy named Olivier Le Jeune to New France in 1629, where he was sold.

In 1655, France appointed a governor in Plaisance (Placentia), starting a period of French control and conflict with England in the area. The Mi’kmaq, who were allies of the French, fought alongside them against the English. English attacks on Placentia led to retaliation by French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who destroyed nearly every English settlement on the island during King William's War in the 1690s. The English population was either killed, captured, or forced to leave, except for those who held out at Carbonear Island and Bonavista.

After France lost control of the area following the Siege of Port Royal in 1710, the Mi’kmaq fought with the British during several wars, including Dummer's War (1722–1725), King George's War (1744–1748), Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), and the French and Indian War (1754–1763). French control ended with the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, which gave Britain control of Newfoundland and French claims in Acadia. The French population of Placentia moved to Île Royale (now Cape Breton Island).

In the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), France recognized British control of the island. However, during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), control of Newfoundland was again disputed between Britain, France, and Spain. Britain’s victories led William Pitt to insist that only Britain should have access to Newfoundland. The Battle of Signal Hill on September 15, 1762, was the last battle of the North American part of the Seven Years' War. A British force led by Lieutenant Colonel William Amherst recaptured St. John's after the French had taken it by surprise three months earlier.

From 1763 to 1767, James Cook mapped the coasts of Newfoundland and southern Labrador while commanding HMS Grenville. In 1796, a Franco-Spanish expedition attacked the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, destroying many settlements.

By the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), French fishermen were allowed to land and dry fish on the "French Shore" on the western coast. (They had a permanent base on the nearby St. Pierre and Miquelon islands; France gave up these rights in 1904.) In 1783, Britain signed the Treaty of Paris with the United States, giving American fishermen similar rights along the coast. These rights were confirmed by treaties in 1818, 1854, and 1871, and by an arbitration decision in 1910.

British colony

Fishing Admirals and Naval Governors

British merchants who controlled Newfoundland wanted it to remain a fishing station only. Women were not allowed on the island, and no man could stay over winter or build a permanent home. The captains of the first three ships to arrive in St. John's each season were called the “Fishing Admirals,” and they handled justice and settled disputes. Despite these strict rules, the population grew, and in 1729 London appointed a Royal Navy officer as Commodore-Governor to lead the annual fishing fleet from England. The naval governors did not change the policy. As late as 1789, Governor Milbanke said it was not in Britain’s interest to encourage people to live in Newfoundland over winter. However, by 1818 the Avalon Peninsula had enough permanent residents for a naval governor to live there year-round.

The United Irish Conspiracy and Catholic Emancipation

George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, who tried to create a colony on the peninsula as a home for Roman Catholics between 1629 and 1632, later lost control of it. The large Catholic population that developed later in St. John's and the Avalon Peninsula faced the same restrictions as Catholics elsewhere under British rule. Governor John Campbell issued an order in 1784 allowing Catholics to worship publicly. But when Prince William Henry (the future King William IV) visited St. John's in 1786, he noted there were “ten Roman Catholics to one Protestant” and advised against further measures for Catholic relief.

After news of rebellion in Ireland reached Newfoundland in June 1798, Governor Vice-Admiral Waldegrave warned London that English people made up only a “small proportion” of the local regiment. In April 1800, reports said over 400 men had sworn an oath as United Irishmen, and eighty soldiers planned to kill their officers and take over during Sunday services.

The failed uprising, for which eight men (called “followers of the infidel French” by Catholic Bishop James Louis O'Donel) were hanged, may have been more about desperate living conditions and officer mistreatment than a United Irish plot. Many Irish soldiers could not leave their posts and missed the fishing season that supported their families. Yet the Irish in Newfoundland knew about the fight for civil rights and political power in their homeland. There were reports of communication with United Irishmen in Ireland before the 1798 rebellion; of Thomas Paine’s writings being in St. John's; and, even during the war with France, hundreds of young men from County Waterford still came to the island for the fishing season, including defeated rebels who were said to have “added fuel to the fire” of local complaints.

