The Story of Labrador

Christopher English is a professor of history at Memorial University of
Newfoundland and the author of A Cautious Beginning: The Emergence of
Newfoundland’s Supreme Court of Judicature in 1791–92.

This short, readable, anecdotal impressionistic survey makes no claim to
rival its immediate predecessor, Labrador, W.G. Gosling’s large volume
of documents and commentary published in 1910. It appeals to a different
readership and is informed by Rompkey’s personal experience of
Labrador as a teacher, educational administrator, member of Parliament,
and senator over four decades. While the book is predominantly
descriptive in its presentation of topics and occasionally resembles a
shopping list, its author has read the relevant secondary literature and
has his facts right. He is an enthusiastic practitioner of family
history, drawing our attention to the descendants of pioneers introduced
earlier into his narrative (useful fodder for a visiting politician
seeking re-election). His themes, when they surface, are passionately
framed and reiterated: the historical, cultural, and economic divide
that separates Labrador from the island of Newfoundland and that has led
to the capital treating the mainland portion of the province in the same
unfeeling and imperialistic way that islanders themselves complain they
were treated by the British before 1949; the huge economic contribution
and potential of Labrador’s natural resources (formerly cod, now
minerals and hydroelectric power), and the stripping of their benefits
by the province and a series of homegrown and international
entrepreneurs; and the sorry tale of missed opportunities for more
caring and just policies toward our Aboriginal predecessors, the Inuit,
Innu, and Métis. On these items the author provides a text that is all
the more readable for being passionately argued.

So, this is a short book that engages in well-intentioned boosterism
and eschews a critical edge. It will be a pity if it imparts an air of
resigned acceptance that probably Labrador’s history could not have
been any different. It will achieve its goals if it informs readers
about an overlooked region of Canada and inspires a reassessment of
policies that have contributed to the neglect of Labrador’s people and
the marginalization of its Native communities.