Volume 38, numéro 1, 2023 Disasters, Pandemics and Crises in Newfoundland and Labrador: Past, Present and Future

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The early twentieth century was a time of dramatic social, economic, political, demographic, and health-related change in Newfoundland and Labrador. One of the major upheavals at this time was the 1918 influenza pandemic, which led to the deaths of nearly 2,000 residents of the Dominion. In this paper we examine the short- and long-term demographic consequences of this catastrophic event. We focus on changes in the overall age and sex distribution, fertility levels, and cause-specific (for selected causes) and overall mortality before, during,and after the 1918 pandemic. Data on these demographic processes and the prevalent social conditions have been collected at The Rooms, the Digital Archives at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and other archives in the province and online. Results indicate that, although the 1918 pandemic had major impacts over the short term on fertility, mortality, and the age and sex structure, both on the island as a whole and in every region analyzed, these effects were of short duration. Long-term demographic changes occurring on the island duringthe first half of the twentieth century appear to be more related to the large-scale socio-economic changes that occurred through the long process of moving from an independent Dominion to Confederation with Canada.

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The current COVID-19 crisis emphasizes that pandemics are both biomedical phenomena and significant multifaceted historical events. The 1918–19 Influenza Pandemic, known as the “Spanish Flu,” was estimated to have killed between fifty to one hundred million people, yet historians like Alfred Crosby labelled the Spanish Flu a “forgotten” pandemic because of its absence from contemporary and academic writing. Memory of the pandemic has recently received academic attention in Pandemic Re-Awakenings (2022) though memories of thepandemic in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) were not explored in that work. This paper examines the memory of Spanish Flu in NL using both “global” and “local” perspectives and argues for the importance of applying globally recognized academic theory, methodology, and examples to local perspectives and experiences. During an era fixated on remembrance, the pandemic dead were concealed by the Great War, except members of the community who fit into heroic narratives. Without utilitarian value, the memory of the Spanish Flu was “forgotten,”an active and passive process that downplayed its impact on human society. Memory of the Spanish Flu persisted in private form and influenced the world through public health policy changes and as a precedent-setting event to be viewed in grim anticipation of future pandemics.

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The Newfoundland Airport, in what became Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, was an area of both conflict and logistics during the Second World War. The airbase served roles as both a stopping point for aircraft to be ferried from production facilities in North America to the war theatre overseas, for convoy escorts and U-boat hunting, as well as mundane deliveries of people and equipment from Canada and the United States. During the war, the airbase was very active, with thousands of aircraft using the runways, and there were aircraft lost, whichremain on the landscape around Gander. For those serving at the Newfoundland Airport, the war may have been ever-present, but at the same time distant; there was no active battle at the airbase, but there were casualties of war. Those who died were filling combat and logistical roles, and post-war rebuilding efforts. Accidents occurred due to mechanical malfunctions, the weather, and human error. Using historical records and archaeological site inventories, this paper will examine the role of this non-combatant space and advocate that the material cultureof aircraft crash sites be conceptualized within the larger context of aviation infrastructure. The result will expand our understanding of the impact and tragedy of war for the airbase at Gander, and for Newfoundland and Labrador.

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The Newfoundland Airport, later renamed the Gander International Airport, was built in 1938–39 to deliver regular flight services that supported aircraft refueling stopovers for flights travelling from New York, United States to London, United Kingdom. It is also the site of significant aviation disaster and large-scale emergency events thathave brought the world to Gander (and Gander to the world), including the Arrow Air Flight 1285 crash in 1985 and the accommodation of diverted aircraft, passengers, and crew on September 11, 2001. Since its inception, the Airport and the citizens of the subsequently developed Town of Gander have played an essential role in coordinating and delivering Disaster and Emergency Management (DEM) program services (preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery) pertaining to aviation disaster and emergency events. Over the past century, the Town of Gander and the Gander International Airport have also been the site of accumulated experiences, learnings, and developed skills from these efforts, all of which have become part of Gander’s unique history and have resulted in the establishment of comprehensive and integrated municipal and airport DEM plans critical to future responses.

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This paper considers shipwrecks as a form of disaster and studies historical shipwreck accounts to gain insights into social constructions of disaster. Theoretical debates address global inequalities in disaster experience, response, and research, and notably identify the concept of risk as a key to understanding social constructions of disaster. We analyze shipwrecks, a recurring but diverse risk, as a series of material and psychological stages that allow us to explore three facets of the social construction of shipwrecks. In the sixteenth century, Labrador whaling outfitters left shipwreck accounts that reveal how they converted the systemic risk of winter weather into an insurable natural hazard. In the seventeenth century, transatlantic fishermen blamed summer storms for their shipwreck losses, but also took responsibility as professionals for risk management and workplace security. In the eighteenth century, passengers’ accounts begin from an etic (observer) perspective and, at a certain stage of the shipwreck, shift to an emic (participant) perspective, enabling them to convert their experience into cultural capital within the emerging middle class. These facets of shipwreck accounts hold analogies for critical disaster studies, by revealing the role of social position in the perception, calculation, and cultural commodification of risk.

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This article captures key findings from a larger research project looking at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the remittance sending and receiving behaviours of im/migrants living in Newfoundland and Labrador. For this study, I interviewed 30 im/migrants from lower and middle-income countries about their pandemic experience. Through these discussions, interview participants revealed a self and home identity that spans across national borders; however, they noted that this was significantly curtailed in the face of the global fragmentation triggered by COVID-19. In response to the pandemic, im/migrants living in the province increased their sending of financial remittances and also consistently shared COVID-related guidance with friends and family living abroad (social remittances) in an effort to relieve suffering outside of the province and ultimately curb the spread of the virus.

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Drawing on first person observations, this paper explores how severe winter storms impacted the two rural island communities of Newfoundland and Iceland in January of 2020. The authors, as researchers and local community members, examine vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation as processes of community transformation in response to large-scale environmental hazards. Highlighting the significance of local knowledge and place-based worldviews, we argue that community-driven interactions are more effective than top-down approaches for hazard reduction and climate change adaptation. Our observations aim to offer broader insights for regions with similar socio-cultural and environmental contexts, underscoring how localized perspectives can foster positive transformation and strengthen adaptive capacity.