Newfoundland and Labrador History

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THE VIKING YEARS

Records show that in 986 AD Bjarni Herjólsson from Scandinavia sailed along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Later, the Vikings founded and settled L'anse aux Meadows on the Northeast Coast of Newfoundland. It is assumed that the site was settled by another Scandinavian, Lief Ericson who sailed to North America in the 10^th century who named Newfoundland as Vinland because of the grapes growing in the area. The site was found in 1963 by a team of archaeologists from Norway. The discovery included nine buildings, all of known Norse structures, and the largest being the Great Halll, measuring 18m by 14m, containing a traditional central hearth. There was evidence of a metal worker's shop with an anvil and bits of slag and iron in the vicinity. There is a nearby iron bog deposit where ore was extracted. It is not certain that L'anse aux Meadows is Vinland but a lot of evidence points toward that conclusion.

NEWFOUNDLAND NATIVES

At the time the Europeans began their explorations, Nomadic people from the Subarctic were already living in Newfoundland and Labrador. The inhabitants of Labrador included a small number of Inuit along the northeastern coast, and two closely related Algonquin groups, the Naskapi and the Montagnais.

BEOTHUKS

European Explorers also discovered the Beothuk people in the 16^th century. There is little known about the Beothuk culture. They were a peaceful people who co-existed with the fisherman that frequented the island. Around this time the Micmac had migrated to Newfoundland from Nova Scotia and also lived peacefully in the area. However, in around 1770 the Micmac, incited by the French, began a destructive war. Some Beothuk survived on the island of Newfoundland, others fled to Labrador.

THE EUROPEANS

Towards the end of the 15th century, European nations began their quest for a northwest route to Asia, and expeditions repeatedly touched on Newfoundland. In 1472 João Vaz Corte Real, from Portugugal sailed to Newfoundland with two Scandinavians, Dietrich Pining and Hans Pothorst. However, Portugal did not follow up this voyage with another one.

In 1497, the English explorer Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) sailed to investigate what lay in the northern section of the western Atlantic. He landed on the island on June 24, 1497, the feast of St. John the Baptist. Cabot called the new land St. John's Isle in honor of the saint, and claimed it for King Henry VII of England, his patron and employer. On his return, he reported that the codfish on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland were so thick that he could scoop them up in baskets from the sides of the ship.

Following Cabot's landfall, England made no attempt at colonization, but during the 16th century the coastal waters of the island attracted increasing numbers of French, English, and Spanish fishermen. While the fishermen were exploiting the fish resources, explorers were coming to the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts. Gaspar Corte Real in 1500 and 1501; João Fernandes in 1501; Sebastian Cabot in 1509; João Alvares Fagundes in 1520; John Rut in 1527; Jacques Cartier in 1534; and John Davis in 1586.

THE ENGLISH TAKE CONTROL

In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert took formal possession of Newfoundland in the name of England. He could not make the claim hold due to the fact that the majority of the fishing boats around the island belonged to Spain. Two years later, Sir Bernard Drake established English control by destroying the Spanish fishing fleet in Newfoundland. After this only English and French ships were at Newfoundland. A colony, which became St. John's, was established in 1610 on the Avalon Peninsula.

THE SETTLEMENT OF NEWFOUNDLAND

John Guy, a merchant, brought 39 settlers to Conception Bay in 1610. Within a decade there were settlements in Cambriol, Ferryland and Renews. These communities suffered extreme hardship as they competed with the fishermen and contended with poor weather, soil and leadership. Captain John Rut of the British Navy described his visit to Newfoundland in 1527, and aboard his ship, the "Mary of Guildford", he wrote the first letter from North America to Europe and sent it home to King Henry VIII by an English ship that was returning with a load of codfish. It was at the suggestion of Captain Rut that the King commanded a West Country merchant named Bute to form a colony in Newfoundland. Bute came to St. John's in the following year and built the first permanent residence on the island. Thus the founding of the old town of St. John's can be said to date from the year 1528.

In 1634, King Charles I of Great Britain issued the Western Charter. This Charter gave the admirals of ships who came to a settlement for fishing season authority over the coastal residents. The reasoning behind this was that the fishing ships were a valuable training ground for sailors. This training would be lost if resident fisheries were allowed to develop. Also, England relied heavily on the income from fish sold all over Europe. Newfoundland's position as a base for the English fishing industry was established.

