Where They Once Stood re-examines Newfoundland’s rocky journey to Confederation GlobeArts
, as it helps expand understanding of the relationship between Newfoundland and Canada. It gives lie to what the authors note was a common idea that it was “largely illiterate fisherman and outport people” who kept Newfoundland from joining Confederation in 1869 . The “ignorant and avaricious outporters” were again blamed, by many, including anti-Confederation St. John’s businessman P.E. Outerbridge, for handing Newfoundland over to Canada “as a free gift” in 1948 .
The standout fact is this: In 1869, 150 years ago, 78 per cent of voters voted in a referendum on joining Confederation, and decided to maintain their discrete North Atlantic identity and connection to Britain. Sir Stephen Hill, pro-Confederation Governor of Newfoundland at the time, felt it had been a “fatal error” to put the question to a vote.
The Second World War also changed things; Newfoundland was “included in Canada’s defence preparations” and a 1941 lease agreement to construct U.S. military bases there reinforced a long-standing relationship with the Americans. Blake and Baker show clear evidence of a journey by Newfoundland’s voters from a “political and constitutional” notion of citizenship to the more all-encompassing “social citizenship, based on economic and social as well as political rights.
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