The Story of Crow Gultch
The Story of Crow Gulch:
Resettling an “Outport Ghetto” in Corner Brook, Newfoundland during the 1960s
(Please note: This paper (still a study- in-progress) is not to be cited or quoted without the permission of the author.)
Rainer Baehre
Historical Studies and Social/Cultural Studies
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Memorial University of Newfoundland
A2H 6P9 e-mail: rbaehre@swgc.mun.ca
Environmental History of the Atlantic Region Panel
Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association
Concordia University
Montreal
1 June 2010
The Story of Crow Gulch: Resettling an “Outport Ghetto” in Corner Brook, Newfoundland during the 1960s
Rainer Baehre
Introduction
The following story of Crow Gulch is a micro-study, one in a series with the Humber River Project, whose primary objective is to explore the historical interaction between the natural and human environments of the Humber River Basin (HRB) region of western Newfoundland. Once part of Greater Corner Brook, Crow Gulch was a “ghetto,” as sociologically defined: “the social practice whereby social groups tend to associate with others of like kind, usually (but not always) residentially, occasionally by their own choice, but usually by force” Crow Gulch was an impoverished, disadvantaged, neglected and marginal residential area somewhat outside of Corner Brook, which had survived for decades independently of direct municipal control, many of whose residents were “jackatars,” a derogatory term once used widely in Newfoundland for persons of French-Mi’kmaq descent (métis). The community of Crow Gulch disappeared in 1968 following nearly two decades of discussion over urban renewal in Corner Brook. The end result was a form of benign coercion: the expropriation of property with some financial compensation, the physical destruction of their homes, and the relocation and resettlement of residents unable to find affordable housing into the city’s first social assistance housing project.
Resettling an “Outport Ghetto” in Corner Brook, Newfoundland during the 1960s
(Please note: This paper (still a study- in-progress) is not to be cited or quoted without the permission of the author.)
Rainer Baehre
Historical Studies and Social/Cultural Studies
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Memorial University of Newfoundland
A2H 6P9 e-mail: rbaehre@swgc.mun.ca
Environmental History of the Atlantic Region Panel
Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association
Concordia University
Montreal
1 June 2010
The Story of Crow Gulch: Resettling an “Outport Ghetto” in Corner Brook, Newfoundland during the 1960s
Rainer Baehre
Introduction
The following story of Crow Gulch is a micro-study, one in a series with the Humber River Project, whose primary objective is to explore the historical interaction between the natural and human environments of the Humber River Basin (HRB) region of western Newfoundland. Once part of Greater Corner Brook, Crow Gulch was a “ghetto,” as sociologically defined: “the social practice whereby social groups tend to associate with others of like kind, usually (but not always) residentially, occasionally by their own choice, but usually by force” Crow Gulch was an impoverished, disadvantaged, neglected and marginal residential area somewhat outside of Corner Brook, which had survived for decades independently of direct municipal control, many of whose residents were “jackatars,” a derogatory term once used widely in Newfoundland for persons of French-Mi’kmaq descent (métis). The community of Crow Gulch disappeared in 1968 following nearly two decades of discussion over urban renewal in Corner Brook. The end result was a form of benign coercion: the expropriation of property with some financial compensation, the physical destruction of their homes, and the relocation and resettlement of residents unable to find affordable housing into the city’s first social assistance housing project.