U-BOATS 449

U- 190 being brought to St. John 's, after surrender at Bay Bulls

U-BOATS. The appearance of the German submarine, commonly called aU-boat (Unterseeboot), as a naval weapon in the North Atlantic during World War I and World War II had not only military but also psycho­logical and social ramifications for Newfoundland. Militarily, Newfoundland's exposed mid-Atlantic lo­cation, its traditional lack of defences, and its strategic significance for the Allied war effort made it vulnera­ble to U-boat raids. Psychologically, the U-boat sym­bolized the ubiquity, surreptitiousness and immorality of the enemy and enemy agents. It nurtured persistent rumours of spying, sabotage and landings. By fuelling the spy fever, the U-boat scare also had social conse­quences; it induced in local society the stigmatization, arrest and expulsion of a range of innocent suspects.

Long declassified government records reveal that in neither world war did U-boats intend to attack New­foundland or to invade any part of the Island. Their objective in 1917-18 and in 1941-44 was to break Britain ' s maritime blockade of Germany and to para­lyze the Allied w~r effort by sinking merchant vessels to prevent supplies from reaching the British Isles . Since the Allied supply routes and convoys from Can­ada and the United States passed by the Newfoundland Banks, Newfoundland witnessed some U-boat activity off its shores, and there were some losses of New­foundland vessels and lives.

In World War I, initial limits in range and underwa­ter endurance kept U-boats from staging attacks in the western North Atlantic until 1917. The only long­range U -boats capable of reaching North America by 1918 were Germany ' s six submarine freighters , refit­ted in 1917 for combat use. With their limited speed and uncertain diving performance, these lightly-built U-cruisers were difficult to manoeuvre and hence un­suited to operations in shallow waters, against con­voys or in areas near an even moderately patrolled coast. The first combat U-boat to pass through the Newfoundland Banks on a friendly visit to the neutral

United States was U-53 in October 1916. (On its re­turn trip it sank five Allied vessels near Nantucket after their crews had abandoned ship, including the Newfoundland sealing vessel Stephana qv, with the tacit approval of American warships).

U-boat warfare did not come to Newfoundland wa­ters until August 1918 when two refitted U-cruisers (U-117 and U-156) staged raids against small vessels on and near the Grand Banks. On August 20, 1918, U-156 captured the Canadian steam trawler Triumph some 30 miles south-southeast of Cape Canso, Nova Scotia, and then sent its crew ashore, armed and manned the trawler and used it as a decoy to capture 23 small vessels . These vessels were sunk after their crews were ordered to abandon ship. Before heading home, U-156 sank two more vessels, including the Newfoundland-chartered SS Eric 70 miles west and south of St. Pierre. U -117, after scuttling nine Amer­ican schooners on Georges Bank, sank two Canadian schooners some 140 miles southeast of Cape Spear on August 30, 1918. Their crews, the German war diary notes, turned out to be German-speaking fishermen from Nova Scotia. In most cases the U-boat crews were doing their best to avoid loss of life and, as the St. John's Evening Telegram (Sept. 2, 1918) acknowl­edged with regard to the Eric, gave the schoonermen "the very best and kindest treatment" before being cast adrift.

From the beginning of World War I, the news of the U-boat warfare around the British Isles inspired appre­hensions in Newfoundland that Germans might use a sheltered bay as a refuelling station and a base to inter­cept transatlantic commerce. The U-boat scare was fu­elled both by the entry of the United States into the war in April 191 7 and by Canadian apprehensions that a victorious Germany could take possession ofNewfound­land. The Newfoundland government tightened press censorship and alerted officials as well as the public to watch the coastline for anything suspicious. The

450 U-BOATS

submarine paranoia reached a climax when the Home Defence Committee decided that from June 15 to Oc­tober 30, 1917 the harbour of St. John's would be closed at night by a boom, the harbour leading lights and the lights at Fort Amherst at the harbour entrance would be extinguished and the city darkened.

In this atmosphere, local rumours had it that the U-boat captains (alleged to include such former St. John's residents as German-born Otto Oppelt qv) had special knowledge of local waters and secret contacts, or received information from spies ashore. Resident enemy aliens inevitably began to loom large as sus­pects and scapegoats. Envisioned as informers about the movements of British shipping and as contacts enabling submarines to extend operations to Canadian waters, all 21 nationals of enemy alien origin resident in Newfoundland were arrested and interned in re­sponse to the submarine scares following the sinking of the Lusitania off the Irish coast in May 1915. In October 1915 the internees were sent to Canadian camps. In December 1916 even the Moravian mission­ary Karl Filschke from the remote, mostly icebound, northern station of Killinek, Labrador was suspected of aiding enemy raiders in the North Atlantic, and was deported with his wife and three children to an intern­ment camp in Britain. The hunt for suspects was then extended to everyone with the remotest enemy con­nection, resulting in the expulsion of even American and Canadian visitors associated with German origin or culture.

When World War II broke out U-boats obeyed -with few exceptions - an order from Hitler not to breach the American security zone (beginning in the mid-Atlantic at 26 degrees west) until the United States entered the war. In March 1942, U -boats carried the war into Newfoundland waters when U-587 and U-158 in pursuit of a convoy during operation Paukenschlag fired three torpedoes against the rocks at the opening of St. John's harbour. This was fol­lowed by two raids on ships berthed at Bell Island in September (U-513) and November 1942 (U-518) re­sulting in the loss of four ore ships and 69 lives. A torpedo from U-518 missed the anchored SS Fly­ingdale and hit the Scotia loading pier instead, caus­ing considerable damage and shaking the whole of Bell Island. On October 13, 1942, U-69 sank the rail­way ferry Caribou qv off Port aux Basques, with 137 fatalities. The U-boat commander, according to his logbook, had incorrectly identified the ferry as a pas­senger freighter three times larger than her actual size and hence may have mistaken her for a troop carrier.

The raids on boats off Bell Island and the sinking of the Caribou made U-boats appear a formidable threat to Newfoundland. In reality, German naval strategies attached a surprisingly low priority to Newfoundland, and U-boat commanders disliked operating in the wa­ters near the Island. The tragic Bell Island and Cari­bou sinkings were by U-boats whose destinations were the Strait of Bell Isle and Chesapeake Bay. As the Battle of the Atlantic reached its peak with the

destruction of 56 U-boats in April-May 1943, U-boats avoided the heavily RCAF-patrolled Newfoundland coastal corridors altogether. The only subsequent U­boat contact with Newfoundland territory was on the remote northern tip of Labrador near Cape Chidley, where on October 22, 1943 the crew of a partially disabled U-537 placed a battery-powered automatic weather recording device. According to the U-boat's log it transmitted data for only two weeks. Despite countless wartime tales of submarine sightings from Newfoundland outports and towns, of German sailors appearing everywhere, and even of U-boats flying through the air (as one local resident reported to the Flag Officer, Newfoundland Force) only one sighting from shore after 1942 can be confirmed. That involved U-190, which had surrendered on May 11, 1945 to the Canadian corvettes Thorlock and Victoriaville 5 00 miles east of Cape Race. (Only three weeks before U-190 had sunk HMCS Esquimalt off Halifax with the loss of 22 lives). With most of its crew of 54 trans­ferred to the Canadian corvettes, U -190 was taken to Bay Bulls, Newfoundland, where it arrived on May 14, 1945. Stories that issues of recent Halifax newspa­pers, ticket stubs from local movie theatres, and bags from a St. John's bakery were discovered by the Cana­dian officers who first boarded the U-boat have been exposed as false.

The German crew were taken to Halifax on May 16 for interrogations and imprisonment, and U-190 was brought into St. John's harbour for display. There, newsmen and photographers were given an opportu­nity to inspect it. This 1944 state-of-the-art schnorkel­equipped type IXC U-boat had an unprecedented operational range because it could remain underwater for several weeks. In October 194 7 the RCN scuttled the inoperable U-boat at the spot where it had sunk the Esquimalt. In 1994 the U-l90's periscope and black surrender flag were still on display at the *Crow's Nest Officers Club qv in St. John's.

The World War II U-boat scare led to a repetition of the World War I pattern of penalizing innocent resi­dents for suspected U-boat contacts. After the press called for official action against all enemy aliens, "re­gardless of their being naturalized", the government interned 34 (25 German and 9 Italian). Packed to­gether in a hastily improvised "concentration camp" (as it was locally known) at Quidi Vidi Lake, they were deported to Canadian camps in January 1941, where three of them died.

For Newfoundland's few remaining resident enemy aliens and suspects there were neither facilities nor need for internment. Just as effective as internment and less costly were close police surveillance, restriction of their movements, and deportation whenever expedient. Even the half dozen Jewish refugees on the Island were sus­pected of contacting U-boats and spying. For those stig­matized and treated as enemy aliens and suspects the sudden hostility shown by former hospitable hosts spelled social ostracism and economic ruin. In a closed rural society with no place to hide, this was equivalent to

internment. Although the apprehensions of World War I and World War II U-boat landings proved as un­founded as the widespread allegations of spying, the legend of local residents of German-speaking back­ground communicating with U-boats and acting as spies and saboteurs has survived to 1994. Indeed, in more than one way the U-boat experience has become part of the rich store of Newfoundland folklore . G.P. Bassler (1988), Jack Fitzgerald (1985; 1989), Norman Freidman (1984), Michael J. Hadley (1985), Hadley and Sarty ( 1991 ), Gunther Hessler ( 1989), Eileen (Hunt) Houlihan (NQ, Apr. 1994), Dan van der Vat (1988), DN, ET, Archives. GERHARD P. BASSLER

UDELL, JANICE SUZANNE ( 1954- ) . Artist. Born St. John's. Educated Prince of Wales Collegiate; Col­lege of Trades and Technology; Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Udell was encouraged to take a commercial art course at trade school ( 1971-72), and from 1973 to 1978 attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. After teaching school for a year, she moved to Toronto where she began to "unlearn" what she had been taught about art concepts and concen­trated on the basics of drawing. She had her first exhibition in 1981, at the ELCA London Gallery in Montreal. In 1984 she began a three-year stay at St. Michaels, on the Southern Shore - an experience that had a lasting influence on her art. Back in St. John's in 1988, Udell continued to produce painstakingly cross­hatched drawings. Eventually she branched out into pastels, also adding subtle hand-colouring to her pencil drawings and producing some lithographs. In 1992 and 1993 she worked with master printer George Maslov.