When Newfoundland learned in May 1829 that the UK Parliament had passed Catholic emancipation, locals thought Catholics would now hold public office and enjoy equality with Protestants. There was a celebration in St. John's with a parade, mass, and gunshots from ships in the harbor. However, the attorney general and supreme court judges decided that because Newfoundland was a colony and not part of the United Kingdom, the Roman Catholic Relief Act did not apply. Discrimination was a local law.

It was not until May 1832 that the British Secretary of State for the Colonies said a new commission would be issued to Governor Cochrane to end all Roman Catholic disabilities in Newfoundland. By then Catholic emancipation was linked (as in Ireland) to the push for home rule.

Achievement of home rule

After the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, France and other countries entered the fish trade, and a surplus of cod lowered prices and increased competition. The colony’s profits disappeared. A series of harsh winters between 1815 and 1817 made life harder, and fires in St. John's in 1817 left thousands without homes. At the same time, a new wave of immigrants from Ireland increased the Catholic population. In these difficult times, much of the English and Protestant ruling class relied on the appointed, Anglican “naval government.”

A coalition for home rule formed in 1828, bringing together Irish community leaders and (Scottish and Welsh) Methodists. Led by William Carson, a Scottish doctor, and Patrick Morris, an Irish merchant, it expressed the concerns of a new middle class about taxation. In 1825, Britain made Newfoundland and Labrador an official colony and appointed Sir Thomas Cochrane as its first civil governor. Influenced by reforms in Britain, a colonial legislature opened in St. John's, along with the promise of Catholic emancipation, in 1832. Carson’s goal for Newfoundland was clear: “We shall rise into a national existence, having a national character, a nation’s feelings, assuming that rank among our neighbours which the political situation and the extent of our island demand.”

Standing as Liberals, the reformers wanted to end the Anglican monopoly on government jobs and tax the fisheries to fund the courts, roads, and other projects. They were opposed by the Conservatives (the “Tories”), who mainly represented the Anglican leadership and business interests. While the Tories controlled the governor’s appointed Executive Council, the Liberals usually had most seats in the elected House of Assembly.

Economic conditions were still difficult. Like in Ireland, the potato, which helped the population grow, failed because of a plant disease called Phytophthora infestans. The number of deaths from the 1846–1848 Newfoundland potato famine is not known, but there was widespread hunger. Besides a few small efforts to help, Governor John Gaspard Le Marchant called a “Day of Public Fasting and Humiliation” hoping God might forgive their sins and “remove his afflicting hand.” The wave of people leaving Ireland after the famine did not include many from Newfoundland.

Era of responsible government

Fisheries improved, and more powers were given to the colony away from London. In 1854, Britain established Newfoundland’s first responsible government, with an executive responsible to the colonial legislature. In 1855, with a majority in the Assembly, the Liberals led by Philip Francis Little (the first Roman Catholic to practice law in St. John's) formed Newfoundland’s first parliamentary government (1855–1858). Newfoundland decided not to join Canada in the 1869 election. The people were more concerned with land issues—the Escheat movement wanted to end landlord control in favor of tenant farmers. Canada did not offer many solutions.

From the 1880s, as the cod fishery declined sharply, many people left. Some left temporarily for work, but more left permanently. Most of those who left (mostly Catholic and of Irish descent) moved to Canada, especially to jobs in steel and coal mines in Nova Scotia. Many also moved to the United States, especially New England.

In 1892, St. John's burned. The Great Fire left 12,000 people without homes. In 1894, the two commercial banks in Newfoundland failed. These bank failures created a gap that Canadian banks later filled, putting Newfoundland under Canadian monetary control.

Newfoundland was not on the main travel routes. St. John's, 3,200 km (2,000 mi) from Liverpool and about 1,000 miles from cities on the U.S. east coast, was not a stop for Atlantic ships. But with the expansion of the railway, new opportunities opened in the interior. Paper and pulp mills were built by the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Co. at Grand Falls to supply publishing companies in the UK. Iron ore mines opened on Bell Island.

