Editing Labrador (section)

==Boundary dispute==
{{Further|Border between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador}}
[[File:Old_Harry_oil_field_location_map-fr.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Old Harry oil field]], on the boundary between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador]]
In 1809, Labrador was transferred from Lower Canada to the Newfoundland Colony, but the inland boundary of Labrador had never been precisely stated.<ref name="marianopolis">{{cite web |year=2007 |url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/NFLDHistory/Quebec-NewfoundlandLabradorBoundaryIssue.htm |title=Labrador-Canada boundary |publisher=marianopolis |access-date=2008-03-20 |quote=Labrador Act, 1809. – An imperial act (49 Geo. III, cap. 27), 1809, provided for the re-annexation to Newfoundland of 'such parts of the coast of Labrador from the River St John to Hudson's Streights, and the said Island of Anticosti, and all other smaller islands so annexed to the Government of Newfoundland by the said Proclamation of the seventh day of October one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three (except the said Islands of Madelaine) shall be separated from the said Government of Lower Canada, and be again re-annexed to the Government of Newfoundland.' |archive-date=2014-03-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318022522/http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.Belanger/nfldhistory/Quebec-NewfoundlandLabradorBoundaryIssue.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Newfoundland argued it extended to the height of land, while Canada, stressing the historical use of the term "Coasts of Labrador", argued the boundary was {{convert|1|smi|km}} inland from the high-tide mark. As Canada and Newfoundland were separate [[Dominion]]s, but both within the [[British Empire]], the matter was referred to the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]]<ref name=NYT>{{cite web |title=Oh, (No) Canada! |url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/oh-no-canada/ |work=Opinionator: Borderlines |publisher=The New York Times |access-date=July 15, 2012 |author=Frank Jacobs |date=July 10, 2012 |archive-date=July 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120727020303/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/oh-no-canada/ |url-status=live }}</ref> (in London). Their decision set the Labrador boundary mostly along the coastal watershed, with part being defined by the [[52nd parallel north]]. One of Newfoundland's conditions for joining Confederation in 1949 was that this boundary be entrenched in the Canadian constitution.<ref name=NYT/> While this border has not been formally accepted by the Quebec government, the Henri Dorion Commission ({{Lang|fr|Commission d'étude sur l'intégrité du territoire du Québec|i=unset}}) concluded in the early 1970s that Quebec no longer has a legal claim to Labrador.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/3330/constitution/hden.htm |title=Henri Dorion debunks the Ten Great Myths about the Labrador boundary |work=Quebec National Assembly, First Session, 34th Legislature |date=October 17, 1991 |access-date=May 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026232154/http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/3330/constitution/hden.htm |archive-date=October 26, 2009}}</ref>

In 2001, Parti Québécois cabinet ministers [[Jacques Brassard]] and [[Joseph Facal]] erroneously reasserted that Quebec has never recognized the 1927 border:
{{blockquote|text=
{{Lang|fr|Les ministres rappellent qu'aucun gouvernement québécois n'a reconnu formellement le tracé de la frontière entre le Québec et Terre-Neuve dans la péninsule du Labrador selon l'avis rendu par le comité judiciaire du Conseil privé de Londres en 1927. Pour le Québec, cette frontière n'a donc jamais été définitivement arrêtée.}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saic.gouv.qc.ca/centre_de_presse/communiques/2001/saic_com20011031.htm |title=Le ministre des Ressources naturelles du Québec et le ministre délégué aux Affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes expriment la position du Québec relativement à la modification de la désignation constitutionnelle de Terre-Neuve |last1=Brassard |first1=Jacques |last2=Facal |first2=Joseph |date=October 31, 2001 |work=saic.gouv.qc.ca |publisher=Gouvernement du Québec |language=fr |type=Communiqué |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050428091824/http://www.saic.gouv.qc.ca/centre_de_presse/communiques/2001/saic_com20011031.htm |archive-date=April 28, 2005 |url-status=dead |access-date=May 18, 2011 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

[The ministers reiterate that no Quebec government has ever formally recognised the drawing of the border between Quebec and Newfoundland in the Labrador peninsula according to the opinion rendered by the London Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1927. For Quebec, this border has thus never been definitively defined.]
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