GeoCarta Has Moved

Jan 23, 2007

Quebec Map Angers Neighbors

The government of Quebec has angered the government of Newfoundland and Labrador with a map tracking migrating caribou the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reports. It's not that Newfoundland and Labrador objects to tracking the herds, it's the maps that report those migrations that has them steamed. What Newfoundland and Labrador objects to is Quebec's depiction of much of southern Labrador as being part of Quebec.

John Ottenheimer, Newfoundland and Labrador's minister of intergovernmental affairs, told the CBC that the map is the latest in a line of claims that Quebec has made about its boundary and Labrador. "We don't like it," Mr. Ottenheimer said. "We've seen this over the years — it happens time and time again." According to the CBC, on previous occasions, Quebec has sometimes used maps showing no border marking Labrador at all.

The boundary between Labrador and Quebec evolved until its current form was determined by a committee of the British Privy Council in 1927. However, Quebec never recognized that decision. Quebec officials declined an interview with the CBC but did say that maps used on the departmental website are official maps of the province.


You can view the offending maps here.

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