British Dominion

Main article: Dominion of Newfoundland

Reform and the Fisherman's Union

In 1907, Newfoundland became a dominion, or self-governing country, within the British Empire or British Commonwealth. The government was run mostly by a cabinet responsible to the legislature in St. John's, with only occasional changes from Britain. A new reform-minded government formed under Edward Morris, a leading Catholic politician who left the Liberals to create the People’s Party. It expanded education, started old-age pensions, began agriculture and trade programs, and created laws to support collective bargaining with a trade union act.

Unions had tried to negotiate wages in shipbuilding since the 1850s. Fishermen were not paid workers but were more like farmers, relying on loans from merchants. Working in small, competitive, often family-based groups spread out in isolated communities, they rarely had chances to meet in large numbers to discuss shared problems. These obstacles were overcome from 1908 by a new co-operative movement, the Fishermen's Protective Union (FPU). It mobilized over 21,000 members in 206 councils across the island—more than half of Newfoundland’s fishermen—and challenged the economic control of the island’s merchants. Despite opposition from the Catholic Church, which disliked the FPU’s oaths and accused it of socialism, FPU candidates won 8 of 36 seats in the House of Assembly in the 1913 election.

At the start of 1914, economic conditions seemed good for reform. In just over a decade, exports, imports, and government income had more than doubled. Plans were being made to exploit coal and mineral resources, and to use peat as fuel. With settlements of fishing rights disputes with France in 1904 and with the New England states in 1910, the fishing industry was ready to develop new markets.

First World War and its aftermath

In August 1914, Britain declared war on Germany. Out of a population of about 250,000, Newfoundland sent about 12,000 people to serve for the Empire (including 3,000 who joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force). About a third served in the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, which after fighting in the Gallipoli Campaign, lost most of its men on the first day on the Somme, July 1, 1916. The regiment, which the Dominion government chose to organize, equip, and train at its own cost, was re-equipped and fought in several more battles, earning the title “Royal.” The regiment had a high rate of death and injury: 1,281 killed, 2,284 wounded.

FPU members joined Edward Patrick Morris’s wartime National Government of 1917, but their reputation suffered when they did not keep their promise to not support military conscription without a vote. In 1919, the FPU joined the Liberals to form the Liberal Reform Party, which won the 1919 election and allowed Coaker to stay as Fisheries Minister. But he could do little to maintain the FPU’s credibility during the post-war drop in fish prices, high unemployment, and emigration. At the same time, the Dominion’s war debt from the regiment and the cost of the cross-island railway limited the government’s ability to provide help.

In the spring of 1918, protests happened over wartime inflation and profiteering. The Newfoundland Industrial Workers’ Association (NIWA) went on strike against the rail and steamship operations of the Reid Newfoundland Company, blocking the capital and threatening the annual seal hunt. The settlement included wage increases and “the great principle that employees should have a say in matters affecting their well-being.”

When Sinn Féin formed the Dáil Éireann in Dublin in January 1919, the Irish question and local religious tensions returned to Newfoundland. Over the course of 1920 many Catholics of Irish descent in St. John's joined the local branch of the Self-Determination for Ireland League (SDIL). Despite showing loyalty to the Empire, the League’s strong support for Irish self-government was opposed by the local Orange Order. Claiming to represent 20,000 “loyal citizens,” the Order was made up almost entirely of Anglicans or Methodists of English descent. Tensions were so high that Catholic Archbishop Edward Roche had to warn League organizers about the risk of “a sectarian war.”

Since the early 1800s, Newfoundland and Quebec (or Lower Canada) had disagreed over the Labrador region. In 1927, the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council decided that the area known today as Labrador was part of the Dominion of Newfoundland.

Commission government

The Great Depression and the return of colonial rule

After the stock market crash in 1929, the international market for many of Newfoundland and Labrador’s products—saltfish, pulp paper and minerals—fell sharply. In 1930, the country earned $40 million from exports; by 1933 that dropped to $23.3 million. The fishery suffered big losses as salted cod that sold for $8.90 a quintal in 1929 was only half that by 1932. With this huge drop in export income, the debt from the Great War and the building of the Newfoundland Railway became too much to handle. In 1931, the Dominion defaulted on its debt. Newfoundland survived with help from the United Kingdom and Canada but, in the summer of 1933, Canada decided it could no longer provide support.