Udell is best known for surrealistic drawings, metic­ulously shaded. Her pieces often reflect a female ele­ment and at the same time strive to communicate on a spiritual level. In 1987 she produced a series of ex­pressive colour pieces, which explored movement and gesture, for the Human Form Exhibition. Solo exhibi-

UNEMPLOYMENT 451

tions by Udell include a show at MUN Art Gallery in 1983, when she showed 24 graphite-on-paper works. In 1985 she exhibited at Contemporary Graphics and in 1991 at Christina Parker Fine Art. In addition, her work has appeared in several group shows. Pieces of Udell's work have been acquired by the Canada Coun­cil Art Bank, the MUN Permanent Collection and the Seagram's Corporation. Janice Udell (interviews, 1987-1992), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (Janice Udell), DNLB (1990). JAMES WADE

UMIAKS. Umiaks are traditional open, flat-bottomed boats used by the Inuit. They were used in summer to transport families and goods and in late autumn to hunt whales. Built on a driftwood frame, the umiak was cov­ered with the skins of bearded seals, with about seven skins needed for a boat of 30 feet. Blunt on the bow and stern, the umiak could carry up to 20 people with baggage and dogs. When travelling, women rowed the umiaks with long, wooden oars, sometimes hoisting a square sail on a single mast. On hunting trips men used lighter, single­bladed paddles and a wooden rudder. European-style wooden boats were more commonly in use after the Moravian missionaries came. Between 1861 and 1876 the number of traditional umiaks in use between Nain and Hebron decreased from 14 to 4. In 1920, there was only one umiak in use on the Labrador coast, at Killinek. J. Garth Taylor (1984). ACB

UNEMPLOYMENT. Literally, unemployment refers to being out of work. However, as redefined by gov­ernment and social scientists the word refers specific­ally to the number or percentage of the labour force who are available for and actively seeking work, or who are on temporary layoff. By this definition the numbers of unemployed are established according to weekly labour market surveys of those who are "of­fering their labour" and showing evidence of such. The statistical definition of unemployment has been

St. John 's longshoremen waiting for work, early 1950s

452 UNGAVA

developed in association with government programs of unemployment insurance (or U.l.)- government ben­efit payments financed by employer, employee and federal government contributions.

In 1994 rates of unemployment in Newfoundland and Labrador were the highest of any province of Canada (in excess of 20% and usually approaching twice the rate for the country as a whole). Meanwhile, estimates of the "real" unemployment rate (that is those who were literally, rather than statistically, un­employed) were as high as 50% of the labour force. Since the 1960s unemployment in Canada generally has been on the increase, giving rise to speculation that the country (like the rest of the world) is experi­encing "structural" unemployment.

In Newfoundland and Labrador unemployment as a symptom of an underdeveloped economy has been a paramount concern for more than I 00 years. As the local labour market has been unable to absorb the natural increase in population, there has been an ongo­ing concern that Newfoundlanders cannot thrive (or perhaps even survive) as a people as long as a signifi­cant proportion of the labour force is obliged either to leave to seek work or to accept social assistance. Added to this problem has been mounting nationwide concern that U .I., originally designed for industrial workers temporarily out of work, has been used as an income supplement for low-paid seasonal workers (with Newfoundland fishermen being perhaps the ex­ample most often cited nationally). Critics have stated that this system actually discourages a number of peo­ple from engaging in productive work and thus con­tributes to increased unemployment. David G. Alexander (1983), Building on Our Strengths (1986), Historical Statistics of Newfoundland and Labrador (1970), Newfoundland Royal Commission 1933 Re­port (1933), Report of the Royal Commission on the Economic State and Prospects of Newfoundland and Labrador (1967), TCE (1988). RHC

UNGAVA. The 1115-ton Ungava was one of several large steel steamships added to the Newfoundland sealing fleet between the two world wars. Commanded by William C. Winsor qv under the houseflag of Job Bros. & Co., it made its first voyage to the ice in 1928 and brought in 27,531 pelts (the biggest catch that spring). Between 1928 and 1940 the Ungava went to the ice 12 times, with either Winsor or Peter Carter qv as master, bringing back 335,375 pelts. In the fall of 1943, en route from Botwood to Virginia with a load of paper, the ship went ashore near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. According to John O'Toole, the ship's wireless operator, it was under Panamanian registry at the time. There was no loss of life, but the stranded steamer was categorized as a "destructive total loss" with a salvage cost of $250,000. It was sold ''as is where is," refloated, repaired and renamed Bunting II. The crew was discharged, with the exception of O'Toole, who was retained until the end of the year.

Chafe's Sealing Book (1989), Centre for Newfound­land Studies ( Ungava). ILB

UNION FORUM. This quarterly organ of the New­foundland Fishermen, Food and Allied Workers Union (NFFAW) began in November 1970 with Mike Martin qv as editor. Due to financial restrictions, it ceased publication after only four issues. In May 1977 another publication of the same name was created to fill the same need, this time as a regular monthly publication with Earle McCurdy qv as editor. There was a hiatus in publication from May-June 1980 until July 1981 -when Neil Murray qv took over as editor - and an­other from 1985 until July 1987, when several more issues were published.

The Union Forum functioned as a vehicle to com­municate union policy to NFFAW members, as well as such basic information as details of contract settle­ments, facts and figures about organizing efforts, de­tails about upcoming meetings or seminars, explanations of government programs and policies, and to comment on government policies and any gen­eral social issues that affected the membership of the union in particular, and the people of Newfoundland in general. The paper was funded through membership dues, and distributed free of charge to all union mem­bers . In addition to its basic focus, it contained letters to the editor, inshore fishery reports, articles on the history of the union and recipes; later issues contained messages from the president and secretary-treasurer, a column by Ray Guy qv, an occasional article on New­foundland music and Nova Scotia union and fishery

t(r 11 ----\ ~~(A~' " '09:; N

news. In 1992 another official newspaper of the Fish­ermen, Food and Allied Workers was conceived, the Union Advocate, with Lana Payne as editor. Union Advocate (1992-1993, passim) , Union Forum (1970-1987, passim). ILB

UNION JACK. See FLAGS.

UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS. See RUSSIA.

UNION PARTY. See FISHERMEN'S PROTECTIVE UNION; POLITICAL PARTIES.

UNION TRADING COMPANY. See FISHERMEN'S UNION TRADING COMPANY.

UNIONS. Newfoundland's first unions were formed by skilled journeymen in the early nineteenth century. They began as mutual benefit societies, but gradually began to bargain with employers on behalf of their members. With membership generally confined to workers of a particular occupation, these early trade unions developed almost exclusively in St. John's and rarely included unskilled labourers. By the end of the nineteenth century industrial diversification resulted in the growth of industrial unions, which organized

UNIONS 453

skilled and unskilled workers according to particular industries. The more exclusive trade unions continued to dominate the Newfoundland labour movement until the organization of most workers in the fishery in the 1960s and 1970s. While economic problems have weakened private-sector unions, the post-Confedera­tion expansion of government services has resulted in the growth of strong unions of public employees.

Although independent artisans engaged in mari­time and non-maritime trades in eighteenth-century Newfoundland, few hired many journeymen. This was the result of limited local supplies of industrial inputs, the high cost of imports in competition with readily available supplies of British manufactures and a labour market dominated by the fishery. Car­penters, however, were an exception. Building was a site-specific, labour-intensive activity that required hired labour, and builders' employees were the first to form unions, In 1799, journeymen working on a Church of England church in St. John's united to stop work for better wages. Another union of car­penters stopped work the next year to raise wages on a job contracted by Dr. John Macurdy, a St. John's landlord. The Supreme Court ordered the arrest of these carpenters , and declared their unions illegal combinations.

M.P. Gibbs qv addressing a Labour Day gathering in the early 1900s

454 UNIONS

In the next two decades other skilled workers formed more institutionalized unions. At first there were few journeymen in any trade to support a craft­specific union. When cooper Lawrence Barron formed a *Mechanics' Society qv in 1827 it was composed of a variety of tradesmen. The Society concentrated on collecting dues to provide members with insurance against unemployment, illness and funeral expenses. As their numbers grew, some journeymen formed unions specific to their own trades and organized by craft skills. Tailors, joiners, typographers, coopers, shipwrights and seal skinners all organized their own unions, which provided mutual benefits and tried to keep wages up by limiting the number of workers competing for jobs.

St. John's manufacturing grew in the late nineteenth century, producing a wide variety of marine capital goods, consumer goods and services. Workers in these industries soon organized, and began to strike for higher wages, shorter hours, union recognition and safer work­ing conditions. These unions also opposed wage reduc­tions and the use of non-union labour. In 1893 the St. John's unions attempted to form a Workingmen's Union of Newfoundland. This was to be a council of all trade unions, which would act as a lobby group to secure government legislation to remove legal impediments to unionization, fight for higher wages, provide mutual benefits and promote government policies which would encourage St. John's manufacturing develop­ment. The Workingmen's Union did not last long, probably because of the economic instability associ­ated with the 1894 bank crash. In 1897 the Mechanics' Society united all trade unions into one central body to pressure government for tariffs, which would encour­age manufacturing in the city. Collective bargaining was not on the Society agenda, and many of its mem­bers drifted away as the economy improved by 1900.

Starting in 1900 dynamic new unions developed in specific industrial sectors. These include the New. foundland *Industrial Workers' Association (NIWA) qv in the railways and dockyards, the *Longshore­men's Protective Union (LSPU) qv in the port trades and the *Fishermen's Protective Union (FPU) qv in the fishery. In the forestry and mining sectors, where industrial ownership was more concentrated and hostile to organized labour, unions were weaker, with more divisions between skilled and unskilled workers.

During World War I specific war-related concerns of workers about merchant-profiteering, inflation and lack of regulation of the economy resulted in unprece­dented concerted union action - particularly during the railway strikes of 1918. Post-war recession, how­ever, undercut the union movement. With the begin­ning of the Great Depression in the 1920s many St. John's unions virtually disappeared. By 1933 only 7000 Newfoundlanders belonged to unions: 2000 in unions of skilled workers in the pulp and paper indus­try, 2400 in the LSPU, the remainder belonging to St. John's trade unions, miners' unions, and railway trade unions such as the International Association of Ma­chinists (lAM) and the International Brotherhood of Carmen (IBC).

