Canada's Labrador and Quebec dispute their boundaries

January 22, 2007

The ongoing dispute over the location of the Labrador-Quebec boundary has once again developed some frosty feelings towards the location and acceptance. The latest controversy centers around the location of wildlife and on which side of the border they belong, which has politicians on both sides of the border up in arms.

The question of where the border exists between the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec has been a centuries old cause for controversy. The border was given a vague description to satisfy the Newfoundland people who prosecuted the fishery all along its coast. Tempers had flared until 1927 when the Privy Council had established the border which was adopted by both Canada and Newfoundland (which at the time was a sovereign state). The border was further entrenched in the Canadian constitution upon Newfoundland joining the confederation of Canada when Newfoundland requested that the 1927 border ruling to be the boundary between the two provinces.

The boundary has never been accepted by Quebec and it has repeatedly produced maps that have either shown a modified southern border or no border at all. The boundary as established in 1927 has never been formally surveyed and remains to date to be the largest un-surveyed border in the world.