CANADIAN RELOCATION
NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR PROFILE

Newfoundland & Labrador: In 2013, the province's population was estimated at 526,702.[4] Approximately 92 percent of the province's population lives on the island of Newfoundland (including its associated smaller islands), of which more than half live on the Avalon Peninsula. Area: 156,649 square miles (405,720 square km).

The Strait of Belle Isle separates the island of Newfoundland to the south from mainland Labrador, which is bounded by Quebec to the west and south and constitutes nearly three-quarters of the province's total area. The position of Newfoundland gives it strategic importance in transportation and communication between North America and Europe. The capital is St. John's.

In 1949 the people of Newfoundland voted to enter the Canadian Union. Newfoundland island and Labrador are separate physiographic regions. The island is geologically part of the Appalachian chain of North America, while Labrador is part of the Canadian Shield.

In general, the province has cold but not severe winters (with the exception of northern Labrador, which is subarctic) and warm to cool summers. It is hit by numerous midlatitude storms, however, that move across Canada and up the Atlantic seaboard, and there are frequent, dense fogs over the Grand Banks and along the south and southeastern portion of the coast.

Newfoundland's people are an extremely homogeneous group. About 95 percent of them are of British and Irish origin, while fewer than 3 percent are of French extraction. The three largest religious denominations are Roman Catholic, Anglican, and the United Church of Canada.

Fishing in the Grand Banks, mainly for cod, was virtually the only industry in Newfoundland until the beginning of the 20th century, when the exploitation of western Labrador's vast iron reserves made mining the major industry. A forestry industry also arose beginning in the late 19th century.

Newfoundland's fisheries, although surpassed by mining and forestry as sources of provincial wealth, remain the largest employers of labour and continue to constitute the main economic base for the coastal villages and towns.

Traditionally, the fishing industry was inshore, and the fish were prepared for the market by small, family-run facilities. Today the catch is taken in offshore waters by modern trawlers and is fresh-frozen in large plants located along the coast. In the late 20th century, however, the depletion of the northern cod stock had a negative impact on the province's economy.

The province has a single rail line that carries freight from Labrador to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Newfoundland Island is well connected by roads, but most of Labrador is still without them. The island is linked to mainland Canada by car and passenger ferries. Several airlines serve the province.

The enormous hydroelectric-power resources of the province have been of great importance to Newfoundland's industrial development. Churchill Falls (Labrador) is the site of one of the world's greatest hydroelectric developments, supplying power to Quebec and indirectly to the northeastern United States.

The constitution of Newfoundland is based on the British North America Act of 1867. It provides for a lieutenant governor, appointed by Canada's governor-general and representing the crown, and an elected assembly, the leader of the majority party becomes premier and selects the executive council from the assembly.

Newfoundland's isolation helped perpetuate sectarianism in the province's schools. In 1969 the Canadian federal government consolidated and integrated Newfoundland's school districts. Compulsory primary and secondary education is free in the public schools to grade 11.

There are also nondenominational vocational, technical, and trade schools operated by the provincial government. The Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, founded 1925, has become one of Canada's larger universities.

As a result of the province's comparative isolation, 17th-century West Country speech and other British dialects are still preserved in Newfoundland. There is an immense body of folk music and folk tales that has been preserved by storytellers and bards.

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