While the settlers fought the western fishers and tried to get established on Newfoundland, the oceans became filled with hostile ships. The hazards of fishing became so great that Oliver Cromwell who ruled England as lord protector from 1653 to 1668, ordered a naval escort to protect the fisheries. The naval escort was given jurisdiction over the entire island for the fishing season.

Anglo-French colonial warfare shaped the history of Newfoundland during the 1600s and 1700s. France, already well-established on the mainland of eastern Canada, began to make claims to parts of Newfoundland. In 1662, France established a fort and colony at Placentia, despite protests from British merchants and fishermen.

From that time on, the English settlers were subjected not only to the threat of French aggression, but also to Dutch raids when England went to war against the Netherlands over colonies, and the war was carried to North America. In 1665 and 1673 the Dutch plundered St. John's. After the second attack the English fortified the harbor, but they did little else to aid Newfoundland. The influence of the western-port merchants was so strong that the Western Charter was revised to more strongly favor the fishers over the settlers. By the end of the 17th century, property ownership had been restricted and settlement within 10 km (6 mi) of the sea prohibited. The English fishers, emboldened by the revisions, plundered towns and robbed the settlers at will.

FRENCH AND BRITISH CONFLICTS

The struggle for control of North America between the French and British was in part played out in Newfoundland. French forces from Placentia regularly raided outlying areas and fishing vessels.

In 1696, during King William's War, in which the British and French fought over North American colonies, French troops overran the Avalon Peninsula and burned St. John's. The British later refortified the port, but in 1708 during Queen Anne's War, it again fell to the French. From this date until the Peace of Utrecht, which ended Queen Anne's War in 1713, the French virtually controlled Newfoundland.

The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 ended a long period of raids and skirmishes by both nations, and reconfirmed British sovereignty over Newfoundland and the fishing banks, although the French retained their control of the coast between Cape Bonavista and Point Riche on the island of Newfoundland, called the French Shore.

THE GOVERNMENT

When the war ended, there were about two thousand demoralized and exploited people clinging to Newfoundland's rocky shores. There were no schools, no churches, and no law and order other than the arbitrary rule of the fishing admirals. The island had become a market for New England goods and a midway point for British sailors anxious to enter the lucrative New England trade. Both of these activities were contrary to official British policy. Thus, when Lord Vere Beauclerk, commodore of the fleet, suggested controls for Newfoundland in 1728, his recommendation found broad support as a means of suppressing the illegal trade and the exodus of able seamen. In 1729, Captain Henry Osborne became the first naval governor of Newfoundland and served until 1731. He was appointed to restore order and defeat the lawlessness that prevailed on the Island at the time. Although, Osborne was in residence only for the fishing season, he left behind justices of the peace and constables to maintain peace during the winter months, although these men had only limited authority over the fishing admirals. This was the first semblances of government in Newfoundland.

NEW BATTLES

In 1759, during the French and Indian War (part of a wider European conflict known as the Seven Years War which began in 1754), the British seized French trading posts in Labrador while the two countries fought over control of North America. Within three years, France, desperate after repeated losses, captured and held St. John's for three months. When England's victory was almost sure, Spain entered the war in 1761. Now, the British triumph was delayed, and, with the involvement of England, France, and Spain, the war lasted until 1763.

Thomas Graves was appointed Governor of Newfoundland in 1761, and served until 1763. By this commission Labrador, Anticosti, and the Magdalene Islands were placed under the Government of Newfoundland.

On February 10, 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years War by which French fishing rights, guaranteed by the Treaty of Utrecht, were reaffirmed. France's unsuccessful effort to retain a North American base influenced the peace. France transferred control of Labrador to Newfoundland's governor, but French possession of the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon was returned to France by Britain. Also at this time, Spain renounced its claims to the Newfoundland fisheries.

In 1764, a year after peace was made, Sir Hugh Palliser became naval governor. He was firmly committed to the recreation of the training ground for sailors while destroying all settlement. To this end he aided James Cook, the famed British explorer, in the first marine survey of Newfoundland and Labrador as "King's Surveyors". The next four years were devoted to a complete survey of the island and its approaches. Considering the great difficulties under which the task was carried out, the charts are remarkable in their accuracy.

