Let’s test your geography knowledge. We all know Canada shares a border — a very long border — with the United States. After the U.S., though, which two countries are closest to Canada? This is a tricky one.
That would be Denmark (courtesy of Greenland) and France (courtesy of St-Pierre et Miquelon). What? France? Yeah, France still has two little islands off the coast of Newfoundland. They have some cows and stuff, I think. If you travel to these islands, you’ll find Euros in use and hear a kind of French we don’t have in Canada. It’s a bit of the Old World in the New.
Speaking of Newfoundland … that’s pretty much a foreign country in itself. Newfoundland didn’t become part of Canada until 1949, and its combination of geographic and cultural isolation and its rich history make it a very, very different part of Canada. When Cabot first sighted the coast of Newfoundland (in 1497, the “discovery” of Canada), he found Basques fishing its waters; people were coming for centuries before Columbus. The site at L’anse aux Meadows is the first confirmed Viking settlement in North America, dating to the 10th century.
I have a long-standing fascination with the province, even though I’ve never visited it. The music, the lifestyle, the sea … these are things you don’t experience in the rest of Canada. Not the same way.
It’s the people. They’re a unique breed, more European than North American. Some communities on Newfoundland are more than 500 years old, fishing villages clinging to the rocky coast with the kind of tenacity bred through salt-lashed centuries of hard work and hard play.
Their accents are like nothing else you’ll ever hear. I have a Newfoundlander friend from one of those little communities, and his accent gets more and more back home the longer the night wears on. I could listen to this guy read the phone book aloud. These accents were featured in at least one big-budget movie: The Shipping News.
When Annie Proulx’s novel was first being adapted for the screen, John Travolta was attached and wanted to move the action from Newfoundland to Maine. That never happened, thankfully — it would be like someone adapting Dune, but moving it to Texas and making it into a Western. Lasse Helmstrom’s film, starring Kevin Spacey, is flawed, and ultimately fails, but it does capture Newfoundland wonderfully. It makes me want to visit that much more.
Canada’s a big place. It’s diverse. I was born in the Okanagan Valley, a temperate part of British Columbia where snow rarely falls and vinyards yield superior wines. I grew up on the rugged north shore of Lake Superior, where winter comes in September and blasts through to May. I’ve lived on the prairies and in the mountains, but never on the sea.
Someday.
Meanwhile, I should mention the jokes. “Newfie” jokes are a long Canadian tradition, the sort of thing that would be about Poles or blondes or whoever. You know what I mean. I won’t repeat any of them, and I won’t use the word, even though every Newfoundlander I’ve ever known has used it. It’s their word, and I’ll let them take it back. The jokes are based on the idea that Newfoundlanders are backward and stupid, but nothing could be further from the truth. The ones I’ve met are quick-thinking, adaptable and tough as granite, both physically and mentally.
Every country, I suppose, has a region that stands apart, alone, different, whether by choice or by chance. In diverse Canada, we’re lucky enough to have a place that’s like nowhere else on Earth. It’s beautiful, it’s rare and it’s exciting, even if it is kind of close to France.
– Kennedy, Starbase 66