After cutting back heavily on industries, the government laid off about a third of its civil servants and lowered the wages of those kept on. For the first time since the 1880s, not enough food caused diseases like beriberi, tuberculosis and others to spread.

Britain had to decide: allow Newfoundland to collapse financially or pay to keep it solvent. The solution, accepted by the legislature in 1933, was to return to direct colonial rule. In exchange for loans from the Crown and a promise to restore self-government later, the legislature in St. John's voted itself out of existence.^: 8–10  On February 16, 1934, the Commission of Government took over, ending 79 years of self-government. The Commission had seven members appointed by the British government. For 15 years, there were no elections and no legislature.

Between 1934 and 1939, the Commission of Government managed the situation, but the root cause, the world-wide depression, could not be fixed. The low spirits of the country were described as evident in "'the lack of cheering and of visible enthusiasm' in the crowds that came out to see King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their short visit in June 1939."

Second World War

The situation changed dramatically when Newfoundland and Labrador, with no government of its own, was automatically at war after Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939. Unlike 1914–1918, when the Dominion government volunteered and paid for a full regiment, there would be no separate force overseas and, implicitly, no compulsory enlistment. Volunteers joined Newfoundland units in the Royal Artillery and Royal Air Force, and the largest group of Newfoundlanders to serve overseas, the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit. As in the First World War, about 12,000 Newfoundlanders were directly or indirectly involved in the war effort.

In June 1940, after France fell and Germany occupied most of Western Europe, the Commission of Government, with British approval, allowed Canadian troops to help defend Newfoundland’s air bases for the war. Canada’s military role grew in 1941 when German submarines started attacking merchant ships in the north-west Atlantic. In addition to increasing the bomber squadron at Gander, the Royal Canadian Air Force sent another squadron of bombers from a new airport Canada built at Torbay (now the St. John's airport). From November 1940, a new airbase at Gander became one of the so-called “sally-ports of freedom” where U.S. planes flew in large numbers to Britain.

In March 1941, the United Kingdom agreed to let the United States (still officially neutral) have what were effectively U.S. sovereign base rights. The U.S. chose locations at St. John's, where they built an army base (Fort Pepperrell) and a dock; at Argentia/Marquise, where they built a naval air base and an army base (Fort McAndrew); and at Stephenville, where they built a large airfield (Ernest Harmon Airbase). After the U.S. entered the war in December 1941, they were also stationed at Torbay, Goose Bay and Gander.

This military presence had big economic, political and social effects. Enlistment for service abroad and base building at home ended the long-term unemployment of the previous decades. By 1942, the country not only had full employment and could spend more on health, education and housing, it was lending interest-free Canadian dollars to hard-pressed Britain. At the same time, the presence of many Canadians and Americans, with their entertainment and consumer goods, introduced a taste for the more affluent consumer culture developing across North America.

The National Convention

When prosperity returned with the Second World War, efforts began to end the Commission and bring back self-government. Instead, the British government created the National Convention in 1946. Led by Judge Cyril J. Fox, the Convention had 45 elected members from across the dominion and was officially meant to advise on the future of Newfoundland.

Several proposals were made by Joey Smallwood—a convention member who later became the first provincial premier of Newfoundland—to consider joining Canada by sending a delegation to Ottawa. The first proposal was defeated, but the Convention later decided to send delegations to both London and Ottawa to explore options. In January 1948, the National Convention voted against putting the issue of Confederation on the ballot for the referendum 29 to 16, but the British, who controlled the National Convention and the upcoming referendum, overruled this decision. Those who supported Confederation were very unhappy with the National Convention’s recommendations and collected a petition signed by over 50,000 Newfoundlanders asking for Confederation with Canada to be an option in the upcoming referendum. Most historians believe the British government strongly wanted Confederation to be included.