In 1774, England bowed to the pressure of French business interests and gave the administration of Labrador back to Québec.

Palliser angered the French by allowing British encroachments on the island's northwestern shore, and he irritated New England fishers by banning them from the Grand Banks. The resentments he provoked were avenged by the French and Americans after the American Revolution. On September 3, 1783, by a second Treaty of Paris, Great Britain gave New England fishers unrestricted rights along Newfoundland's coasts and France benefited in that the French Shore was redefined to include the entire western coast of Newfoundland.

EXPANSION AND SETTLEMENT

In 1791, a civil court system was instituted in Newfoundland, and in the following year the island's first chief justice, John Reeves, was appointed. The power of the fishing admirals waned, as settlement slowly increased and European wars disrupted ocean shipping.

In 1807, because of problems associated with illegal fishing by Americans, England again returned control of Labrador to the Newfoundland naval governors. The only settlements in Labrador at this time were missions. The first was established at Nain in 1771 by the Moravians, and others were founded by the Anglicans after 1848. This mainland acquisition provided Newfoundland with additional fishing territory and land teeming with wildlife. It was quickly discovered that the seal and fur trades were extremely profitable. The Hudson's Bay Company became established in the area and mass migration from Europe fuelled by the new riches expanded the fishery and seal hunting trade. The expansion of the fisheries and the development of the seal-fur trade led to mass migrations from Europe, particularly from Ireland.

COLONIAL STATUS

Great Britain still regarded Newfoundland as a fishing base, not a colony. The governor, although he became a permanent resident in 1817, was still a naval officer. During the early 19th century, Dr. William Carson and Patrick Morris led a movement for representative government, which would give the people of Newfoundland governmental control instead of Great Britain. Parliament responded in 1824 by setting aside the Western Charter and authorizing a civilian governor and an appointed legislative council. Then in 1832, Parliament permitted a popularly elected assembly to sit with the council. Almost from the start there was friction between the two legislative bodies over financial control.

SELF GOVERNMENT

The legislative tensions, the lack of popular involvement, and the fact that self-controlled government had been granted to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island all contributed to the demand for Responsible Government in Newfoundland. The demand was not universal, however, and an election was held to determine Newfoundland's future. In 1854, the opposition to Responsible Government, composed of Protestant-Conservatives and led by Hugh Hoyles, was defeated by John Kent and Philip Francis Little's Catholic-Liberal coalition. In 1855, Governor Charles H. Darling proclaimed the establishment of Responsible Government, and Little became Newfoundland's first Prime Minister. Kent later succeeded him, but was dismissed in 1861, and Hoyles was called to form a new government. In the elections of that year, Hoyles received a majority of the vote, but bitter religious riots erupted. Later the political leaders agreed to draw election districts so that each religious group could gain representation in the assembly. They also agreed to make their political appointments reflect the different religious groups. The pact, although never written, soon became a tradition in Newfoundland politics.

THOUGHTS OF CONFEDERATION

During the early 1860s, Newfoundland's government considered union with the rest of Canada. Sir Ambrose Shea, a Liberal, and Sir Frederic B. T. Carter, a Conservative, were observers at the Québec Conference of 1864, where the provinces discussed the details of the union. However, at the same time, Charles Fox Bennett was forming a strong anti-confederation movement. In the 1869 election, union was overwhelmingly defeated, and Bennett formed a government. He had convinced the Newfoundlanders that ties with the mainland were not realistic because of the French Shore. Bennett was defeated by a Carter-Shea coalition in 1874, but negotiations for union with Canada were not resumed until 1895. In general, its delegates were opposed to having weak provincial governments in favour of a powerful federal one. Furthermore, some Roman Catholics and Irish nationalists saw Confederation as a North American version of the controversial Act of Union of 1801 between Ireland and Great Britain.

LABRADOR

In 1888, after being neglected for many years, interest developed in Labrador's natural resources, and its possession was disputed by Québec and Newfoundland. England's efforts to settle the dispute failed, and Newfoundland kept control of Labrador. Two notable events marked the 1890s in Labrador. In 1892, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, a missionary, arrived. His subsequent reports and books about the extreme hardships of Labrador life were responsible for the establishment of hospitals, schools, and churches. In 1895, Dr. A. P. Low, of the Geological Survey of Canada, announced the discovery of iron ore deposits in the Grand Falls (now Churchill Falls) region of the Hamilton River (now the Churchill River).

