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The Story of Labrador
The world's richest nickel mine at Voisey's Bay is just the latest important natural resource discovery in Labrador's history. Nine thousand years ago, in the same Voisey's Bay, the aboriginal peoples found and traded an equally choice stone, Ramah chert. "The Story of Labrador" is the story of the Innu caribou hunters, of the Inuit people of the seal, of French fishermen and Basque whalers, of traders, of absentee governors, and of the fight for life in a harshly beautiful land. It is the story of the coming of the industrial machine and the great air base at Goose Bay. It is the story of great Canadian construction the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway, the rich iron ore operations at Labrador City and Wabush, and, in its time the largest hydro project in the world, Churchill Falls. Bill Rompkey describes an emerging giant of the near north with all its racial, geographical, political, and social history. Using original research, including personal interviews, and his forty-year association with Labrador, Rompkey tells the story of Labrador's people, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike. Above all, "The Story of Labrador" is the story of Newfoundland and Labrador, two uneasy stepsisters, each with its own strong identity, trying to share a common house.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 27, 2018
"The Story of Labrador" by Bill Rompkey is a fabulous book that should be read by anyone interested in Canadian history. Labrador is a territory and federal riding on the North-East Coast in Canada. With an area of 294,330 km2 it is larger than the United Kingdom (248,532 km2) but in 2016 had a population of merely 27,197. Rompkey manages to explain in his book that Labrador is not simply an isolated and sparsely populated geographic region. Rather it is a community with a distinct social and cultural history. Published by the McGill-Queens University Press, "The Story of Labrador" is both an outstanding work of scholarship and an entertaining book for the non-academic reader.
Rompkey begins with a superb synthesis of the anthropological and archeological work on Labrador as it existed prior to permanent European settlement. In the north, the people were Inuit (formerly known as Eskimos) and in the south were Innu (formerly known as Indians). The Vikings made landings in Labrador around 1000 AD. In the 15th Century, Portuguese and Basque fisherman made summer camps in Labrador.
In 1760, the Moravian Brethren of Saxony established missions to serve the Inuit Territory. In the late 16th century, England founded the colony of Newfoundland and over the next two hundred years the Newfoundlanders would build seasonal small fishing posts in southern Labrador.
In 1809, the British Government transferred Labrador from Lower Canada to Newfoundland. Newfoundland however made no effort to govern the territory. At the beginning of the 20th century southern Labrador was administered by The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen under the leadership of Dr. Wilfrid Grenfell while the Moravian Brothers remained in charge in the North.
Things changed radically in 1934 when the colony of Newfoundland went bankrupt. Great Britain suspended Newfoundland's "responsible" government and set out to administer Newfoundland directly through the "Commission of Government". The Commission proceeded to set up Labrador's first police force. It also conducted a survey of the territory's forest and mineral resources.
In 1945, Great Britain created a National Convention to decide on the future of Newfoundland. Labrador had a single member thus for the first time acquiring political representation in Newfoundland. In 1948 Newfoundland joined Canada. In 1972 Labrador obtained its first seat in the Canadian parliament with the author Bill Rompkey being the first member Rompkey would represent Labrador in the lower house and the senate until 2011. Thus he was a participant or a close observer of all the significant political events covered in the last third of the book.
With remarkable clarity, Rompkey tells the story of Labrador's iron and nickel mines, the building of the Church Fills Hydro-Electric generating plant, the operations of the NATO air base, and the expansion of government services. He describes the growth of Innu and Inuit political organizations . Today, Labrador is represented in the Federal parliament by a person of Inuit descent which is a development that Rompkey clearly anticipated as he wrote.
It is well known that 90% of the population of Canada lives within 150 kilometres of the USA. The overwhelming majority of Canadian historical writing deals with this part of Canada. Rompkey's book is a great treasure not because it tells of Labrador but because it tells the story of Canada away from the thin ribbon of settlement on our southern border.
Rompkey begins with a superb synthesis of the anthropological and archeological work on Labrador as it existed prior to permanent European settlement. In the north, the people were Inuit (formerly known as Eskimos) and in the south were Innu (formerly known as Indians). The Vikings made landings in Labrador around 1000 AD. In the 15th Century, Portuguese and Basque fisherman made summer camps in Labrador.
In 1760, the Moravian Brethren of Saxony established missions to serve the Inuit Territory. In the late 16th century, England founded the colony of Newfoundland and over the next two hundred years the Newfoundlanders would build seasonal small fishing posts in southern Labrador.
In 1809, the British Government transferred Labrador from Lower Canada to Newfoundland. Newfoundland however made no effort to govern the territory. At the beginning of the 20th century southern Labrador was administered by The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen under the leadership of Dr. Wilfrid Grenfell while the Moravian Brothers remained in charge in the North.
Things changed radically in 1934 when the colony of Newfoundland went bankrupt. Great Britain suspended Newfoundland's "responsible" government and set out to administer Newfoundland directly through the "Commission of Government". The Commission proceeded to set up Labrador's first police force. It also conducted a survey of the territory's forest and mineral resources.
In 1945, Great Britain created a National Convention to decide on the future of Newfoundland. Labrador had a single member thus for the first time acquiring political representation in Newfoundland. In 1948 Newfoundland joined Canada. In 1972 Labrador obtained its first seat in the Canadian parliament with the author Bill Rompkey being the first member Rompkey would represent Labrador in the lower house and the senate until 2011. Thus he was a participant or a close observer of all the significant political events covered in the last third of the book.
With remarkable clarity, Rompkey tells the story of Labrador's iron and nickel mines, the building of the Church Fills Hydro-Electric generating plant, the operations of the NATO air base, and the expansion of government services. He describes the growth of Innu and Inuit political organizations . Today, Labrador is represented in the Federal parliament by a person of Inuit descent which is a development that Rompkey clearly anticipated as he wrote.
It is well known that 90% of the population of Canada lives within 150 kilometres of the USA. The overwhelming majority of Canadian historical writing deals with this part of Canada. Rompkey's book is a great treasure not because it tells of Labrador but because it tells the story of Canada away from the thin ribbon of settlement on our southern border.
March 20, 2016
I enjoyed the detail. This book took a tremendous amount of research and filled in so much of what I wanted to know.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews