Corner Brook ( 2021 population: 19,333 CA 29,762) is a city located on the west coast of the island of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, Canada. Corner Brook is the fifth largest settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador. Located on the Bay of Islands at the mouth of the Humber River, the city is the second-largest

population centre In demographics, the center of population (or population center) of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geogr ...

in the province behind St. John's, and smallest of three cities behind St. John's and

Mount Pearl Mount Pearl is the third-largest settlement and second-largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The city is located southwest of St. John's, on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. Mount Pearl is the f ...

. As such, Corner Brook functions as a service centre for western and northern Newfoundland. It is located on the same latitude as Gaspé, Quebec, a city of similar size and landscape on the other side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Corner Brook is the most northern city in

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundla ...

. It is the administrative headquarters of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nations

band government In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...

. The Mi'kmaq name for the nearby Humber River is "Maqtukwek".

History

The area was surveyed by Captain James Cook in 1767. The Captain James Cook Historic Site stands on Crow Hill overlooking the city. By the middle of the 19th century the population of Corner Brook was less than 100, and the inhabitants were engaged in fishing and lumber work. The area was originally four distinct communities, each with unique commercial activities:

Curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

, with its fishery; Corner Brook West (also known as Humber West or Westside) with its retail businesses; Corner Brook East (also known as Humbermouth and the Heights) with its

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

and industrial operations; and Townsite (known as Corner Brook) to house employees of the pulp and paper mill, laid out in 1923 by Thomas Adams using Garden City principles. In 1956, these four communities were amalgamated to form the present-day City of Corner Brook. Between 1948 and 1958 about 70 people from Latvia and Germany settled in Corner Brook. They came as part of then Premier Joseph Smallwood's New Industries program. They built and worked at North Star Cement and the Atlantic Gypsum Plant. (For more history on the subject, see Latvians and Baltic Germans in Corner Brook) Corner Brook is home to the Corner Brook Pulp & Paper Mill (owned by

Kruger Inc. Kruger Inc. is a Canadian corporation which manufactures publication papers, tissue, lumber and other wood products, corrugated cartons from recycled fibres, green and renewable energy, and wines and spirits. Kruger Inc. operates facilities in Qu ...

), which is a major employer for the region. The city has the largest regional hospital in western Newfoundland. It also has a wide array of shopping and retail businesses and federal and provincial government offices. It is home to Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, as well as campuses of Academy Canada and College of the North Atlantic. Corner Brook celebrated its Come Home Year from July 19–28, 2019.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...

, Corner Brook had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Ethnic origin

Sports

Near Corner Brook is Marble Mountain Ski Resort, a downhill skiing resort, and Blow-Me-Down trails, a cross country ski area. The Corner Brook Royals currently play in the West Coast Senior Hockey League and were the winners of the 1986 National Title, the Allan Cup. The Royals play their home games at the Corner Brook Civic Centre, formerly the Canada Games Centre. The arena was built in 1997 and was one of the main venues used when the city of Corner Brook hosted the 1999 Canada Games. Corner Brook was host of the Special Olympics Provincial Winter Games in February, 2011. The city also twice hosted Raid the North Extreme, a televised 6-day multi-sport expedition race held in wilderness locations across Canada, and was a leg of the ITU World Cup Triathlon. In 2004, Corner Brook hosted the annual World Broomball Championship.

Arts and culture

Grenfell Campus Arts and Science Extension August 2013

Corner Brook is home to Grenfell Campus, Memorial University where a strong arts community exists both within the school and well into the public. The campus houses the Grenfell Art Gallery. The Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre among other institutions thrive in promoting the arts on all levels from visual arts to theatre and well beyond. In 2015, the City's newest theatre and gallery, the Rotary Arts Centre opened. Theatre Newfoundland Labrador is Corner Brook's professional theatre company: founded in 1979 by the late

Maxim Mazumdar Maxim Mazumdar (27 January 1952 – 28 April 1988) was an Indo-Canadian playwright and director. He is known for his one-man show, '' Oscar Remembered'', which tells the story of the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde as seen from the persp ...

, it operates a year-round professional theatre company from its home base, Corner Brook. From September to May, their Sarah McDonald Youth Theatre offers classes in acting, stagecraft and music to youth aged 6 to 8 and produces a number of youth and community oriented productions in and around the city. From May to September it produces a professional repertory summer festival in Cow Head,

Gros Morne National Park Gros Morne National Park is a National Parks of Canada, Canadian national park and World Heritage Site located on the west coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Newfoundland. At , it is the second largest national park in Atlantic Canada after To ...

and regular national and international touring of plays like ''Tempting Providence'' by

Robert Chafe Robert Chafe (born 1971)
''Waterfront Views: Contemporary Writing of Atlantic Canada''. is a

, ''With Cruel Times in Between'' by Sarah McDonald, based on the various works by Al Pittman and ''Our Frances'' by Berni Stapleton. Corner Brook is home to

Gros Morne Summer Music Gros may refer to: People *Gros (surname) * Gross (surname), the German variant of Gros * Le Gros, the Norman variant of Gros Other uses * Gros (coinage), a type of 13th-century silver coinage of France * Gros (grape), another name for Elbling, ...