Canadian province

The referendums on confederation

Main article: 1948 Newfoundland referendums

Three main groups campaigned during the lead-up to the referendums on joining Canada:

• The Confederate Association (CA), led by Smallwood, supported joining Canada. They published a newspaper called The Confederate.
• The Responsible Government League (RGL), led by Peter Cashin, supported an independent Newfoundland with a return to self-government. Their newspaper was The Independent.
• The smaller Economic Union Party (EUP), led by Chesley Crosbie, supported closer economic ties with the United States. A 1947 Gallup poll showed 80% of Newfoundland residents wanted to become American, but the United States was not interested, and preferred Newfoundland join Canada. The EUP did not gain much support and after the first referendum merged with the RGL.

The first referendum was held on June 3, 1948; 44.6% voted for self-government, 41.1% voted for joining Canada, while 14.3% voted for the Commission of Government. Since no choice got more than 50%, a second referendum with only the two most popular choices was held on July 22, 1948. The official result of that referendum was 52.3% for joining Canada and 47.7% for self-government. After the vote, the British governor named a seven-person group to negotiate Canada’s offer for Newfoundland. After six of the group signed, the British government passed the British North America Act, 1949 through the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Newfoundland officially became part of Canada at midnight on March 31, 1949.

As documents in British and Canadian archives became public in the 1980s, it became clear that both Canada and the United Kingdom wanted Newfoundland to join Canada. Some people have said it was a plot to force Newfoundland into Confederation in return for Britain’s war debt and other reasons.^: 68  However, most historians who have studied the documents believe that while Britain made sure the Confederation option was included in the referendum, Newfoundlanders made the final decision themselves, even if it was by a small margin.

After the referendum, there was a rumor that the vote had been narrowly won by the “self-government” side, but the result had been changed by the British governor.^: 225–26  Soon after the referendum, several boxes of ballots from St. John's were burned by order of Herman William Quinton, one of only two commissioners who supported Confederation.^: 224  Some people have said there was not enough independent oversight of the vote count, although the process was supervised by respected Corner Brook Magistrate Nehemiah Short, who had also supervised elections for the National Convention.^: 224–25 

1959 Woodworkers' strike

In 1959, a strike by the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) became the “most bitter labour dispute in Newfoundland’s history.” Smallwood, who had been an organizer in the lumber industry, feared the strike would close the province’s biggest employer. His government passed emergency laws that immediately ended the IWA’s certification, banned secondary strikes, and made unions responsible for any illegal actions taken on their behalf.

The International Labour Organization, Canadian Labour Congress, and the Newfoundland Federation of Labour criticized the laws, and Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker refused to send extra police to help enforce them. But with no food or money left, the loggers ended the strike, joined Smallwood’s new Newfoundland Brotherhood of Wood Workers, and negotiated a deal with the logging companies, ending the strike and weakening the IWA.

Resettlement programs

From the early 1950s, the provincial government started a policy of population transfer by moving people from rural coastal areas to “growth centers.” It was thought this would let the government provide better services like education, health care, roads and electricity. The resettlement policy was also supposed to create more jobs outside fishing or in related industries, making the fishing industry stronger.

Three resettlement attempts between 1954 and 1975 led to 300 communities being abandoned and nearly 30,000 people moving. Critics say the program was poorly organized and a major mistake, and it is considered one of the most controversial policies in post-Confederation Newfoundland and Labrador.

Many remaining small coastal villages were hurt by the 1992 cod ban. Losing this main source of income caused many people to leave. In the 21st century, the Community Relocation Policy lets isolated communities move voluntarily. Eight communities have moved between 2002 and 2018. At the end of 2019, ending ferry and electricity services made life impossible on the Little Bay Islands.

21st century

Climate change

In the new century, the provincial government is preparing for the effects of global warming. Average temperatures are already between 0.8 °C and 1.5 °C warmer than before, and hurricanes and tropical storms happen twice as often as in the last century. As a result, the province sees more melting permafrost, flooding, damage to buildings, less sea ice, and a greater risk from new invasive species and diseases.

The government expects that in 50 years (2000–2050), summer temperatures will rise by two and a half to three degrees and winter temperatures by three and a half to five degrees, especially in Labrador. In some places, winter could be four to five weeks shorter and heavy storms could bring 20% or more extra rain, increasing flood risks. Sea levels are expected to rise by half a meter, threatening coastal buildings. The government sees the province’s “huge renewable [wind, sea and hydro] energy resources” as a way to cut carbon emissions in Newfoundland and elsewhere.