Attempts by the pulp and paper and railway compa­nies to cut wages during the Depression led to union revitalization. Wage cutbacks and abysmal working conditions for loggers led to the first concerted orga­nization of loggers - in the Newfoundland *Lumbermen's Association (NLA) qv. Building on the experience of the NIWA and the international unions of mechanics already functioning in the industry, Wal­ter Sparks qv contacted the International Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, Freight Handlers and Station Em­ployees (BRC) about organizing local clerical staff in

A Labour Day parade in the 1930s

reaction to threatened lay-offs by the Newfoundland railway. In 1935 he signed up 80% of the railway's clerks, and received a BRC charter. Workers in the dockyards and repair shops followed the clerks' exam­ple by joining the lAM and IBC. The Newfoundland Federation of *Labour (NFL) qv began in the 1930s under the leadership of Alphonsus Duggan. Duggan had previously helped to organ~ze Local 63 of the pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers in Grand Falls. A Local 63 dispute with the Commission of Govern­ment in 1935 reinforced Duggan's belief that individ­ual unions required a Newfoundland federation to bolster their influence. With the support of Ron Fahey and F.A.F. Lush qqv of the lAM in St. John's, Duggan organized the pulp and paper unions, the railway brotherhoods and the Buchans miners' union to meet at Grand Falls in 1936 to prepare for a founding con­vention in 1937. He proposed that the new Newfound­land Trades and Labour Council (renamed the NFL by 1938) model itself after the Canadian Trades and Lab­our Congress. The new NTLC wanted local unions to be more committed to it than to the American Federa­tion of Labour, the international affiliate of most of its members. Opting for a Newfoundland-first approach to union organization, the NTLC used a mild, reform­ist advocacy of workers' interests with employers and government. Duggan became the first president of the NTLC, while the rest of the executive came from the pulp and paper unions, the railway unions and the Buchans miners' union. Besides promoting the organi­zation of workers, the NTLC promised to fight for a five-day, 40-hour work week, the abolition of child labour, an improved Workmen's Compensation Act, the creation of a pension plan for government employ­ees and improved inspection of mines. The NTLC publicly denied that any foreign influence, such as that of the AFL or the more radical Congress of Indus­trial Organizations (CIO), lay behind its work or that it supported socialism.

In the late 1930s seven NTLC leaders - Sparks, Fahey, Lush, Irving Fogwill qv, Alexander Piercey, Frank Fogwill qv and Eleazer Davis - organized St. John's workers, with the hope of stimulating a New­foundland \Inion drive. Between 193 7 and 193 8 they organized or rejuvenated 15 unions, and added 4000 new members to the NTLC. Among these were retail and office clerks, carpenters, plumbers, pipefitters, metal workers, barbers; and workers in the clothing, food, beverage, tobacco and cordage industries. The NTLC unionized city council workers, telephone op­erators, electricians with the Avalon Telephone Com­pany and city printers. They also unionized shop workers in Grand Falls, Corner Brook, Botwood and Bishop's Falls. Three existing St. John's unions affili­ated with the NTLC: the Coopers' Union, the Bakery Workers' Protective Union and the International Boot and Shoe Workers' Union.

World War II reinforced NFL moderation. The NFL cooperated fully with government and employers for the sake of the war effort. The threat of economic

UNIONS 455

disruption by labour unrest, particularly in the pulp and paper industry, led the Commission of Govern­ment to establish a Trade Dispute Board and a Strikes and Lockouts Board to impose settlements on unions and employers in the event of an impasse in collective bargaining. These boards gave the NFL and its affili­ates the opportunity to acquire collective bargaining experience without the threat of a strike or lockout. The absence oflabour disruption to the war effort, and the maturing of an industrial relations process, en­hanced the reputation of organized labour throughout Newfoundland.

While employers and government appreciated NFL moderation, many workers became frustrated with an apparent lack of commitment to ensuring that wages kept pace with war-induced inflation. Unorganized workers in the construction trades were further upset by the fact that the Commission of Government discour­aged pay for base construction for Newfoundland work­ers equivalent to that given Americans or Canadians. In 1944 the NFL reasserted itself through a new organiza­tional drive. With few financial resources of its own, and unwilling to depend on AFL assistance, the NFL could do little for unorganized workers. Construction workers, enlisting the aid of Harold Horwood qv, formed their own union. Faced with workers ready to go it alone without NFL support, the federation raised the fees. for its members and hired Horwood as a full-time orgamzer in 1945. Horwood approached his new job with zeal, and an activism which, although successful in unionizing labourers at the Argentia base (with Greg Power qv), fish-plant workers at Burin and many of those still with­out representation in St. John's, antagonized the moder­ate NFL. The federation suspended Horwood as a troublemaker in 1947.

The NFL remained committed to moderate union­ism, but was not without resolve in its support of its members. In 1948, with the LSPU, it supported a suc­cessful strike by railway workers. But the politics of the day encouraged the NFL to adopt a more moderate stance with regard to government. While the union movement took no clear stand on confederation, J.R.

Executive of the Labourers a nd General Workers' Union. Harold and Charlie Horwood are seated at centre.

456 UNIONS

Smallwood's willingness to court their support in the first provincial election impressed the NFL. Small­wood promised to pass legislation favourable to lab­our, and his first cabinet included a minister of labour: Charlie Hallam qv, a former president of the NFL.

Along with a Labour Relations Act, in 1950 the Smallwood government gave the NFL the Trade Union, Minimum Wage and Workmen's Compensation acts. There was also labour representation on govern­ment committees. The NFL accepted Newfoundland's integration with Canada, and affiliated with the Cana­dian TLC and AFL. The NFL preferred the moderation of the TLC-AFL to the more activist industrial union­ism of the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL). The CCL had been searching for affiliates in Newfound­land since 194 7, and pursued a CIO-style of unionism which emphasized organizing all workers in an indus­try without regard for skill, as well as a more militant defense of workers' interests. Although not dominated by communists (as its detractors suggested), the CCL initially tolerated leaders from many political persua­sions as long as they put the interests of their member­ship first. The advantage of its industrial unionist approach became clear when it organized the occupa­tionally diverse workers in the new airport town of Gander. Nonetheless, the NFL preferred the TLC. Through its Canadian regional director Philip Cutler and local organizer Cyril Strong qv, the TLC provided NFL unions with organizational and bargaining assis­tance. By the mid-1950s the NFL was at its zenith, but its accommodation and courtship of the Smallwood government was to present the labour movement with a significant challenge.

Smallwood feared that his government's conces­sions had made the labour movement so strong that it would deter foreign capital investment. However, the NFL's AFL-affiliated members in the pulp and paper industry had not proved a significant problem; for they organized skilled workers, while less-skilled log­gers constituted the bulk of the mills' labour force . The union of loggers who supplied the Anglo-New­foundland Development Corporation (A.N.D. Co.) mill at Grand Falls (the NLA, under Joe Thompson qv) had secured better pay for its members, but it never gained the support of the mill unions and enjoyed no unity with loggers' organizations in other parts of the Province. Although the NLA had affiliated with the NFL, the merger of the TLC and CCL into the Cana­dian Labour Congress in 1956 opened up the NLA to the competing claims of the craft-based United Broth­erhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBCJ) and the CIO-influenced International Woodworkers of Amer­ica (IWA). Thompson, weary after a frustrating career, was apparently open to either organization, depending on which made him the best job offer. Such an offer came from the UBCJ, a union whose more conserva­tive attitude to labour relations also found favour with the A.N.D. Co. Smallwood also favoured the UBCJ, as the IWA in Canada was known to support the Cooper­ative Commonwealth Federation. He also did not want

to jeopardize relations with the paper companies. However the loggers chose the IWA, and the leader­ship of H. Landon Ladd qv, at the 1956 convention of the NLA. Despite determined opposition from Thomp­son and the A.N.D. Co., between 1957 and 1958 the IWA built great popular support and won a certifica­tion vote. The IWA's first efforts at collective bargain­ing produced moderate demands which, despite some modifications accepted by the IWA, were recom­mended by a conciliation board. In 1959 A.N.D. Co. intransigence led to a bitter strike.

The company argued that improved wages and con­ditions for loggers would ruin the mills, and this led to the mill unions' abandoning of the IWA. Ladd had done little to court local union support, and this main­land arrogance angered Newfoundland unionists such as NFL president Frank Chafe. Premier Smallwood joined the fray by playing on the "nationalist" issue, claiming that the IWA were foreign communist agita­tors out to derail the tradition of moderation in the Newfoundland labour movement. He offered instead a government union: the Newfoundland Brotherhood of Wood Workers (NBWW), to be led by Liberal MHA and Newfoundland Federation of Fishermen general secretary C. Max Lane qv. A violent confrontation at a Badger picket line, which resulted in the death of Constable William Moss qv, added to growing hyste­ria. Police arrested many of the strikers and Small­wood introduced legislation which outlawed the IWA, established the NBWW, and prohibited boycotts and sympathetic strikes. The government later handed the NBWW over to the UBCJ. While this legislation earned the Province Canadian and international cen­sure, the Smallwood government subsequently em­braced a general anti-union stance. This was in part because the NFL, despite IWA insensitivity to the local situation, with the exception of the Grand Falls unions had stood behind the loggers. The IWA pres­ence in Newfoundland ended, and the labour move­ment declined in the face of government hostility. In 1958, 73 unions with a membership of over 22,000 belonged to the NFL, but by 1961 the number had dropped to 61 unions with just over 12,000 members.

Through the 1960s and 1970s the decline of New­foundland manufacturing and the replacement of local retailers by international chain stores led to the further erosion of private-sector unionism. While unions in the mining and forestry sectors continued to be im­portant, developments in ·the civil service and fishery dominated the era. The post-Confederation expansion of federal, provincial and municipal services resulted in the expansion of a wide variety of employment by government. Government workers ranged from the staff who cleaned and maintained public buildings and roads to the technicians, nurses, teachers and social workers who provided the bulk of Newfoundland's health, educational and social services. By the 1980s unions representing these workers were the largest in Newfoundland outside of the fishery, and included the Newfoundland Association of *Public Employees

The FPU.flag

(NAPE) qv, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Newfoundland Nurses' Union and the Newfoundland *Teachers' Association (NTA) qv. Although many of these organizations began as professional organiza­tions resistant to unionization, the hostile labour rela­tions climate of the late Smallwood years brought them around to the principles of collective bargaining. The divided levels of government service and variety of government occupations have made concerted ac­tion by public-sector unions difficult, but in the 1980s and 1990s cutbacks associated with deficit reduction have led to alliances between NAPE and CUPE.

