Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
One of Canada’s remotest provinces is the subject of the Northumberland Learning Connection series for Spring 2019 – Newfoundland and Labrador.
The subtitle of the series is The Damnedest Hullabaloo, which is how its premier Joey Smallwood referred to it.
Smallwood also referred to the province’s harsh geography, cruel history and outrageous leaders in another quote about a people who are brazenly confident, wickedly humourous and true to themselves.
“We have grown up in such an atmosphere of struggle, of adversity, of mean times that we are never surprised,” he said.
Whether you know it from those lyrically beautiful Newfoundland and Labrador commercials on television, from friends who grew up there, or maybe even seeing Come From Away, this is your chance to know it so much better through a series of talks and discussions and performances that runs from March 28 to May 3 (when a down-home kitchen party finishes things off with music and narrative).
March 28 – Politics, Patronage and Pragmatism by Russell Wangersky – 7:30 p.m. at the Columbus Community Centre (232 Spencer St. E., Cobourg)
Smallwood (and his successorss from John Crosbie to Danny Williams) are Wangersky’s subject for a look at how a big province with a small population continually hunts for political saviours.
March 29 – On The Front Lines of Climate Change, or Half An our Earlier in Newfoundland by Wangersky – 10 a.m., Port Hope Public Library (31 Queen St.)
Set out in the Atlantic Ocean, the province has winds that blow harder and waters that run higher. The change in its seas may show how close a dangerous tipping point could be.
April 4 – Getting To Confederation by Peter Neary – 7:30 p.m., the Columbus Community Centre
Hard hit by the Great Depression, Newfoundland gave up elective self-government in 1934 in favour of administration by a British-appointed commission. More than a decade later, they opted to decide their own constitutional future in two hard-fought votes that saw Smallwood take centre stage and lead it toward union with Canada.
April 5 – The Door You Came In – 7 p.m. at the Sculthorpe Theatre in the Cameco Capitol Arts Centre (20 Queen St., Port Hope)
Douglas Cameron and David MacFarlane perform the onstage story of a Newfoundland family based on MacFarlane’s family memoir The Danger Tree. The moving collaboration of song and spoken word will make the heart break and sing.
April 11 – Comedy: Its Causes and Cures by Greg Malone (of Codco fame) – 7:30 p.m., Columbus Community Centre
Comedy (from slapstick to satire) has been invoked to deal with everything from childhood trauma to death. Malone looks at how effective this approach is, using myriad comic examples focusing on Newfoundland’s relationship with Canada.
April 17 – Changing Tides: Saltwater Women by Barbara Neis – 2 p.m., Port Hope Public Library
Tradition had men catching the fish, with women splitting, salting, packing, carrying, loading and stocking them. Whereas women made up one-third of Newfoundland’s fishery workers in 1901, the figure neared 40% within 40 years. Neis discusses the challenge and opportunities of the fishery women and their bid for a voice in decision making.
April 18 – Reinventing The Fishery by Neis – 7:30 p.m., Columbus Community Centre
More than 25 years after the closure of the cod fishery, a new generation is looking for a new fishery. Neis discusses her work on the boats and in the outports looking at the vulnerability of the province’s mainstay and options for moving forward.
April 25 – House Launching and Other Tales from a Newfoundland Outport by Robert Mellin – 7:30 p.m., Port Hope Public Library
The traditional settlement pattern and architecture of the Newfoundland outport of Tilting was based on values of trust, co-operation and resourcefulness in a challenging climate. Mellin offers an intimate portrait of this Fogo Island community where he has lived for many years and the changes that have taken place in the residents’ way of life.
April 26 – The Smallwood Era: Progress and Wooden Architecture by Mellin – 10 a.m., Port Hope Public Library
Until 1972, Smallwood often pointed to modern architecture as an illustration of how his province was progressing. Mellin’s presentation looks at the innovative work of these architects in the years following Confederation and the curious atmosphere of life under a leader who controlled everything and everyone.
April 28 – The Silk Stocking Mats of Labrador by Paula Laverty – 2 p.m. at The William Academy, 135 King St. W., Cobourg
When Wilfred Grenfell set up his medial mission on the coast of Labrador, one of his projects was “industries” for fishermen’s wives. The best known is the now-sought-after hooked mats made of discarded silk stockings. Laverty, a leading world authority on Grenfell Mission mats, talks about the product, its makers, and life in old Labrador. Anyone who owns one of these treasures is invited to bring it in for Laverty’s opinion.
May 2 – The Woman Who Mapped Labrador by Dave Paddon and Karin Wells – 7:30 p.m., Columbus Community Centre
In 1905, Bewdley farm girl Mina Benson Hubbard became only the second white person to cross Labrador, completing the expedition that led to the death of her husband. Labrador-born and -raised Paddon has canoed the lake where her husband died and heard the stories surrounding the Hubbards from Indigenous guides. Wells tracked down Hubbard’s descendants in England, where she became the toast of London.
May 3 – A Newfoundland Kitchen Party with Paddon,, Christina Smith and Jean Hewson – 7 p.m. at the Cobourg Legion, 136 Orr St.
A traditional Newfoundland Kitchen Party is on, with Smith bringing her fiddle from St. John’s to join Hewson’s guitar and vocals. Paddon, a crowd favourite at story-telling and ballad-singing festivals, will also perform.
Tickets to each event are $20 (except for the ones on April 5 and May 3, which are $25).
They are available singly as well as in flexible packages of 10 (for $170) and five (for $90), which are good for admission to your choice of presentations (with April 5 and May 3 being exceptions). You can make your purchase at www.connectnlc.ca/tickets/ca
Tickets are available at the door only when the capacity of the venue permits. The seating is limited at all locations,, and purchasing advance tickets is recommended.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
