The impact of the Grenfell Mission on southeastern Labrador communities

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Kennedy, John C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1988
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Newfoundland; Canada; Labrador region; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400009153; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400009153

Abstract During the late 19th and early 20th centuries British medical missionary Wilfred Grenfell created a mission in northern Newfoundland and Labrador, now part of eastern Canada. The Grenfell Mission's approach to health, educational, agricultural and industrial development are described and its impact on the southeastern Labrador region is examined. The mission changed the region's settlement pattern and economy by creating centralized mission communities: however, its failure to generate sustained economic alternatives to fishing and trapping inadvertently paved the way for the economic dependency still characteristic of the region. The Grenfell case confirms the need for viable development scenarios and for meaningful local participation in community development.