THE FISHERY. Although there were early collective actions by sealers (1832, 1842 and 1902) it was not until the organization of the FPU in 1908 that union­ization came to the fishery. The FPU enjoyed its strongest support among northeast coast trap fisher­men, who worked together periodically in the Labra­dor fishery , sealing and logging. Although superficially influenced by William Coaker's qv knowledge of socialism, the FPU was primarily a pro­ducer cooperative of inshore fishermen, rather than a union interested in collective bargaining. The FPU concentrated its activity on eliminating merchants as middlemen in the marketing of fish and on organizing politically to secure reforms which benefited the out­ports. The FPU's most important accomplishment in the economy was the establishment of the *Fishermen's Union Trading Company qv (UTC). Be­tween 1911 and 1919, the UTC used direct ordering and bulk buying on behalf of local FPU councils to become a major player in the fish trade. Coaker organ­ized a Union party to contest elections and fight for better regulation of the fishery. While he enjoyed po­litical success, becoming Minister of Fisheries in 1919, Coaker was unable to overcome mercantile hos­tility which undercut regulations he introduced for the fishery. This, in combination with membership disillu­sionment over his support of conscription during World War I, led to Coaker's resignation. The FPU

UNIONS 457

faltered as market conditions for fish worsened through the 1920s.

The FPU did not have an easy relationship with the labour movement. Although Coaker fought for legisla­tive reform which would benefit workers as well as fishermen, he disliked trade-union support of manu­facturing tariffs, which, he argued, indirectly taxed fishing families. Through the 1930s, the FPU fought the NLA for the right to represent loggers, and concen­trated more on merchant trade through the UTC. In the 1950s, AFL organizer Cyril Strong remembered the FPU as a vociferous opponent of his attempts to orga­nize the employees of merchant firms in the Bona vista area, and in 1959 Max Haines of the FPU supported the formation of the NBWW to oppose the IWA.

Although no union as such had represented most fishermen since the demise of the FPU, the coming of the fresh/frozen fish plants and the development of larger offshore vessels through the 1950s and 1960s led to plant-worker requests to the CLC for organiza­tion. While it had issued charters to some plant locals in the 1940s and 1950s, the first concerted CLC re­sponse came in 1968 when the Amalgamated Meat­Cutters and Butcher Workmen (AMCBW) became interested in Newfoundland after they absorbed the United Packinghouse Workers of America, a union that received jurisdiction over Newfoundland from the CLC in 1967. Two years later, fishermen at Port au Choix decided to form their own Northern *Fishermen's Union qv, and chose Father Desmond McGrath and Richard Cashin qqv to establish it on a provincial basis. McGrath and Cashin secured interna­tional support by bringing the NFU into the Canadian Food and Allied Workers Union (CFAWU), the Cana­dian branch of the AMCBW, as the Newfoundland *Fishermen, Food and Allied Workers Union (NFFAWU) qv. The NFFAWU established its creden­tials by winning a strike in 1971 at Burgeo, and has since represented Newfoundland plant workers and inshore and offshore fishermen. In the mid-1980s, when the CFAWU came under the control of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Cashin led the NFFAWU out of the UFCW to form an alliance with the Canadian Auto Workers Union.

RAILWAYS AND THE NIWA. Government and mer­cantile industrial diversification policies in the late nineteenth century created conditions which de­manded a new approach to labour organization besides trade unions. The development of industrial staple in­dustries in forestry and mining, and the railways which serviced them, depended not only on skilled workers, but also on large numbers of semi-skilled and unskilled workers who, although previously over­looked by craft unions, now worked for the same em­ployers.

The *Reid Newfoundland Company qv was one such employer, and was a determined opponent of unions . Metal workers belonging to the lAM, to strengthen their position with the company, determined

458 UNIONS

Members of the LSPU on strike

to bring all Reid employees into one industry-wide union. In 1917 they organized the NIWA, reinforced by general worker concerns that wages were not keep­ing pace with wartime inflation. Beginning with only 35 members, by 1918 the NIWA had spread its organi­zation along the railway lines to Reid workers else­where in Newfoundland and built a membership of 3500- 2800 of them in St. John's. The NIWA also began to organize workers not employed by the Reids, and advocated political reform to benefit all workers. In 1918, failed negotiations with the Reids resulted in a strike made successful by an unprecedented unity between the NIWA, the LSPU and the Truckmen's Protective Union. The NIWA also fought a successful strike on behalf of workers at Port aux Basques, and strikes on behalf of women in St. John's. The Reids decided that it was more prudent to accommodate the NIWA through a joint management-union committee, and thereafter the NIWA became much more moder­ate. The narrow base of the NIWA in the industrial enclave of the St. John's railway yards and dockyards, however, meant that it could not survive the layoffs and reorganization of the industry which accompanied the Reid Company's collapse in the wake of post-war recession.

THE LSPU. The increasing importance of St. John's, enhanced by local manufacturing, railway, and dock­yard development, provided a better base for the longshoremen's union. The shipment of perishable goods meant that shippers could not withstand long work stoppages, and this was the source of the LSPU's great strength. The variety of workers such as steve­dores, fish packers, barrowmen, cullers, stowers and helpers who worked on the docks meant that workers needed a union not limited by a narrow craft- or occu­pational base. In 1902 and 1903 work stoppages for higher wages resulted in the workers' founding of the Steamboat Labourers' Union. As the LSPU, in 1904 this union came to include all dock labourers. The concentration of labour on the docks, and employer reluctance to face strikes meant that the LSPU could

build a strong and disciplined organization. The LSPU flourished, and was well known for the support it gave other workers who were trying to establish unions. However, it was only as strong as the port of St. John's. By the 1970s the city's decline as a manufac­turing centre, consequent decline of shipping in the port, and the rise of mechanized, less labour-inten­sive container shipping, had contributed to the LSPU's decline.

MINING. The concentration of ownership in the min­ing industry produced unfavourable conditions for unionization. This is particularly evident in the case of Bell Island, where first the British Empire Steel Cor­poration (BESCO), and later Dominion Steel Corpora­tion (DOSCO) opposed union development. The Bell Island mines faced their first strike in 1896. In 1900, a further strike for better wages and against layoffs re­sulted in workers organizing the Wabana Workmen and Labourers' Union, which dissolved after a strike settlement in which government used police to support the mine operator. In 1922, miners formed the Wabana Mine Workers' Union (WMWU), which affiliated with the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. It faced a large, well-financed, government­supported corporation which used labour spies and intimidation to thwart the union. A strike at the mine in 1925 resulted in BESCO's threatening to close it unless workers accepted a pay cut. Workers acqui­esced when BESCO closed a Cape Breton mine where workers were making similar demands. In 1926 the WMWU collapsed. It was revived by D.l. (Nish) Jack­man qv in 1941_, affiliated with the NFL in 1944 and became a local of the United Steel Workers of America in 1948. The union avoided strikes when possible. It disappeared with the closure of the Bell Island mines in the late 1960s.

Miners at the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) operation at Buchans worked in an even more closed company town. ASARCO began mining in 1927, and its workers formed an independent union. By 1941 they formed an indus­trial union, the Buchans Workmen's Protective Union (BWPU), which was successful in a strike for higher wages. In 1945 the few electricians at AS­ARCO formed a local of the International Brother­hood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). Feeling neglected in the BWPU, miners left in 1954 to form the Miners' Protective Union, which went on strike in 1955 without the support of the IBEW or BWPU. In 1956 workers from the MPU and BWPU joined Local 5457 of the United Steelworkers of America, and their former unions disbanded. While Local 5457 struck successfully for wage increases in 1971 and 1973, the closure of the mines in 1979 almost destroyed the local. By 1982 only 12 employees were left to be represented. So desperate were Buchans miners to work that they agreed to return to an at­tempted barite operation without a contract. This bar­ite mine closed in 1984.

From the mid-1960s miners and other workers em­ployed by the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOCC) and Wabush mines in Labrador west were organized into locals of the United Steel Workers of America. The Steelworkers' union struck IOCC in Labrador City in 1969, 1972 and 1978 and Wabush Mines in 1975. Having also organized asbestos miners at Baie Verte, by the 1980s the Steel Workers were among the most influential unions in the NFL.

PULP AND PAPER. Workers in the pulp and paper industry also faced large, well organized and well fi­nanced corporate employers. Unlike the situation in railways, sharp divisions existed between skilled workers (at first recruited largely from Canada and housed in model company towns) and unskilled log­gers recruited largely from outports. In 1910, soon after the A.N.D. Co. opened its mill at Grand Falls, skilled Canadian papermakers there formed an exclu­sive Local 88 of the International Brotherhood of Papermakers. Other millworkers joined the Interna­tional Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers. Papermakers at Corner Brook joined Local 242 of the IBP in 1925, and other mill workers joined the IBPSPMW.

Mill workers saw loggers as seasonal, low-paid workers whose attempts at organization threatened their own jobs (although Duggan of the Grand Falls IBP had helped Joe Thompson organize loggers in the 1930s to form the Newfoundland Lumbermen's Association). The NLA did what it could to secure better wages for loggers, but the dispersed nature of logging, the combination of subcontracting and di­rect employment by the paper companies and juris­dictional disputes with the FPU limited the effectiveness of the NLA. By 1938, loggers in the Corner Brook and Deer Lake areas had seceded to form the Newfoundland Labourers' Union and the Workers Central Protective Union. These divisions between loggers and skilled mill workers aggra­vated the IWA crisis of 1959.

WOMEN. While many of the unions organized women, they faced special problems. Social norms disadvantaged Newfoundland women in the work­place, especially outside of the fishery. Society ac­cepted the view that the daughters of workingclass families should find work to help out their families, but assumed that employment would not continue past marriage. While many women continued to work most did so only until they married. As unskilled workers, women received wages lower than men. Few women formed their own unions: their limited careers de­prived them of the necessary experience. In 1918 the NIWA did have a Ladies' Branch, organized by Julia Salter Earle qv. It drew members from women in man­ufacturing throughout St. John's, and fought for shorter hours, higher wages and better working condi­tions. It was turning to the organization of retail work­ers when the post-war recession destroyed the entire NIWA.

UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA 459

From 1925 to 193 7 almost no unions represented working women in Newfoundland. Between 1937 and 1938 Walter Sparks, in connection with the organiza­tion drive of the NTLC, organized the Newfoundland Association of Shop and Office Employees. Forty per cent of this union's membership were women. Its first vice-president was Amelia Fogwill. NTLC affiliates which represented bakers, beverage, confectionary, tobacco, telephone and cordage workers all had pri­marily female constituents. While organization slowed during World War II, in 1948 women working at Job Brothers' southside freezer plant formed a union. Led by Jessie Earle, these women (who pre­pared fish and berries for freezing) organized to se­cure better wages, working conditions and breaks; and against sexual harassment. With LSPU support, the women formed the Ladies' Cold Storage Workers Union, and chose Earle as their first president. But there appears to have been little significant unioniza­tion of women until the rise of the NFFAWU in the 1960s. A female labour force dominated many of the fish plants organized by that union. Women also com­prise a significant part of the membership of public service unions, such as NAPE and CUPE, but more particularly the NTA and the Newfoundland Nurses' Union. Public sector unions face great difficulties in trying to ensure that working women are treated the same as men on such questions as pay equity.