ECONOMICS AND CONFEDERATION

In the last quarter of the 19th century, Newfoundland's future appeared promising. A local railroad was under construction, copper was being mined at Tilt Cove, iron mining began on Bell Island, and fish brought high prices on the world market. Then, in the early 1890s, a series of disasters almost bankrupted the colony. In 1892 a fire destroyed most of St. John's. The cost to recover was extensive. Two years later, bank failures and a poor fishing season led to widespread destitution. Newfoundland's government then reconsidered confederation with Canada. Robert Bond headed a delegation to Ottawa in 1895, but the Canadian government, while offering generous terms, did not fulfill Newfoundland's demands, and the negotiations ended. However, in 1896 a good fishing catch and favorable world trade abruptly reversed the downward trend. Economic recovery was highlighted by the completion of the railway from Port aux Basques to St. John's in 1898.

Cabot Tower, at Signal Hill's summit, was constructed in 1897 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's landfall at North America.

Like legions before them, the captain and crew of the SS Greenland left for the annual seal hunt in the spring of 1898. But this crew were met with overwhelming tragedy. The ship, owned by Baine Johnston and Company of St. John's, left port on March 10. The weather ws perfect; clear, bright skies. On March 21, Captain George Barbour dropped off a number of crews for the hunt. Within no time a storm began brewing. Captain Barbour picked up several of the men, but the Greenland became stuck in ice and the other sealers were forced to spend the night on the field without shelter or food. When the storm subsided, the crew found no survivors and only managed to retrieve 25 bodies. In total, 48 men lost their lives on that fateful trip. On March 27, the Greenland returned to a city in mourning.

THE NEW CENTURY

After 1890, Newfoundland tried to recover the French Shore and to limit American fishing. In 1904, France gave up all its Newfoundland rights. In 1906, Québec again claimed Labrador; however, the western boundary had not yet been determined. However, the United States strongly resisted any fishing restrictions. The dispute was finally settled in 1910 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, which worked to settle international disputes. It upheld Newfoundland's right to regulate American fishing. As a result of the agreements, fishing expanded. Agriculture was subsequently introduced to what was formerly the French Shore, and the economy began to be more diversified. Iron mining expanded, a newsprint plant opened in 1909 at Grand Falls, and lumber exports assumed real economic importance.

In 1909 and later in 1932, Newfoundland tried to sell Labrador to Canada; however, Canada wasn't buying. In later years, as the extent of the iron ore reserves and other natural resources became known, Canada regretted not having taken Newfoundland up on its bargain basement price for what now would be a lucrative return on investment.

During this period Newfoundland politics became more intense when the People's Party of Sir Edward Morris and the Fishermen's Union Party of Sir William Ford Coaker contended with the Liberals and the Conservatives for control. However, World War I (1914-1918) brought temporary peace with the formation of a coalition government. The war had more profound effects on Newfoundland than the political lull. Newfoundland made substantial contributions in soldiers and decided to assume financial responsibility for its troops.

NEWFOUNDLAND SEALING DISASTER

In 1914, 78 men died on the ice during a blizzard.

FIRST TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTS

Newfoundland's location as the eastern-most part of North America made it the site of many early aviation firsts. Newfoundland was the starting point for many record-setting overseas flights because of its close proximity to Europe (3,025 kilometres), including the world's first non-stop transatlantic.

In 1919 both the Americans and the British made plans to fly between North America and Europe. The U.S. Navy chose its Navy-Curtis flying boats while the British Vickers Aircraft Company selected its "Vimy" bomber for the attempt.

The U.S. Navy aircraft were to fly by stages from Rockaway, NY to Halifax, NS to Trepassey, NF to the Azore Islands, then to Portugal and on to England. The three flying boats, NC-1, NC-3 and NC-4 left Trepassey on the evening of May 16. NC-4 arrived in the Azores the next day. The NC-1 and NC-3 were forced down in the sea by mechanical problems. The NC-4 flew to Lisbon, Portugal on May 27-28 and finally arrived in Plymouth, England on May 31,

The Vickers Vimy biplane, together with Captain John Alcock and Lieutentant Arthur Whitten Brown, its aircrew, was shipped from England to Newfoundland in May. After three weeks of preparation in St. John's the "Vimy" took off from Lester's Field, on June 14, 1919. Alcock and Brown landed at Clifden, Galway, Ireland the next day after a 1,890 nautical mile flight of 16 hours and 57 minutes. They also delivered 196 letters and one package.

