Resettlement (Newfoundland)

[3] The history and commerce of Newfoundland and Labrador was built on the fishery and thus many small communities were established throughout the entire coastal region.

The construction of paper mills in both Grand Falls and Corner Brook drew many people from coastal towns and villages.

Mineral discoveries at places such as Wabush and Labrador City, St. Lawrence, Baie Verte and Buchans also contributed to the movement of people away from the outports.

World War II also had a part to play when air force bases were built at Stephenville, Argentia and Goose Bay,[5] and the booming international airport in Gander.

The 1992 cod moratorium especially affected Newfoundland's rural outports, where the loss of an important source of income caused widespread out-migration.

It is often cited as a burden to the economy, requiring spending millions of dollars to guarantee frequent transport from communities with no more than a hundred residents.

[7] Prior to the start of the government sponsored resettlement program, many communities were abandoned for various reasons including disease, lack of work and natural disaster.

[2] In 1953 the Newfoundland Department of Welfare offered small amounts of financial assistance to residents of 110 communities to accelerate the process which had come naturally.

In 1954, the provincial Department of Welfare introduced a program to encourage residents of small coastal communities to move to larger "growth centres".

[12] Despite a community voting in favour, state-assisted relocation has been refused in some settlements, where the cost for compensation exceeds the amount saved in services cut.

The song Out From St Leonards also describes the resettlement, noting how residents left "with their houses in tow" by physically shipping buildings to their new homes.

His best-known play West Moon is set in a resettled outport, where the ghosts of the dead lament the abandonment of their home.

Newfoundland-based photographer April MacDonald has extensively documented the legacy of homes and villages abandoned by resettled Newfoundlanders.