, a classical music festival that spans July and August. The Hangashore Folk Festival was a folk festival based in Corner Brook from 1980–1994. For 32 years, the March Hare literary festival ran every March and celebrated poetry and written works by poets and writers from around Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and the world. Atlantic Canada's largest poetry festival was founded in the late 1980s by poet and playwright Al Pittman, and Corner Brook author, historian Rex Brown. The last March Hare was held in 2018. Corner Brook is also home to the region's only community radio station, Bay of Islands Radio ( CKVB-FM 100.1, or BOIR). The station was previously only available online. However, the station received its broadcast licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on October 6, 2016, and commenced FM broadcasting on November 5, 2017. The radio station is located on Brook Street, in the city's downtown district.

Municipal government

The Corner Brook City Council has six

city councillor A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

s, in addition to a Mayor. The highest voting winning councillor becomes Deputy Mayor. The current mayor of the city is Jim Parsons. The deputy mayor is Linda Chaisson. Municipal elections in Corner Brook are held every four years, on the last Tuesday in September. In the 2021 municipal elections held on September 28, 2021, Jim Parsons was re-elected Mayor.

Transportation

Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads number ...

, the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

, passes the south side of the city on a high ridge before descending to the east, into the Humber Valley. The city is accessed by air services at Deer Lake Regional Airport, northeast. Corner Brook Transit is a privately operated local bus service. The city is also served by four taxi cab companies.

Climate

Corner Brook has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

( Dfb) typical of most of Newfoundland. It is warmer in summer than St. John's due to less maritime exposure, whereas winters are colder than in the provincial capital. In terms of its overall climate, it is quite maritime, especially taking into account how the climate is in mainland Canada on similar latitudes. Precipitation is heavy year-round, but highest in December and January and lowest in April and May, with relatively more dry, stable conditions extending into July many years. The Corner Brook area lies in an especially heavy snow belt because of cold Arctic air masses from mainland Canada, coming from the west or northwest, crossing the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and picking up moisture, resulting in "sea-effect" snow (similar to "lake effect" snow in US locations like Muskegon and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan). The "sea effect" snow comes in addition to the heavy snow that can accompany mid-latitude storms, called "nor'easters," that approach the area from the U.S. Northeastern and New England states. Such storms can bring high winds and heavy precipitation, with possibly-changing precipitation types in a single storm. The combination of intense winter storms and "sea effect" snow make December and January the wettest months on average in Corner Brook. In December and January combined, average snowfall reaches nearly .

Notable people

* Irma Gerd, Drag Queen who competed on Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 * Ian Arthur, politician * Keith Brown,

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

player *

Brian Byrne Brian Byrne (born January 13, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He was the second vocalist for the band I Mother Earth. Biography Brian joined his first band in Corner Brook in 1988, a hair-metal band called Pandemonium. The band al ...

, former lead singer of rock band

I Mother Earth I Mother Earth, or IME, is a Canadian rock band. The band formed in 1990 and reached its peak in popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s. After an eight-year hiatus, the band reunited in 2012. Between 1996 and 2016, I Mother Earth was among the top 15 ...

* Frank Coleman, businessman *

Allison Crowe Allison Louise Crowe (born November 16, 1981) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, whose home is Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador. History Crowe began performing professionally in 19 ...

, musician *

Donald B. Dingwell Donald Bruce Dingwell (born 1958) is a Canadian geoscientist who is the director of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Ordinarius for Mineralogy and Petrology of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He is also currentl ...

, scientist *

Gary Graham Gary Graham (born June 6, 1950) is an American actor, musician, and author. He may be best known for his starring role as Detective Matthew Sikes in the television series '' Alien Nation'' (1989–1990) and five subsequent ''Alien Nation'' televi ...

, music teacher, Order of NL recipient * Doug Grant, National Hockey League

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near ...

Bruce Grobbelaar Bruce David Grobbelaar (born 6 October 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most prominently for English team Liverpool between 1981 and 1994, and for the Zimbabwean national team. He is remembered fo ...

, former professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper * Susan Kent, actress * Jason King, National Hockey League player * Joe Lundrigan, National Hockey League player *

Adriana Maggs Adriana Maggs is a Canadian film and television actress, writer and director, best known for her debut feature film '' Grown Up Movie Star''.Trent McClellan, comedian * Dick Nolan, musician * Al Pittman, poet and playwright

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Newfoundland and Labrador Populated coastal places in Canada Populated places established in 1956