For more information on these flights see:
U.S. Navy NC-4 flight (May 1919)
Alcock and Brown flight (June 1919)

By the 1920s and '30s, many other transatlantic aviators were using this province as a starting point and refuelling station. In 1924, a fleet of United States seaplanes chose Ice Tickle (Indian Harbour, Labrador) and Hawkes Bay as their landing points as they completed a round-the-world tour.

Canadian pilot, Captain J. Errol Boyd, along with his American navigator, Harry P. Connor, made the first Canadian transatlantic flight from Harbour Grace to the Scilly Isles on the southwest tip of England on October 9, 1930. The flight was made in a five-year-old, single-engine Bellanca named the Maple Leaf - not only didn't they carry a radio in order to limit the weight of the aircraft, the flight was done during autumn's hurrican season! To learn more about this flight, read Ross Smyth's book about Errol Boyd's life called The Lindbergh of Canada: The Errol Boyd Story.

Also leaving from Harbour Grace, American pilot Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic after she took off on May 20, 1932, and landed in Londonderry, Ireland, the next morning.

AFTER THE WAR

Newfoundland exports found good markets during and after the war, and the government undertook a public works program based on this new wealth. However, between 1920 and 1923, the price of fish fell drastically, and the government, burdened by military obligations and public works programs, went heavily in debt. In 1925, women received the right to vote in Newfoundland. The British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ended the Québec-Labrador dispute in 1927 with the borders of Labrador being expanded and the reaffirmation of Newfoundland's control. The area where waters flowed east became Labrador and where they flowed west became Northern Québec. By 1929, Newfoundland was recovering economically. A large pulp mill had been opened at Corner Brook, and mineral production increased when a zinc-lead-copper mine opened at Buchans.

THE DEPRESSION

By the 1930s the market for Newfoundland products had disappeared as a result of the Great Depression which deeply hurt Canada economically. The government tried to overcome the financial deficits and to stimulate production, but it finally requested British aid. The members of the 1933 royal commission, chaired by Lord Amulree, approached the Canadian Prime Minister, R.B. Bennett, in the hope that Canada might be willing to negotiate. But Bennett's government, like most others in the Depression, had its own financial problems, and did not want to take any responsibility for those of Newfoundland. The royal commission then recommended that responsible government be replaced by a commission form of government.

The commission, made up of three Newfoundlanders and three Britons, acting in cooperation with a governor, was in office from 1934 to 1949. It aided the fishing industry while instituting economic reforms; reorganized the civil service while reducing political patronage; and improved health, education, and other social services. The economy responded. But despite the commission's accomplishments, World War II (1939-1945) was a major factor in Newfoundland's recovery.

WORLD WAR II

Newfoundland's economy revived as markets for its products were reestablished and fortifications were constructed. Its strategic position in the North Atlantic made it a prime location for Canadian and United States air and naval bases, with thousands of personnel stationed here to defend this side of the North Atlantic. Early in the war Canadian troops were stationed in Newfoundland, and in 1941 the United States built bases near St. John's and at Stephenville and Argentia. Canadian bases were located at Torbay and Goose Bay, Labrador.

CONFEDERATION

By the end of the war there were surplus funds in the Newfoundland treasury. The British government decided that some form of self-government should be restored to Newfoundland. In 1946 and 1947 the possible choices were debated by an elected convention. The convention considered only a continuation of the commission or a return to Responsible Government. However, one of the convention delegates, Joseph Smallwood, proposed confederation with Canada. He influenced the British government to include union on the ballot. Though his colleagues generally outvoted him, they agreed that representatives be sent to London and Ottawa, to explore the Confederation option.

In 1948, Newfoundland held two referenda to determine its political future. In the first, the voters eliminated the commission but failed to give either union or responsible government a majority. In a second referendum, held on July 22, confederation was chosen by 52 percent of the voters. On March 31, 1949 (just before the stroke of midnight - immediately before the expiration of March 31), Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province and Smallwood became its first premier. He remained in office until 1971.

