Exploring Labrador

Hans B. Neumann is a history lecturer at Scarborough College, University
of Toronto.

Residents of the “Rock” like to make sure the rest of us Canadians,
we “landlubbers,” know that Labrador belongs to Newfoundland. Proof?
Look at their automobile registration plates! They proudly proclaim:
“Newfoundland and Labrador.”

But what about Labrador? What do most of us really know about this vast
territory except as a source for a major hydroelectric dispute, and the
dispute over low-level NATO training flights. Perhaps, for some senior
citizens it is remembered as an ungodly cold and desolate place to have
been stationed during World War II to protect out coastal waters against
German submarines.

Bursey has partially filled this knowledge gap with this slim,
coffee-table book of photographs dedicated to this—arguably—least
known area of Canada. The book comprises 112 pages of color photographs
“exploring” Labrador’s landscape, wildflowers, geological
features, inhabited sites and, most spectacularly of all, waterfalls.

Not all the photographs are up to the standards one would expect to
find in such a book, but the pictures do transmit a good impression of
the diversity of Labrador’s scenery, flora, and fauna. Each photo is
accompanied by an often lengthy caption identifying or explaining the
site or scene. A one-page introduction introduces the photographs. More
helpful would have been the inclusion of a map pinpointing some of the
places depicted, especially given the unfamiliarity of most Canadians
with the territory and terrain. The book serves as a useful, if limited,
photo essay for those whose curiosity to know more about Labrador does
not extend beyond the rudimentary.