Newfoundland and Labrador (French: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; Montagnais: Akamassiss; Newfoundland Irish: Talamh an Éisc agus Labradar) is the most easterly province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it comprises the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador to the northwest, with a combined area of 405,212 square kilometres (156,500 sq mi). In 2013, the province's population was estimated at 526,702. About 92% of the province's population lives on the island of Newfoundland (and its neighbouring smaller islands), of whom more than half live on the Avalon Peninsula.

The province is Canada's most linguistically homogeneous, with 97.6% of residents reporting English (Newfoundland English) as their mother tongue in the 2006 census. Historically, Newfoundland was also home to unique varieties of French and Irish, as well as the extinct Beothuk language. In Labrador, the indigenous languages Innu-aimun and Inuktitut are also spoken.

Newfoundland and Labrador's capital and largest city, St. John's, is Canada's 20th-largest census metropolitan area and is home to almost 40 percent of the province's population. St. John's is the seat of government, home to the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the highest court in the jurisdiction, the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal.

Demonym	Newfoundlander Labradorian (Labradurian)
Capital	St. John's
Official Motto	"Quaerite prime regnum Dei" [Latin] (Seek ye first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33))
Official Flag
Official Language(s)	English
Approximate Size	Total: 156,453 sq mi (405,212 km2) Land: 144,353 sq mi (373,872 km2) Water: 12,100 sq mi (31,340 km2) 7.7%
Population	528,336 (2016)
Currency	Canadian Dollar (CAD $)
Drives	On the Right
International Dialing Code	+1
Sports	Newfoundland and Labrador has a somewhat different sports culture from the rest of Canada, owing in part to its long history separate from the rest of Canada and under British rule. Ice hockey, however, remains popular; a minor league professional team called the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL plays at the Mile One Centre in St. John's since the 2018-19 season. The area had an intermittent American Hockey League presence with the St. John's Maple Leafs then St. John's IceCaps until 2017, and the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League has teams around the island. Since the departure of the St. John's Fog Devils in 2008, Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province in Canada to not have a team in the major junior Canadian Hockey League (should one ever join it would be placed in the QMJHL, which hosted the Fog Devils and has jurisdiction over Atlantic Canada). Association football (soccer) and rugby union are both more popular in Newfoundland and Labrador than the rest of Canada in general. Soccer is hosted at King George V Park, a 6,000-seat stadium built as Newfoundland's national stadium during the time as an independent dominion. Swilers Rugby Park is home of the Swilers RFC rugby union club, as well as The Rock, one of the four regional teams in the Canadian Rugby Championship. Other sports facilities in Newfoundland and Labrador include Pepsi Centre, an indoor arena in Corner Brook; Shamrock Field, Canada's national Gaelic Games venue in St. John's; and St. Patrick's Park, a baseball park in St. John's. Gridiron football, be it either American or Canadian, is almost nonexistent; it is the only Canadian province other than Prince Edward Island to have never hosted a Canadian Football League or Canadian Interuniversity Sport game, and it was not until 2013 that the province saw its first amateur teams form. Cricket was once a popular sport. The earliest mention is in the Newfoundland Mercantile Journal, Thursday September 16, 1824, indicating that the St. John’s Cricket Club was an established club at this time. The St. John’s Cricket club was one of the first cricket clubs in North America. Other centres were at Harbour Grace, Twillingate, and Trinity. The heyday of the game was the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, at which time there was league in St. John’s, as well as an interschool tournament. John Shannon Munn is Newfoundland's most famous cricketer, having represented Oxford University. After the first World War, cricket declined in popularity and was replaced by soccer and baseball. However, with the arrival of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, cricket is once again gaining interest in the province.
Area Facts	What is the climate like in Newfoundland and Labrador? Newfoundland and Labrador has a wide range of climates and weather, due to its geography. The island of Newfoundland spans 5 degrees of latitude, comparable to the Great Lakes. The province has been divided into six climate types, but broadly Newfoundland has a cool summer subtype of a humid continental climate, which is greatly influenced by the sea since no part of the island is more than 100 km (62 mi) from the ocean. Northern Labrador is classified as a polar tundra climate, southern Labrador has a subarctic climate. Monthly average temperatures, rainfall and snowfall for four places are shown in the attached graphs. St. John's represents the east coast, Gander the interior of the island, Corner Brook the west coast of the island and Wabush the interior of Labrador. Climate data for 56 places in the province is available from Environment Canada. The data for the graphs is the average over thirty years. Error bars on the temperature graph indicate the range of daytime highs and night time lows. Snowfall is the total amount that fell during the month, not the amount accumulated on the ground. This distinction is particularly important for St. John's, where a heavy snowfall can be followed by rain, so that no snow remains on the ground. Surface water temperatures on the Atlantic side reach a summer average of 12 °C (54 °F) inshore and 9 °C (48 °F) offshore to winter lows of -1 °C (30 °F) inshore and 2 °C (36 °F) offshore. Sea temperatures on the west coast are warmer than Atlantic side by 1 to 3 °C (1 to 5 °F). The sea keeps winter temperatures slightly higher and summer temperatures a little lower on the coast than inland. The maritime climate produces more variable weather, ample precipitation in a variety of forms, greater humidity, lower visibility, more clouds, less sunshine, and higher winds than a continental climate. What is agriculture like in Newfoundland and Labrador? Agriculture in Newfoundland is limited to areas south of St. John's, Cormack, Wooddale, areas near Musgravetown and in the Codroy Valley. potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, carrots and cabbage are grown for local consumption. Poultry and eggs are also produced. Wild blueberries, partridgeberries (lingonberries) and bakeapples (cloudberries) are harvested commercially and used in jams and wine making. Dairy production is another huge part of the Newfoundland Agriculture Industry. What is Music like in Newfoundland and Labrador? Newfoundland and Labrador has a folk musical heritage based on the Irish, English and Scottish traditions that were brought to its shores centuries ago. Though similar in its Celtic influence to neighbouring Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador are more Irish than Scottish, and have more elements imported from English and French music than those provinces. Much of the region's music focuses on the strong seafaring tradition in the area, and includes sea shanties and other sailing songs. Some modern traditional musicians include Great Big Sea, The Ennis Sisters, The Dardanelles, Ron Hynes, and Jim Payne. The Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra began in St John's in 1962 as a 20-piece string orchestra known as the St. John's Orchestra. Principals from this form a string quartet which performs regularly. A school of music at Memorial University schedules a variety of concerts and has a chamber orchestra and jazz band. Two members of its faculty, Nancy Dahn on violin and Timothy Steeves on piano, perform as Duo Concertante and are responsible for establishing an annual music festival in August, the Tuckamore Festival. Both the school of music and Opera on the Avalon produce operatic works. Memorial's Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place, houses Memorial's graduate program in ethnomusicology. A leading institution for research in ethnomusicology, the Centre offers academic lectures, scholarly residencies, conferences, symposia, and outreach activities to the province on music and culture.

Posted By Gremelin Posted on January 19th, 2017 · Updated on July 14th, 2020

Return to the Region "Canada"
Return to the Hardiness Zone Index