CBC Archives

Direct students to the topic Has Confederation Been Good for Newfoundland? on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site. Have students work in pairs to review Clip #1, “Giving up self-government,” Clip #4, “Smallwood on Term 29,” and Clip #10, “Commission evaluating Confederation.” As they review the clips, students should note the events that led to the fishery being a good work opportunity at the time.

Students can then view the Did You Know? section from Clip #10, including the Moratorium on Cod Fishing link. Discuss as a class why some people think that joining Canada ruined the traditional salt cod industry.

Students will work in small groups to write and role-play an imagined interview between a journalist and Premier Smallwood about the impact Confederation had on the current-day cod moratorium. Have them use the information they have gathered from viewing the clips, then write interview questions based on those below. The questions can also be found on the download sheet An Interview with Joey Smallwood.

1. What would his observations be?
2. Would he support the work of the Royal Commission?
3. What would be the nature of his submission to the Royal Commission?
4. How would he expect the province to be compensated for the fall of the fishery?
5. Who or what would he blame for the collapse of the fishery? Why?
6. Would he still have chosen Canada? Why or why not?
7. What might he have done differently?
8. What steps would he now take, were he currently Premier, to revitalize Newfoundland and Labrador?

Together, students should formulate answers to the questions they have posed, then choose one group member to be the interviewer and another to role-play Joey Smallwood.

Have groups present their role-play interviews to the class. Following the presentations, hold a class discussion about differences in the interviews. What causes did groups find for the collapse of the fishery? How many groups felt that Smallwood would not have joined Confederation with knowledge of the future? What steps did groups suggest to revitalize the province today?

In small groups, students can prepare a written submission to the Royal Commission on Confederation from the point of view of one of the following: a fisher, a fish-plant owner, a provincial or federal politician from Newfoundland and Labrador, a local mayor, or any other person of their choice.