In 1994 the Newfoundland labour movement was plagued by high unemployment, global economic re­structuring, government deficit reduction and the cri­sis of depleted fish stocks. Unemployment undermines unions in areas such as the auto and build­ing trades, where unemployed tradespeople offer their services "under the table" to the detriment of those working in union shops. Fear of being laid off has encouraged other workers to reject unionization. Lay­offs, wage freezes or rollbacks were common experi­ence for unions in the mining and forestry sectors, as mines and mills replaced labour with technology as part of their corporate restructuring. Government 'downsizing' in education, health care and social ser­vices also threatened collective bargaining for public sector unions. Finally, blame for the disappearance of cod has been laid by inshore and offshore fishermen on each other, intensifying structural divisions be­tween them and plant workers in the Fishermen, Food and Allied Workers' Union. Briton Cooper Busch (1984), Sean Cadigan (1993),.Jessie Chisholm (1990), Robert H. Cuff(1980; 1986), Nancy Forrestell (1987), Bill Gillespie ( 1986), Robert Greenwood (1984 ), John L. Joy (1977), Gregory S. Kealey (1986), Bryan D. Palmer (1992), P.M. Park (1992), Ian McDonald (1987), Peter Mcinnis (1987; 1990), Peter Narvaez (1986), Barbara Neis (1980), Cyril Strong (1987), Duff Sutherland ( 1988), Gail Weir (1989), Derek Yet­man (1974). SEAN T. CADIGAN

UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA. The United Church of Canada was created as a legal entity by an Act of

460 UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA

United Church at Jackson's Cove, Green Bay

the Parliament of Canada in 1924. It was formally instituted as a religious communion at a mass gather­ing in the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto on June 10, 1925. It thus became, and still remains, the largest Protestant denomination in Canada.

The movement towards union of the chief evangeli­cal denominations in Canada (the Congregationalist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches) began more than a quarter of a century earlier. The initial impulse towards union originated with the Presbyterian Gen­eral Assembly of 1899. Encouraged by the overtures of that denomination, the General Conference of the Methodist Church in 1902 passed a resolution sup­porting "a measure of organic unity wide enough to embrace all the evangelical denominations in Canada" -which, of course, included Newfoundland, though not yet a province. By 1904 the three churches had united in affirming their conviction that organic union was both desirable and practicable. It took another two decades of meetings and negotiations, debates and bal­lots, and often heated altercations, before a workable plan (The Basis of Union) acceptable to the three ne­gotiating bodies was at last achieved. Even then -ironically, in view of the source of the initial move­ment toward union - when a general vote was taken a third of the Presbyterian congregations refused to join, including those in St. John's, Harbour Grace and Grand Falls. The congregation in Corner Brook did, however, join the new Church. The small Congrega­tional enclave in Newfoundland also chose to hold aloof, until, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, it was absorbed partly by the Presbyterian and partly by the United Church. As a consequence, when the necessary act of the Newfoundland Legislature was passed in May 1926, incorporating the United Church under Newfoundland law, reference was made only to the former Methodist Church.

Mainly because of its conservatism in both ideology and practice, the Methodist Church in Newfoundland was generally opposed to Union, although from the beginning the larger, mainly urban congregations strongly supported the concept. Consequently, when

in 1923 the final vote was taken of all Methodist congregations, boards and clergy, Newfoundland Methodists voted three to one against church union, the only Conference (of the 11 into which the national Church was divided) to deliver a negative verdict. There was, however, no schism and on June 10, 1925 the Methodist Church in Newfoundland became part of the new United Church of Canada. Indeed, there were some congregations, in St. John's for example, that marked the historic event with mass rallies and celebratory services.

The Methodist Conference in Newfoundland brought into the United Church in 1925 some 75,000 adherents. These were located in 78 circuits or pasto­ral charges, embracing approximately 250 individual preaching places, served by 40 ordained ministers, 22 probationers, and 17 lay pastors. By comparison, in 1994 the Newfoundland and Labrador Conference of the United Church embraced approximately 100,000 adherents, 88 circuits, 254 congregations, served by 73 ordained ministers and 33 lay preachers.

In the United Church the term conference has both a geographical and a political denotation . Geographi­cally it refers to an area designated as such by the General Council (the national assembly) of the Church, and embracing all pastoral charges therein, whose representatives, ministerial and lay, are re­quired to meet in general session at least once a year. This last specification indicates the political denota­tion of the term, the annual assembly itself, meeting for legislative, policy-making, reporting and review­ing purposes, also being designated a Conference. In

Bonavista

this Province the geographical Conference coincides with the provincial boundaries. One primary function of the Conference (as an assembly) is to provide, through its elected commissioners to the biennial ses­sions of General Council and its elected representa­tives to its various administrative divisions (e.g. Division of Mission, Division of World Outreach), liaison between the local and the national Church.

The chief administrative officer of Conference is its elected president, who both presides over Conference sessions, directing, overseeing and advising as needed, and represents it as titular head and spokes­person in the public domain. Since the United Church operates as an egalitarian democracy, its clergy and its laity, male and female, are equally eligible to hold any of its offices.

The new Newfoundland Conference met for its first sessions at Gower Street Church, St. John's, in Octo­ber 1925, when it elected Rev. Harry G. Coppin qv its first president and Rev. Elijah C. French qv its first secretary. (Both had been elected in May as the last executive officers of the former Methodist Confer­ence.) Following the practice of its predecessor, the new Conference elected its president for a one-year term only, and has continued to do so, except for an experimental three-year term held by Rev. A.S. Butt qv in 1951-54. The secretary's term traditionally var­ied in length, usually one to three years. In 1973, however, Conference decided to employ a full-time executive-secretary. Rev. W.J. Baker qv held the post from 1973 to 1980, when he was succeeded by Rev. B.L. Hiscock, who still occupied the post in 1994.

For administrative purposes the Conference was di­vided geographically into districts, which, after Church Union, were called presbyteries. All ministers and lay pastors stationed within a presbytery's geo­graphical boundaries were members thereof, as well as a pre-determined number from the laity. Like the Conference, each presbytery had its own elected exec­utive officers and usually met in general assembly at least twice a year. Its main responsibilities were to oversee the work and operation of the pastoral charges within its bounds and to provide liaison between them and Conference.

In terms of the Church's perception of itself and its mission in society, far more radical and significant than changes in organization and structure has been the change that has taken place during the past half­century in its ideology, attitudes and emphases. This is true generally throughout the United Church, but is, perhaps, more striking in Newfoundland. The Method­ist Church in Newfoundland came into Union as a generally conservative, reactionary, "fundamentalist" communion, rejecting anything but scriptural literal­ism in Biblical interpretation, and maintaining the "old-time" Wesleyan tradition of revivalist evangeli­calism, with its emphasis on public exhortation and public "witness", Sunday and mid-week prayer-, tes­timony-, and class-meetings, strict sabbatarianism, and a catalogue of other strictures and prohibitions

UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA 461

governing personal behaviour. For good or ill, much, if not all, of this has gone. Its disappearance began gradually during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the socio-economic plight of so many of the Church's flock impelled a pragmatic shift in its pri­mary emphasis from the other-worldly "concerns of piety" to the pressing physical and social needs of individual human beings here and now. The emphasis was more acutely focused on what came to be called "the social gospel" and the mission of "outreach".

The change accelerated during World War II and the years immediately following. This was true generally throughout the Western World, but it was accentuated in Newfoundland, mainly by its political union with Canada and the economic revolution it brought, but also by the rapid and far-reaching advances in commu­nication and travel, education and literacy, which, along with Confederation, demolished most of the his­toric barriers of isolation. As a consequence, the whole context and fabric of life was so changed that many, both within and without the Church, came to view much of the "old-time religion" of traditional Methodism and many of its values and priorities as anachronistic and irrelevant, no longer adequate to serve the needs of a very different world from that of former times. The United Church was not, of course, unique in its response to change, but it was, perhaps, more radical than most communions in redefining its role in society and modifying the form and character of its visible witness to the Christian faith. There was inevitably some loss of members, who saw the change as an abjuration of the "true Faith", and who joined other sects that still retained the fundamentalist evan­gelical orthodoxy and more traditional and conserva­tive views generally. But the United Church did not abjure its original "Articles of Faith", as set forth in The Basis of Union. Its Christian witness was not lost sight of or supplanted in the process of change. Its character and emphasis changed, but the spiritual and the divine retained a central place in both its rituals and its creeds, and the basic tenets of the Judaeo-

United Church at Change Islands

462 UNITED CHURCH WOMEN OF CANADA

Christian dispensation as set forth in the Scriptures were firmly maintained if somewhat reinterpreted.

In keeping with its changed perception of its role in society the Church placed increasing emphasis on so­cial problems and their solutions. In concert with the national church, the United Church in Newfoundland confronted such matters, often controversial and divi­sive, as sexual orientation in the context of the church community; sexual equality, discrimination and ha­rassment; child abuse and violence against women; racism, prejudice and intolerance; substance abuse and alcoholism; the causes and alleviation of poverty, and other similar personal and social problems. In the local Conference, it has confronted similar concerns by practical means. In St. John's, for example, it oper­ates Emmanuel House qv with its many social "outreach" programs, the Naomi Centre for Young Women in Crisis, and two group homes and a co-oper­ative apartment for the developmentally delayed. Group homes similar to those mentioned are also op­erated in Grand Falls and Mount Pearl, as well as an open custody group home for young offenders in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. Individual cir­cuits operate a wide variety of training and support organizations for both young people and adults, in­cluding couples, singles and seniors clubs, in addition to many national organizations, such as the Canadian Girls in Training (CGIT); Guides, Cubs, and Scouts; the United Church Men and the United Church Women. The expanded role of women in the United Church is also a significant feature of its change in the past half-century. As noted earlier, women are eligible to hold any office in the Church. Though the role of women was by no means excluded from the life and work of the former Methodist Church, it was not a major one, being almost wholly a service role per­formed through various women's organizations. And thus it continued during the early years after Union. But by the latter 1930s some congregations were elect­ing women to Church boards and committees, and the first woman minister was ordained in the United Church (though not in Newfoundland) in 1936. But it was not until the post-war period that women began to assume a major place in both the worship and service aspects of the Church's life. In 1961 what had been the chief and most active women's organizations dating back to the former Methodist Church, the Women's Association (also known as the Ladies' Aid) and the Woman's Missionary Society (WMS) amalgamated to form the United Church Women (UCW). Constituted similarly to the Conference and Presbytery structures outlined above, it has since become a strong and influ­ential body within the Church, in many ways parallel­ing the work of the traditional Conference. The Conference's first ordination of Newfoundland women, three in number, took place in 1980, but or­dained female ministers have served in the Conference since 1975. In 1993 the number serving was 12.

