Canada, War and Independent Newfoundland, 1914–1949

Abstract

This article addresses the impact of war on Newfoundland, including Labrador, while Newfoundland was independent from Canada, and the role of war in the eventual addition of Newfoundland as a province of Canada in 1949. Newfoundland’s small and scattered population meant that it was never a particularly prosperous place, although the railway embodied the hope of the existence of a real future. Locally, some fishing premises and farms performed well, but there was a pervasive opinion, expressed in the degree of outmigration, that one could not do well in the territory. Its leadership went through a number of changes, from responsible government with an elected assembly in 1855 to Commission of Government in the 1930s and 1940s. But the overriding issue was the Canadian Confederation of 1867, and here the Confederates had an overall advantage, given the Canadian welfare state of the late 1940s. After a referendum following the Second World War, Newfoundland joined the union as the tenth province on 30 March 1949.