Friday, April 13, 2012

L is for Labrador


For the information of those not from Canada, the province of Newfoundland is actually the province of “Newfoundland and Labrador”.

Newfoundland itself is an island. Labrador is attached on its western border to the province of Quebec and is known as “The Big Land” and big is probably an understatement. Labrador is referred to by its familiars as “The Labrador”.

Labrador's area is over twice that of the island of Newfoundland and it has only 6% of the province's population. The aboriginal peoples of Labrador include the Northern Inuit of Nunatsiavut, the Southern Inuit-Métis of Nunatukavut (NunatuKavut), and the Innu. The non-aboriginal population in Labrador did not permanently settle in Labrador until the natural resource developments of the 1940s and 1950s. Before the 1950s, very few non-aboriginal people lived in Labrador year round. The few European immigrants who worked seasonally for foreign merchants and brought their families were known as Settlers.


It has not been without its own troubles. The treatment of its aboriginals has long been a source of shame in Canada and the many relocations of Labrador's tribes has resulted in horrific addiction and suicides of the young when moved away from their traditional hunting grounds to enable the plundering of the rich natural resources and harnessing the water for hydro. Monetary compensation has never been the solution.

A Royal Commission in 2002 determined that there is a certain amount of public pressure from Labradorians to break off from Newfoundland and become a separate province or territory. Some of the Innu nation would have the area become a homeland for them, much as Nunavut is for the Inuit; a 1999 resolution of the Assembly of First Nations claimed Labrador as a homeland for the Innu and demanded recognition in any further constitutional negotiations regarding the region.[7] The northern Inuit self-government region of Nunatsiavut was recently created through agreements with the provincial and federal governments. The Southern Inuit of Nunatukavut (NunatuKavut), who are also seeking self-government, have their land claim before the federal government. The provincial government of Newfoundland refuses to recognize or negotiate with the Inuit of NunatuKavut until their claim has been accepted by the federal government.



Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the principal city. A name that is so beautiful. And, I would think, to some of its inhabitants, sadly ironic.

The Dictionary of Newfoundland English devotes 5 pages to all things Labradorian. Everyone is familiar with the dog, of course, but there are other animals and birds with the prefix too: ducks, porcupines, jumping mouse (!), sable, and white fox to name a few. Labrador tea is a tea made from low lying evergreen shrubs.

A beautiful song, composed many years ago, praises the Women of Labrador. Unfortunately my interwebz connection is appalling this last week so I can't link to a YouTube of it but here are some of the lyrics:




Today's post, brought to you by the letter L, begun here

11 comments:

  1. This is the link to Pamela Morgan singing Woman of Labrador http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SZcqWCvJ18&feature=relmfu

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  2. Over here, we are familiar with Labrador for the retriever which is a very popular house pet. I have had experiences with two and very pleasant ones at that.

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  3. Here is a link to a wiki article about a relatively unknown event that happened in Labrador during WWII.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Station_Kurt

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  4. It seems like the original inhabitants got the short end of the stick like everywhere else settlers from Europe moved in. That's something we ought to be ashamed about and that we are even behaving that way now is terrible. It seems so obvious what is the right thing to do. We have to give back those people their dignity and self rule. That's just from a Western European's point of view. I'm my own aboriginal and my ancestors have always lived in this place. I couldn't imagine being usurped and displaced.

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  5. I can't play it GM as my interwebz has been impossible.
    And thanks for the link for everyone!
    XO
    WWW

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  6. Ramana - a man of excellent canine discriminatory taste obviously!
    XO
    WWW

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  7. Well GFB:
    thanks for this:
    Weather Station Kurt (Wetter-Funkgerät Land-26) was an Automatic weather station, erected by a German U-boat crew in Northern Labrador, Newfoundland in October 1943. This was the only armed German military operation on land in North America during the Second World War.

    I never knew of this!
    XO
    WWW

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  8. Irene:
    Well for me it is very close to home as my ancestors were all murdered apart from a a 12 year old and their lands stolen so I have enormous empathy for the indigenous peoples of the world.
    XO
    WWW

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  9. The Inuit also live in Northern Japan.Interesting how they populate the whole Northern Region as Aboriginal.
    Kate
    A to Z Visit http://solidhappiness.blogspot.com/

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  10. Kate:
    Well thanks for that, I didn't know that!!
    XO
    WWW

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  11. Thank you very much for this useful article. I like it. article about Mastiffs

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