Inquiry

What changes have occurred in the Atlantic region since settlement?

Fishing

To learn about how the lack of fish stopped the fishing industry in the Grand Banks, click here.  Fishermen made jobs by moving from cod fishing to crab and shrimp fishing.  Click here to learn more about it.

Farming
Prince Edward Island is the Garden of the Gulf. Learn more about it by clicking here.

Coal Mining
Nova Scotia used to be a coal mining province, but coal is no longer a large source of energy. Click here.

Oil and Gas
The Hybernia oil field, off the shore of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, has created many new jobs in the region.  To learn more about it, click here.

Now that you have a brief overview of industries in the Atlantic region, ask yourself some questions while you read the textbook:

  • From which countries did people immigrate to the Atlantic region?
  • How did life change for the First Nations people of the region?
  • How did many of the First Nations people feel about the changes?
  • What industries were introduced to the area?
  • How did these industries help the people who lived there?
  • How did the industries change over the years?
  • How did the changes affect the people who lived in the Atlantic region?

Resources for Inquiry

  1. Textbook
      • Read pages 54 to 59.
Ask some questions as you read:
  • What does “stopped the cod fishery” mean?
  • How were people affected?
  1. Library Books
      • Early Settlers, pages 37 – 38
      • Maritimes, pages 26 – 2

  2. Listen to the song and read the rest of the lyrics on these sites.  (McMurray means Fort McMurray, Alberta, where the oil sands are).

  • Why are the men going to Fort McMurray?
  • What does the songwriter mean when he says, “I went out to haul me trawl / All I got was nothing at all” and, â€śThere’s nothing more that I can do”? (A trawl is a fishing net.)
  • Why was a song about going to Fort McMurray chosen for this page?
  1. Videos 
      • Watch the following videos and consider the following questions:

  • Why are there so many jobs in tourism?
  • Why are so many jobs in the Atlantic region connected to watching the weather?
  • What jobs do people in the region have now?
Halifax Shipyard: Ship Building
CTV news report about an Atlantic storm.
Place Names in NL: Jerry's Nose
Place Names in NL: Heart's Content

Notebook

Click here to download, save to your Unit 2 Notebook and use the Atlantic Region Chart to help guide your inquiry.

Digging Deeper

You may be interested in one of these library books about the end of the fishery:

  • Bay Girl, by Betty Fitzpatrick Dorion
  • Duncan’s Way, by Ian Wallace
Read a CBC news article about what a premier of Newfoundland and Labrador had to say to the Newfoundlanders who had moved to Fort McMurray.

Here’s another song about leaving Newfoundland for Fort McMurray:

East Coast Connection – Tar sand Fever