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This article is about the region in Canada. For other meanings, see Labrador (disambiguation). For the dog breed, see Labrador Retriever Labrador (also Coast of Labrador) is a region of Atlantic Canada. Together with the island of Newfoundland from which it is separated by the Strait of Belle Isle, it constitutes the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The region is part of the much larger Labrador Peninsula. The population of Labrador is 27,864 (2001 census), including some 30 percent Aboriginal peoples, including Inuit, Innu, and Métis. With an area of 269,073.3 km², it is the size of New Zealand. Its former capital was Battle Harbour. The name "Labrador" is one of the oldest names of European origin in Canada, almost as old as the name "Newfoundland". It is named after Portuguese explorer João Fernandes Lavrador who, together with Pêro de Barcelos, first sighted it in 1498. Most non-Aboriginal settlement of Labrador occurred due to fishing villages, missions, and fur trading outposts; modern settlements have been created as a result of iron ore mining, hydroelectric developments, and military installations. Until modern times, difficult sea travel and lack of general transportation facilities discouraged settlement. In the 1760s, Moravian missionaries began settling, building missions and often sharing in the fur trade with the Hudson's Bay Company, which was the dominant force on the peninsula until 1870. Claims have persisted concerning the Labrador Peninsula with Quebec, although they were settled by judicial decision in 1927 by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. John James Audubon called Labrador "the most extensive and dreariest wilderness I have ever beheld"* (See Also: Creation, ISBN 1-58567-410-9.)
The Labrador boundary dispute The tortuous border between Labrador and Canada was set March 2, 1927, after a five-year trial. In 1809 Labrador had been transferred from Lower Canada to Newfoundland, but the landward boundary of Labrador had never been precisely stated. Newfoundland argued it extended to the height of land, but Canada, stressing the historical use of the term "Coasts of Labrador", argued the boundary was one statute mile (1.6 km) inland from the high-tide mark. As Canada and Newfoundland were separate countries, but both members of the British Empire, the matter was referred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (in London), which set the Labrador boundary mostly along the coastal watershed. One of Newfoundland's conditions for joining Confederation in 1949 was that this boundary be entrenched in the Canadian constitution. While this border has not been formally accepted by the Quebec government, the Henri Dorion* Commission (Commission d'étude sur l'intégrité du territoire du Québec) concluded in the early 1970s that Quebec no longer has a legal claim to Labrador. Still, Quebec government publications sometimes ignore or modify the Labrador boundary, especially the southern segment. * The province's name change to Newfoundland and Labrador was meant to emphasize its claim to Labrador, as well as Labrador's unique culture and contributions to the province. (See Newfoundland and Labrador for more details.) 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. * The Inuit self-government region of Nunatsiavut was recently created through agreements with the provincial and federal governments. Timeline Probably visited by Leif Ericson. See Markland. Demographics | ||||||||
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