RECENT YEARS

The Newfoundland government attempted to bring the province into conformity with the other Atlantic provinces in 1963, but withdrew in the face of stiff public opposition.

During a weekly meeting of the St. John's Rotary Club, on January 25, 1979, prominent businessmen Miller Ayre and John McGrath announced the formation of the Codpeace Foundation, a satirical anti-seal organization aimed at mocking groups such as the Greenpeace Foundation. Miller and McGrath launched a widespread publicity campaign to raise awareness for what they called "the voiceless one - the noble cod." They published a humorous newsletter with pictures of the "symbolic cod family," and distributed bumper stickers and label buttons promoting the group. The duo also produced an underwater video showing seals savaging cod fish and established the Cods Hole Oceanographic Institute. And, the Codpeace Foundation is still remembered for sponsoring outlandish events such as the Presidential seal, and the kiss-a-cod contest and public kiss-off.

In November 1980, the semi submersible drilling rig, Ocean Ranger, arrives on the Grand Banks. On February 15, 1982, the oil platform capsized and sank 170 miles East of St. John’s. Despite rescue attempts, all 84 crew members aboard perished.

The iron-centered economy suffered in the recession of the 1980s and fishing declined dramatically in the early 1990s, but offshore oil deposits began production in 1997.

Until 1985, the people of western Labrador had two choices of travel: airplane or rail. They could take their vehicle on vacation, but it had to be transported by rail to the closest highway.

The first Subway restaurant in Canada opened in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1986 on Water Street.

In 1990, Provincial Airlines Limited signed its first multi-year contract with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to conduct surveillance operations off the province. Since then, the company's three Beachcraft Super King Air 200 planes have become an essential tool in cracking down on ships dumping oil and vessels fishing illegally. DFO Canada has one of the most technologically-advanced airborne surveillance programs in the world.

On February 10, 1995, the Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador announced a new approach to regional economic development when it released Community Matters: the Report of the Task Force on Community Economic Development. Governments announced support for the creation of twenty Regional Economic Development Boards for the purpose of planning and implementing regional economic development initiatives.

Newfoundland's rich flying history has also become a key focal attraction for tourists from all over the world. Since 1996, the 6,000-square-foot North Atlantic Aviation Museum in Gander has been attracting an average of 10,000 visitors each year. The museum, which is open year-round, boasts an impressive array of aviation artifacts, including North America's only Lockheed Hudson, valued at $3 million. (The Hudsons were the first military aircraft to fly the North Atlantic, when a fleet of seven took off from Gander on November 10, 1940, and landed in Aldergrove, Ireland the next day. Three thousand were initially built and only eight remain in the world.)

In recent years the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has developed major year-long tourism initiatives beginning with the 1997 Cabot 500 Celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of John Cabot's arrival in the New World. This was followed by the Soiree'99 Celebrations in 1999 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the province's confederation with Canada.

In 2000, the Province held its highly successful Vikings! 1000 Years Celebrations marking the 1000th anniversary of the Vikings discovery of North America and their landing at L'Anse aux Meadows on Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula. While each of these celebrations focussed upon specific historic events, they also created a showcase of cultural activities and heritage programs to complement visitors' experiences. Each celebration was a tremendous success, evidenced by the dramatic rise in visitation to the province since 1997.

On December 6, 2001, the provincial name was finally officially changed from 'Newfoundland' to 'Newfoundland and Labrador'.

2001 marks the 100th anniversary of the receipt of the first transatlantic wireless signal by Guglielmo Marconi on Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland. For the year 2001, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is planning celebratory activities to bring global attention to Marconi's story and accomplishments and to Newfoundland and Labrador's remarkable role in communications.

The province's Marconi celebrations, called Receiving the World, will celebrate Newfoundland and Labrador as a prime tourism destination with a host of events designed around Marconi and his contribution to our modern way of life. In addition, the Marconi celebrations will focus attention on the world of information technology with a series of activities to highlight and explore advances in wireless technology, marine communications, and other areas of the information technology sector.

The 2002 Juno Awards were broadcast live from Mile One Stadium in St. John's, NF on Sunday, April 14, 2002.

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