In April 2023, after many delays and cost overruns, a major hydro project at Muskrat Falls was finished with the final testing of the 1,100 km transmission line from Labrador to a station near St John's. This could in theory replace all the province’s current fossil fuel electricity. However, critics point out that the government plans to double offshore oil production by 2030, which would add significantly to emissions.

On January 17, 2020, the province had a big snowstorm called ‘Snowmageddon,’ with winds up to 134 km/h (83 mph). The cities of St. John's, Mount Pearl, Paradise, and Torbay declared a state of emergency. On January 18, 2020, Premier Dwight Ball said his request for help from the Canadian Armed Forces was approved, and soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, CFB Halifax, and CFB Gagetown arrived to help clear snow and provide emergency services. A snow avalanche hit a house in The Battery area of St. John's. St. John's mayor Danny Breen said the storm cost the city $7 million.

The COVID-19 pandemic

The province reported its first likely case of COVID-19 on March 14, 2020, and declared a public health emergency on March 18. Health orders, including closing non-essential businesses and requiring self-isolation for all travelers entering the province (including from within Canada), were put in place over the next few days.

The emergency and all COVID-related restrictions ended in February 2022. There had been 18,464 reported cases of people testing positive for the virus, including 46 deaths.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador

See also: List of unincorporated communities in Newfoundland and Labrador and List of Newfoundland and Labrador communities by population

Population

Newfoundland and Labrador had 521,758 people as of October 1, 2021. Most people live on the Avalon Peninsula, where the capital city is. The population grew again after 2006, after shrinking before that.

In early 2021, the province started a new program to bring in skilled workers, hoping to welcome 2,500 new residents each year.

Ethnicity

Main article: Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador § Ethnicity

The biggest ethnic groups in Newfoundland and Labrador are English, Irish, Scottish, French, and Mi'kmaq. Many people also say they are Canadian or Newfoundlander.

In 2013, many people applied to join the Qalipu Miꞌkmaq First Nation Band, and about 24,000 became members.

Language

Main article: Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador § Languages

Further information: Newfoundland English, Irish language in Newfoundland, and Beothuk language

In 2021, almost everyone spoke English. Some people also spoke French, Arabic, Spanish, and other languages.

Newfoundland English has special accents and ways of speaking, different from other Canadian English. It has influences from England and Ireland.

Some place names come from the Irish language. The Irish language is not spoken much anymore but is still taught. There were also speakers of Scots Gaelic and Newfoundland French in some places.

Several indigenous languages are spoken, including Mi'kmaq and Innu.

Languages of the population – mother tongue (2011)

Religion

Main article: Demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador § Religion

According to the 2021 census, most people in Newfoundland and Labrador follow Christianity, and many have no religion. Smaller groups include Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Judaism.

For many years, Newfoundland and Labrador had a tough economy. After the collapse of the cod fishery in the early 1990s, many people lost jobs and the population fell. But since the 2000s, the economy improved because of energy and resource development. Unemployment went down, the population stabilized, and the province began to do better.

Economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), exports, and employment returned in 2010 after the effects of the late-2000s recession. In 2010, investment in the province reached C$6.2 billion, a 23% increase from 2009. That year, the GDP was $28.1 billion, up from $25.0 billion in 2009.

Primary sector

See also: Petroleum industry in Canada § Newfoundland and Labrador

Oil production from offshore oil platforms helped the province’s economy a lot. The mining sector in Labrador keeps growing, with valuable ores being made.

The fishing industry is still important, with many people catching fish and shellfish. The industry also includes aquaculture.

Agriculture in Newfoundland is small but includes growing vegetables and making poultry, eggs, and dairy. Wild berries are also picked for jams and wine.

Secondary sector

Newsprint is made by a paper mill in Corner Brook. Other manufacturing includes food processing, brewing, and oil refining.

Tertiary sector

Service industries such as finance, healthcare, and public administration are the biggest part of the economy. Tourism also helps, with many visitors coming each year, especially in the summer.