The United Church in 1994 describes itself as "inclusive", open to people representing a wide vari-

ety of backgrounds and circumstances. Affirming the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, it seeks to minister to people here and now, living its life in a diverse and pluralistic society. Those who wish to become its members are "not forced to pass through a narrow gate into the Church" (Hiscock). It describes its theol­ogy as "not static but always under reformation", and its primary mission "to seek justice and resist evi l. .. [and] to interpret the call of The Living God to minis­ter in the time and place in which we live". See also METHODISM. Steven Chambers (1986), John Web­ster Grant (1967), B.L. Hiscock (letter, Aug. 1993; interview, Aug. 1993), D.W. Johnson ([1925]), David G. Pitt ( 1990), Mildred Gough Winsor (1989), The United Church Manual ( 1986); Minutes of the New­foundland Conference (1925; 1975; 1989; 1993), United Church Year Book and Directory ( 1992) . DAVID G. PITT

UNITED CHURCH WOMEN OF CANADA. An or­ganization of women of the United Church, it had a membership in 1992 of 3941 in 218 groups across the Province. The U.C.W. had its origins in the women's groups in the Methodist, Congregational and Presbyte­rian churches, which united in 1925 to form the United Church of Canada. The earliest roots ofthe U.C.W. in the Province were the Women's Mission, founded in 1882 at the George Street Methodist Church, St. John's. After church union in 1925, the Canadian women's groups within the United Church continued under their original names, forms and functions, but in 1961 were reorganized as United Church Women. The function of the U.C.W. is to unite the women of each congregation to help the whole mission of the church and to provide a medium of study, witness and service. The U.C.W. presbyterial executives communicate on both the provincial and national levels, but such organ­izational hierarchy is primarily for the purpose of con­ferences, communication and the international mission work of the Church.

Funds raised by the U.C.W. are used for such di­verse projects as transition homes, literacy pro­grams, scholarships, senior citizen complexes, and local charitable societies; and for missions such as the Mission for Leprosy. Members of the U.C.W. also regularly visit hospitals and homes. Rev. C. Maguire (interview, Sept. I 993), Mildred Gough Winsor (1987), United Church Archives (UCW Presbyterial Reports). ELIZABETH GRAHAM

UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS. During the Ameri­can War of Independence, many Americans who had remained loyal to Britain emigrated to Canada. Known as United Empire Loyalists, to distinguish them from Americans who came after 1783, only a small number settled in Newfoundland. During the War, when mis­sionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the *Gospel qv were reassigned from the 13 colonies, the Rev. James Barker was removed from Maryland to the Bahamas and then to Trinity Bay in 1782. After only a

two-week stay, preferring the climate in the Bahamas, he made his departure. Another loyalist who came to the Island was Philip Van Cortlandt, who had served with the New Jersey Volunteers from 1776 to 1808. He moved to his father's home town ofSt. John's, and was a member of a fencible unit here from 1795 to 1808. John Ryan qv was perhaps the best known loyalist to come to Newfoundland. Apprenticed to loyalist printer John Howe in Rhode Island during the War, Ryan came via New Brunswick and in 1807 established the first newspaper in St. John's. The loyalist migration to Newfoundland was small, the number perhaps reflect­ing disruption in the fishery during wartime. Brown and Senior (1984), Mary Beth Norton (1972), DCB X (Edward Van Cortlandt). ACB

UNITED FISHERMEN, SOCIETY OF. See FISHER­MEN, SOCIETY OF UNITED.

UNITED FISHERMEN'S MOVEMENT. See FISHER­MEN'S MOVEMENT, UNITED.

UNITED IRISHMEN, SOCIETY OF. The Society of United Irishmen was formed in Ireland in 1791. The group advocated unity for Irish nationalists of all reli­gions, with slogans and ideas borrowed from revolu­tionary France.

When military commander John Skerrett qv arrived in Newfoundland, he met an unnamed Irish agitator he had ordered deported from Ireland. This man, and several others, had bribed their way out of detention and were actively recruiting for the Society of United Irishmen. Skerrett estimated that between 200 and 400 men had taken the oath and that 50 to 80 of these were members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. In April 1800 the Society was implicated in an attempted uprising. The plot failed and 12 members of the regi­ment were subsequently court-martialed. A mutiny on the Latona in 1797 and a bloody uprising in Wexford, Ireland in 1798 caused authorities to react harshly, executing the ringleaders. Though there was a mea­sure of public sympathy for the mutineers, the events of 1800 probably had more to do with poor living conditions and harsh discipline within the regiment than with a cohesive Irish movement. G.W.L. Nichol­son (1964), David Webber (1964). ACB

UNITED NEWFOUNDLAND PARTY. See POLITICAL PARTIES.

UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH, INTERNA­TIONAL. The United Pentecostal Church (UPC) was formed in 1945 by the merger of two Oneness Pentecostal organizations, the Pentecostal Church In­corporated and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ. Embracing many of the doctrines held by Pen­tecostalism in general, the UPC's distinctive belief centres on a non-Trinitarian view of God and on the practice of water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. In 1993 there were five UPC congregations in New­foundland: Baie Verte/W oodstock (established in

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 463

1966), Bishop's Falls, Mount Pearl, Springdale and Stephenville. In 1994 the UPC declared Newfoundland a Home Missions District, separate from its previous connection to the Nova Scotia District. C.M. Becton (letter, May 1993), M.F. Blume (letter), LeRoy P. Gee (letter, June 1993). BURTON K. JANES

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Until more recent times a large-scale trade existed between Newfound­land and New England~ although it was disturbed from time to time by international conflicts and import tar­iffs. In the nineteenth century, a series of treaties and agreements gave New England fishermen special priv­ileges in the waters surrounding Newfoundland and Labrador. And many Newfoundlanders went to New England seeking employment. Ties were further strengthened during World War II as thousands of American servicemen made Newfoundland their tem­porary home. Even after Confederation, many New­foundlanders maintained close connections with the United States.

New England and Newfoundland were both areas of English colonization in the seventeenth century. Whereas permanent settlement was somewhat delayed in Newfoundland, in New England colonization had virtually ended the English migratory fishery by 1620. Trade between Newfoundland and New England was slight and irregular during this period. One of the earliest instances involved a cargo of Newfoundland fish sent to Virginia in 1623, and Boston merchants were trading with fishermen at Ferry1and and Bay Bulls in the 1640s. New England vessels brought such goods as corn and cattle and returned with fish, oil and sometimes with fishermen from the West Country of England. One of the Maine traders dealing in New­foundland was John Treworgie qv, who was appointed governor of the Island in 1653. The trade began to expand in the 1650s. Newfoundland not only offered a market for goods but was a source of workers trained in the fishery. In 1684 it was reported by the com­mander of the Newfoundland convoy that New En­gland vessels "spirited away" fishery workers "to the

Newfoundlanders in New York, "tearing up" as they sing "The Ode"

464 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

ruin of both merchant adventurers and planters, and the decay of the fishing" (cited in Lounsbury). En­glish authorities attempted to place restrictions on such emigration, but the practice continued.

In the middle of the century, disruptions caused by civil war in England led some English fishermen to use New England as a base for the Newfoundland fishery. This practice ended about 1661. The Naviga­tion Acts qv, the earliest of which were passed during this period, were intended to protect the British carry­ing trade. Dutch shipping was restricted by the acts, and this allowed New England shipping to expand. As there was no customs authority in Newfoundland, the Island became an entrepot in the often illegal trade. Salt ships frequently carried smuggled goods on spec­ulation, trade taking place wherever vessels congre­gated. In 1693 St. John's was visited by half a dozen American coasters carrying lumber, provisions, rum, tobacco and livestock fodder, which they traded for fish, coin, equipment or bills of exchange. Bills of exchange were preferred by the New Englanders as they could be resold at a substantial profit.

Around 1700, New England merchants began buy­ing lower quality Newfoundland fish for resale to slave plantations in the West Indies. Although this trade declined during Queen Anne's War qv a few merchants persisted. William Pickering of Boston was one of them. In 1708-09 he sent his ship Hope to Ferryland, St. John's, Trinity and Bonavista sell­ing provisions in return for fish. The most common goods supplied by Pickering were molasses, pork, flour and rum. Some American merchants chose to sell goods wholesale to private traders on vessels bound for Newfoundland. Still others employed Newfoundland agents such as factor William Keen qv of St. John's c.1720. The illegal trade gradually declined because of increased customs vigilance. But legal trade continued and developed a triangular character. Rum and molasses from the West Indies, for example, would be carried by New England ves­sels and traded at Newfoundland for fish or bills with which to purchase British goods. Often the fish

The Minty.family, prospering in the ''Boston States''

found its way back to the West Indies via the New England ships.

Palliser's Act qv of 1775 was intended in part to limit American fishing and trading in Newfoundland as a continuation of the Navigation Acts. There were an estimated 1120 American vessels in Newfoundland waters when the act was written. With the American declaration of independence and the subsequent revo­lutionary war, pirates and privateers appeared along the Newfoundland coast. The south coast and the Lab­rador fisheries were hampered by this activity, and the bank fishery virtually ended. Apart from the economic hardships caused hy the conflict, it temporarily put an end to the easy movement of people between New­foundland and the United States.

With the *Treaty of Versailles qv in 1783, American fishermen were again granted privileges on the Grand Banks and around the coast. The provisions trade to Newfoundland was again lega1, and British and New­foundland ships were sometimes licensed to carry goods from Boston and Philadelphia. At the turn of the century, Newfoundland was importing bread, fl our and livestock from the United States while such items as rum and molasses began to be imported directly from the West Indies. American salt fish traders soon regained their places in European and West Indian markets which they had lost during the conflicts. About 1804 coastal Labrador and the Gulf of St. Law­rence were being frequented by fishing boats from Cape Cod, Plymouth and Boston. Between 1833 and 1885 New England lost its share of the European mar­ket for cod, choosing to concentrate on the West Indies instead. While this took some of the competition away from Newfoundland traders, American vessels still re­quired large catches to supply a growing domestic market. Gloucester fishermen were heavily involved in the winter herring fishery of Fortune and Placentia bays. As these stocks became depleted the operation moved to Bay oflslands, where American vessels pur­chased large amounts of herring.

