Labrador

Labrador is a body of land on the easternmost coast of Canada with an area of 294,330 sq. kilometers. It forms the mainland portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, together with the island of Newfoundland from which it is separated by the Straits of Belle Isle. The population of Labrador is about 29,000 (1996), including some 30 percent aboriginal peoples, including Inuit, Innu, and Metis.

The name "Labrador" is one of the oldest names of European origin in Canada, almost as old as the name "Newfoundland". It is probably named after one of John Cabot's crewmen, a portuguese farmer or "llavrador" from the Azores, João Fernandes[?], who first sighted it in 1501.

The tortuous border between Labrador and Quebec was set March 2, 1927 after a five year trial. The Judicial Committee of England's Privy Council set the Labrador boundary as the coastal watershed. This border has never been formally accepted by the Quebec government; sometimes a different border is shown on maps. The province's name change to Newfoundland and Labrador was meant to emphasize its claim to Labrador. (See Newfoundland and Labrador for more details.)

John James Audubon called Labrador "the most extensive and dreariest wilderness I have ever beheld".

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. [1] (http://www.afn.ca/resolutions/1999/Confederacy%20Resolutions/res100.htm)

Bibliography

• "The Lure of the Labrador Wild", by Dillon Wallace ISBN 1404315373; (July 2002)
• the e-text of Dillon Wallace's The Lure Of The Labrador Wild (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1221)

Links

http://labrador.crrstv.net/ Labrador information page

A Labrador is another term for the Labrador retriever, a breed of domestic dog.