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centu­ries, disputes, negotiations and treaties had reper­cussions for the American fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador. Following the War of 1812 qv there were different interpretations of the Treaty of Ver­sailles . Britain argued that the treaty had been abro­gated by the War, while the American negotiators insisted that it had only been suspended. The matter was resolved, temporarily, by the Convention of 1818. This convention affirmed privileges for New England fishermen in the waters between Cape Ray and the Ramea Islands, from Cape Ray to Quirpon and in Labrador. They were also permitted use of the shore in uninhabited areas to land and cure the ir catch. But disputes continued to arise. Diplomatic relations with Newfoundland were channelled through the British Foreign Office. (The St. John's offices of the United States Consulate, whic h opened in 1852, were usually staffed by non-Americans and dealt with problems encountered by American

An American serviceman relaxing in his barracks. Inscribed ''Love, Tiger'', copies of this photo were reportedly handed out to many Newfoundland girls during World War II.

citizens on the Island. In 1976 the consulate was moved to Halifax).

One significant agreement of the mid-nineteenth century was the *Reciprocity Treaty qv, extended to Newfoundland in 1855. This free trade deal opened American markets to Newfoundland fish, although much of it was taken by American vessels themselves. Though Newfoundland fishermen were given privi­leges in New England waters, few took advantage of the opportunity. A civil war in the United States dis­couraged continuation of the treaty, and it was abro­gated in 1866. The *Treaty of Washington qv, in effect from 1871 to 1885, also gave Americans certain priv­ileges, but a dispute over fishing practices in Fortune Bay in 1878 was typical of the misunderstandings which arose (see FORTUNE BAY). After the treaty lapsed, there was an official effort to discourage the sale ofbait to foreign vessels. The American schooner David J. Adams was seized for purchasing bait in 1886, while the vessel Thomas E. Bayard was driven from Bonne Bay for the same reason. Efforts on the part of Robert Bond qv to renew a reciprocity treaty in 1890 failed (see BOND-BLAINE CONVENTION). But despite the temporary absence of a formal agree­ment, New Englanders continued to procure herring in Fortune Bay and the Bay of Islands until the early twentieth century.

There was another effort at reciprocity with the *Bond-Hay Convention qv of 1902. Newfoundland was to gain free admission to American markets in return for which American vessels would be given the right to purchase bait. The American senate, however, blocked passage of the bill and then so altered it that it was of little use to Newfoundland. The Newfound­land legislature retaliated by re-enforcing the *Bait

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 465

Act qv, prohibiting the sale of bait to foreign vessels. The entire affair was eventually referred to the Hague Tribunal in 1910, which placed restrictions on Ameri­can vessels and allowed Newfoundland a greater role in the administration of the fishery.

Despite the diplomatic squabbles which character­ized much of the period before World War I, large numbers of people moved between Newfoundland and the United States. In the 1700s and early 1800s the Island had often been no more than a stopping place for thousands of Irish migrants (as well as those of other nationalities). The cheapest trans-Atlantic pas­sages were to Newfoundland, where labourers might work for a period of time in the fishery before moving on to the United States or Canada. Americans some­times settled on the Island, but not nearly on the same scale as the migration in the other direction. The first sizeable wave of emigrants to the United States left Newfoundland in the two decades prior to the Ameri­can civil war, when the fishery was in a period of decline. These emigrants, mainly young Irish Catho­lics from the St. John's area, tended to settle in Massa­chusetts, especially in Boston, Newburyport and Gloucester.

In the decades before the start of World War I, large numbers of Newfoundlanders moved to the eastern United States, especially to the state of Massachusetts. Some stayed only a few years, while others remained permanently, eventually becoming American citizens. Newcomers often relied on family members already settled in the area, and were generally employed in white and blue collar jobs. All were keen to retain ties with Newfoundland and each other. Clubs of expatriates

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466 UPPER AMHERST COVE

were established, initially as mutual benefit societies and then as purely social groups (see NEWFOUND­LAND CLUBS). But Newfoundlanders fitted in well with the larger New England society. Marriages be­tween Newfoundlanders and Americans were com­mon. In 1920 there were an estimated 13,242 Newfoundlanders living in the United States (though this number appears to include American-born chil­dren with one or both parents born on the Island). Ten years later the figure was 23,971, concentrated in Massachusetts, New York, Michigan and New Jersey. As many as 2.5% of the population of the towns of Cambridge and Lynn, Massachusetts were enumerated as Newfoundlanders in 1930. The migration had slowed considerably by 1940, but Newfoundlanders still accounted for 21,361 people in the country.

American capital provided the impetus for many of the resource industries which developed on the Island. Mining and timber concerns often employed American managers and engineers. Trade between the two re­gions consisted in the 1930s largely of American pur­chases of semi-finished and raw materials, such as newsprint, copper and iron ore. The Commission of Government attempted to open American markets to Newfoundland fish, but met with little success.

During World War II the United States had a major impact on the economy of Newfoundland and Labra­dor. A deal negotiated between the governments of the United States and Britain allowed the construction of military bases on the Island on 99-year leases (see LEASED BASES AGREEMENT). The base con­structed at Argentia required the full-scale evacuation of the communities of Argentia and Marquise. This led to some resentment and raised questions about ade­quate compensation for property and for inconve­nience. For the most part, however, the arrival of the American forces was welcomed. Newfoundland en­tered a period of unprecedented prosperity as the war progressed. Personal relationships between New­foundlanders and servicemen were generally positive. One estimate (Cardoulis) placed the total number of marriages between local women and American mili­tary personnel at 25,000. Most Americans returned to make their homes in the United States, but an esti­mated 600 remained in Newfoundland. As the war progressed, there was a growing belief among some people that Newfoundland should receive direct eco­nomic compensation for hosting the American bases. Robert B. Job and Peter Cashin qqv attempted to con­vince the Commission Government to renegotiate the leased bases agreement to this end, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

During the political debates which followed the War, economic union with the U.S. was proposed by some Newfoundlanders. In March 1948 the Party for Economic Union with the United States was formed by such men as A.H. (Bill) Crosbie, Ches Crosbie, Don Jamieson, William S. Perlin and Geoff Stirling qqv. The United States was never officially asked for a reaction to the proposal, but several American sena-

tors gave encouragement to informal inquiries. In any case, Canada would not have welcomed a new Ameri­can territory on its doorstep, while the British govern­ment appeared strongly to favour union with Canada. The choice of economic union with the United States was not included on the referendum ballot in 1948.

The victory for confederation with Canada in 1948 did not, however, put an end to American influence in Newfoundland. The growing frozen fish trade in New­foundland was primarily aimed at the large markets of Boston and Gloucester. While military bases were scaled down, they continued to operate after the War. During the so-called cold war, a series of *radar sites qv were established across the Province. Gander air­port continued to be used as a refuelling stop by the American military. In 1988 American servicemen were invited to return to Newfoundland for a series of celebrations. Among those who attended were a num­ber of men who survived the sinking of the Pollux and Truxton qqv near St. Lawrence in 1942. See also SMUGGLING; WORLD WAR II. The editors wish to thank Dr. W.G. Reeves for his helpful comments on an early draft of this article. Bernard Bailyn (1964), John Cardoulis ( 1990), Edward Vincent Chafe (1983), Gail Collins (1975), Grant Head (1976), Harold Innis (1940), R.G. Lounsbury (1934), Peter Neary (1988), W.G. Reeves ( 1989; 1990), Shannon Ryan (1986), NQ (Win­ter 1988), U.S Bureau of the Census Newfoundland­Born Population ( 1971 ). ACB

UPPER AMHERST COVE (pop. 1991, 75). A fishing community, Upper Amherst Cove is located about 20 km southeast of Bona vista. Like nearby Amherst Cove and Middle Amherst Cove qqv, it was probably settled in the early to mid-1800s by families fishing out of Bona vista, where the common family names of Upper Amherst Cove- Skiffington, Brown, Ford and Little -were all recorded in the 1700s. Local tradition has it that the Skiffingtons were the first settlers.

The community first appears in the Census in 1845, when there were 21 people in four families. By 1857 there were 67 inhabitants and the community continued

Upper Amherst Cove

to grow, with the peak population being 191 in 1935. While Upper Amherst Cove was originally settled by inshore fishermen, its continued growth was depen­dent on the Labrador fishery, for which nearby King's Cove was a major supply base. And, despite the community's being built on a steep bank, Upper Am­herst Cove had a name for its productive gardens and for the keeping of goats and other livestock. Winter logging in Blackhead Bay was also an important sup­plement to fishing incomes. From the 1930s, however, the Labrador fishery no longer made a significant con­tribution to the community. Initially the "Labrador men" turned to a growing salmon fishery, but this was soon in decline as well. Increasingly, then, the youn­ger people left Upper Amherst Cove for work else­where. E.R. Seary ( 1977), H.A. Wood ( 1952), Census (1845-1991), Newfoundland Directory 1936 (1936), Newfoundland Historical Society (Upper Amherst Cove). RHC

UPPER FERRY (pop. 1991, 183). A farming commu­nity, Upper Ferry is in the Codroy Valley qv on Newfoundland's west coast. Approximately 8 km up­stream the Grand Codroy River narrows dramatically. Earlier, this was the point where a ferry crossed, and was known as the upper ferry to distinguish it from one further down the River, at Searston qv. Since 1928 the River has been spanned by a bridge.

The south side of the Grand River was frequented by Micmac prior to and for some years after the com­ing of the Euro-Canadian settlers in the late 1700s. The first area on the River to be settled was at the mouth and on the southern shore of The Gut (later known as Searston). As more settlers arrived in the early 1800s, most from Nova Scotia, they farmed land further up the River. In the 1850s families such as the MacArthurs, Macisaacs and MacNeills settled in what

UPPER FERRY 467

is now considered to be the lower part of Upper Ferry. By 1880 the area was well settled, predominantly by Scots Nova Scotians, but also by some Acadians. By 1883 a network of roads had been built throughout the Valley and the ferry from which the community was to take its name had begun running.

The name Upper Ferry was applied to the ferry land­ing, but the community was merely a collection of farms along the south side of the Grand River. The farming families attended the Roman Catholic church at The Gut, where there were also merchants and schools for their children. In the early 1900s Father Andrew Sears decided to divide his parish into sec­tions, with a view to having a school and chapel for each section. The local name Upper Ferry, then, was applied to the second section on the south side of the River, and in 1905 a post office for Upper Ferry was opened at A.D. Macisaac's general store. Upper Ferry first appears in the Census in 1911, its population of 54 including three people who were born in Scotland and a further eight who were born in Canada. The Codroy Valley in general and Upper Ferry in particu­lar is one area of Newfoundland where Scots Gaelic culture has endured, in part inspired by Upper Ferry's Allan MacArthur qv, as chronicled in Margaret Bennett's The Last Stronghold ( 1989).

Since the building of the railway in the late 1890s there had been increased traffic through the ferry and along the Valley to the railway at Doyles. This further increased with the building of the bridge, and by 193 5 there were 117 people at Upper Ferry. Macisaac's had become one of the larger general businesses in the Valley. Upper Ferry is also an area of exceptional scenic beauty and one of the premier sport fishing areas in Newfoundland. Since the coming of the rail­way tourism has been an important adjunct to farming in the Codroy Valley, with some local people finding

Upper Ferry

468 UPPER GRIQUET

work in guiding the "sports" and in providing accom­modation and other services. The importance of tour­ism in the local economy has further increased since the building of the Trans-Canada Highway in the 1960s. In 1972 the Grand Codroy bridge was washed out, but was soon rebuilt, its importance augmented by the fact that the local regional high school had been recently built near the old landing in Upper Ferry to replace the old section schools . A central Roman Cath­olic church has since been built nearby. Margaret Ben­nett (1989), J.B. Jukes (1842), Census (1911-1991), List of Electors (1962), McAlpine s Newfoundland Di­rectory ( 1894 ) , Newfoundland Historical Society (Codroy Valley). RHC

UPPER GRIQUET. See ST. LUNAIRE-GRIQUET.

St. Peter 's Anglican church (Hopewell parish), Upper Gullies

UPPER GULLIES. Since 1971 the community of Upper Gullies has been a part of the municipality of Conception Bay South qv. It lies between Seal Cove and Riverdale qqv (formerly Lower Gullies) and has historically been essentially an agricultural area, with the shore and Labrador fisheries playing a smaller role in the local economy. In the latter half of the twentieth century many ofUpper Gullies ' residents have worked in service industries or commuted to work in St. John's. Upper Gullies has not been enumerated sepa­rately in the Census since 1971 (pop. 728), since which time it has more than doubled in size. In 1994 there were a few small farms and many small businesses in Upper Gullies.

Among the first settlers was Garland Andrews, probably from Port de Grave, who was living at Upper Gullies in 1832. At about the same time, the family of Charles and Suzanna Coates moved to the settlement via Brigus and Kelligrews. Charles Coates was origi-

nally from Dorset, England, and had been an em­ployee of Charles Cozens qv at Brigus. He later be­came a teacher, and in 1850 had a schoolhouse built in Upper Gullies, while he also ran a branch store for Cozens at Kelligrews. A voters' list of 1835 notes the adult male settlers in Upper Gullies as Garland, Alfred and John Andrews, Charles Cootes (Coates) and Charles and William Scott. At the time of the 1845 Census, the community had a population of 84. Fish­ing and farming were the primary activities, with fish being sold to merchants at Brigus and Port de Grave and, in later years, St. John's. But a decline in Concep­tion Bay fish stocks in the latter part of the 1800s led to an increased reliance on farming. (After 1900 the Bell Island iron mines were also a major source of employment) . By 1891, there were 184 people in Upper Gullies, most of whom belonged to St. Peter's Church of England. Since 1983 the community has had a Seventh-day Adventist church. Reginald Coates ( 1990), Lovell s Newfoundland Directory ( 1871 ), Cen­sus (1845-1971), Centre for Newfoundland Studies (Upper Gullies). ACB

UPPER ISLAND COVE (inc. 1965; pop. 1991, 2038). Upper Island Cove is a fishing community situated in a rocky bight to the north of Spaniard's Bay. The cove consists of a sheltered beach south of Bryant's Cove qv, and is not a secure anchorage. Since the mid-nine­teenth century the cove has been known as Upper Island Cove, to distinguish it from the Island Cove near Bay de Verde (Lower Island Cove qv).

The cove was settled by Europeans at a relatively early date. John Young in 1780 claimed to be settled on land which had been in his family since 1690. John Crane had a similar claim extending from 1699, and Joseph Hussey in 1775 was living on land which had been in his family since 1710. Before 1800 the King, Drover, Pynn, Mercer, Hibbs, Smith, Bishop and Lilly families were all established in Upper Island Cove, while the Byrne, Dobbin, Lynch and Sharpe families were living at nearby Spoon Cove qv (a part of the municipality of Upper Island Cove since 1965). The

Upper Island Cove

inshore fishery had attracted most settlers, but some also farmed (keeping their livestock within character­istic stone fences) . Most of the early settlers of Upper Island Cove belonged to the Church of England (with a sizeable Catholic minority) and construction of St. Peter's Church began in 1815. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was operating a school in the community in 1823. The Newfoundland School Society took over the school in 1839. A Roman Cath­olic school was opened in 1842.

The population was recorded at 552 in 1836, by which time Upper Island Cove was a major fishing centre. Most fishermen dealt with Harbour Grace firms , such as those of Thomas Ridley and Punton & Munn. Catches of cod and herring fell in the 1860s and this, along with a lack of useable shore space, prompted planters to move into the Labrador fishery in the following decade. Scores of men and boys left Upper Island Cove each year to go to the northern fishing grounds as floaters qv, while whole families went to the Labrador as stationers qv. Planters in 1871 (when the population stood at 970) included Esau Bishop , John Crane, Thomas Drover, Michael McLean, Archibald Mercer, William Parsons and Wil­liam Sharp. At that time Joseph Byrne was the only full-time farmer.

Upper Island Cove planters and their crews were also involved in the bank fishery throughout the 1800s, and this effort intensified in the 1920s and 1930s as the Labrador fishery declined. Western boats from Upper Island Cove tended to concentrate on the waters off Ferry land. After falling to 799 in 190 l, the population of the settlement grew to over 1000 in the 1940s. While both the Labrador and bank fisheries continued to decline, the construction boom of World War II provided new forms of employment. While the shore fishery continued into the early 1990s, an in­creasing number of people found jobs in the service industries of Conception Bay. In 1994 Upper Island Cove was served by St. Peter's School, a town hall, a fire department and a medical clinic. Eric Gosse (1988) , E.R. Seary (1977), DA (Mar.-Apr. 1989), Lo vell s Newfoundland Directory ( 1 8 7 1), Census (1836-1991 ). ACB

UPPER SANDY POINT. See SANDY POINT, EX­PLOITS.

URANIUM. Uranium is a dense, grey, radioactive ma­terial capable of nuclear fission and can be used as a source of nuclear power. It is found in the central mineral belt of Labrador, which extends from Seal Lake to Makkovik. Exploration on the Island by West­field Minerals Co. has revealed additional deposits near Deer Lake. In the late 1970s Brinex, the mining arm ofBRINCO corporation, proposed to develop ura­nium deposits at Kitts and Michelin, two sites near Postville . Public hearings held in December 1979 heard from a number of native, environmental and other groups opposed to the project. Native represen-

UTSHIMASSIT 469

tatives raised questions about the negative sociological impact such a project might have on northern commu­nities, while others were opposed to the project be­cause of the possible threat to public health . An environmental assessment board examined uranium mines elsewhere in Canada and concluded that there existed no economically feasible way safely to dispose of radioactive waste material. In early 1980, therefore, the provincial cabinet decided to withhold approval for the project until such time as Brinex could show that it could safely dispose of waste from the proposed mine and mill. Gibbons and Mercer (1982) , Brinex Kitts-Michelin Uranium Project ( 1980). ACB

UTRECHT, TREATY OF. See TREATY OF UTRECHT.

UTSHIMASSIT (pop. 1991, 465). Utshimassit is the Innu name for the northern Labrador coastal commu­nity otherwise known as Davis Inlet. Located on Iluikoyak Island, the community was begun in 1967, when the provincial government decided to estab­lished a year-round community of the Mushuau Innu or ''barren-ground people'', previously known as the Naskapi.

The original site of the Davis Inlet trading post was on the south shore of Ukasiksalik Island, about 5 km southeast of Utshimassit. The first trading post was established there in 1831 and was taken over by the *Hudson's Bay Company qv in 1869 . By 1942, when the government took over operation of the post, a seasonal encampment of the Mushuau Innu on the nearby mainland was being served by a Roman Catholic mission and had some of the characteristics of a permanent settlement, the Innu having become dependent on the government depot and mission for both trade goods and relief. By 1948 the government had de­cided to close the depot and relocate the Innu to Nutak qv , where officials felt that they would have access to better hunting grounds as well as wage employment in cutting lumber for the Inuit settle­ments of the north coast. Cut off from their tradi­tional hunting areas, during the second winter the Innu walked back to Davis Inlet. The government depot was reopened in 1952.

In the mid-1960s the government once again deter­mined that the Innu should be resettled, with a view to establishing a depot , school, mission and modern housing on the same site. After a scheme to relocate the Mushuau Innu to Sheshatshit qv was rejected, the local priest and the Department of Labrador Affairs chose the lluikoyak Island site. The move of approxi­mately 150 Innu and 15 settlers to Utshimassit (which translates as "the boss's place" or "the store-keepers' place") was accomplished in 1967. From the first the Innu regarded the site of Utshimassit as being inade­quate in two respects: there was no adequate water supply; and the island location cut the people off from traditional harvesting areas, especially during freeze­up and spring break-up.

470 UTSHIMASSIT

As has been the case with many native communities in Canada, Utshimassit has been plagued by a multi­tude of social problems including poverty, loss of self-reliance, poor sanitation and substance abuse. As the Innu became increasingly organized in the 1970s and 1980s, they began to give public voice to their conviction that they had been promised running water and other amenities in return for agreeing to move. By the early 1990s band leaders such as Katie Riche qv had determined that a first step to resolving the prob­lems of Utshimassit was another relocation, to a site on the mainland, at Sango qv.

International attention was focused on the young people of Utshimassit (one of the fastest-growing

communities in the Province) in 1992 by a house fire which killed six children and, later, an attempt at sui­cide by a group of teenagers. Since that time federal authorities have been willing to entertain discussions on the projected move to Sango. However, up to 1994 the provincial government stance was that they would offer no encouragement to the move, despite the pref­erences expressed by the Mushuau lnnu and the rec­ommendations of several studies to the contrary. Donald M. McRae (1993), Census (1966-1991), Com­munity of Davis Inlet, Labrador Municipal Plan ( 1980), Davis Inlet (Utshimassit) Service Infrastruc­ture, Socio-Economic Study 1992 ( 1992), Archives (GN 56/2/11/112). RHC