Labrador City is a town in western

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

(part of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nor ...

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 ...

), near the

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

border. With a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 7,412 as of 2021, it is the second-largest population centre in Labrador, behind

Happy Valley-Goose Bay Happy Valley-Goose Bay (Inuit: ''Vâli'') is a town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Located in the central part of Labrador on the coast of Lake Melville and the Churchill River, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest pop ...

. Neighbouring Labrador City is Wabush, a smaller town with a population of approximately 1,964 as of 2021. Together, the "twin towns" are known as

Labrador West Labrador West (2013 pop.: 10,319) refers to a region in western Labrador in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador containing the twin towns of Labrador City and Wabush. The area is located in the southwest corner of Labrador, near the ...

. In the 1960s, Labrador City was founded to accommodate employees of the Iron Ore Company of Canada, and iron ore

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

continues to be the primary industry in the town. The Labrador City town

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. M ...

is ''Kamistiatusset'', a Naskapi word meaning "land of the hard-working people." The Labrador City town crest is that of a snowy owl holding a scroll atop a black spade on a mound of red earth. The symbol represents iron ore mining. The spade is flanked by two

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

. Both snowy owls and caribou are native to the Labrador City area.

Government

Belinda Adams was appointed as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

in 2022. Since a 2013 by-election, the federal riding of

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

seat has been held by

Yvonne Jones Yvonne Jean Jones (born March 15, 1968) is a Canadian politician in Newfoundland and Labrador, who was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election on May 13, 2013. She represents the district of Labrador as a member of the Liberal ...

, a Liberal Party member, while New Democrat Jordan Brown has represented

in the provincial

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony adm ...

since 2019. In 2017, MHA Graham Letto and Labrador City Mayor Wayne Button stated that the municipal governments of Labrador City and Wabush are looking into the idea of amalgamation.

Economy

Labrador City was built around the rich iron ore deposits of the Labrador Trough by the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) in the 1960s. The Carol Project is the major iron ore mining operation for the area. In 2008, IOC and their parent company Rio Tinto announced they would spend $800 million to develop additional mines in the region. However, only a few months after announcing the second phase of their expansion, the project was shelved due to the economic recession and low demand for steel. With the world recovering from the economic crisis, it is believed that IOC will go ahead with their expansion in the near future. The town is serviced by the Wabush Airport, and the airlines flying out of the airport are

Provincial Airlines Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

Air Inuit Air Inuit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᖃᖓᑦᑕᔪᖏᑦ) is an airline based in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada. It operates domestic passenger services and charter and cargo services in Nunavik, Labrador and ...

and Pascan Aviation. Additionally, the

Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway The Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway is a private Canadian regional railway that stretches through the wilderness of northeastern Quebec and western Labrador. It connects Labrador City, Labrador, with the port of Sept-Îles, Quebec, ...

provides freight rail transportation to and from Sept-Îles. The Trans-Labrador Highway ( Route 500) serves as the only road connection to Labrador City, connecting it with the rest of Labrador as well as the neighbouring province of Quebec, becoming Quebec Route 389 at the border. The town contains an ice arena, the Labrador City Arena and a ski club, the Menihek Nordic Ski Club. The main shopping centre in the town, the Labrador Mall, includes a

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

; there is also an

IGA Iga may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Ambush at Iga Pass, a 1958 Japanese film * Iga no Kagemaru, Japanese manga series * Iga, a set of characters from the Japanese novel '' The Kouga Ninja Scrolls'' Biology * ''Iga'' (beetle), a g ...

grocery store. Owned by the Westcliff Group, the mall opened in 1978 and is the largest shopping mall in Labrador; it is also the only enclosed mall.History of Labrador City
, ''LabradorWest.com'', Retrieved February 7, 2011Labrador Mall
, Westcliff.ca, Retrieved February 7, 2011(22 November 2010)
Concerns turn to action
''The Aurora'' There is a Masonic lodge in Labrador City, Lodge Anik No 1707 of the District Grand Lodge of Newfoundland and Labrador of the

Grand Lodge of Scotland The Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland is the governing body of Freemasonry in Scotland. It was founded in 1736. About one third of Scotland's lodges were represented at the foundation meeting of the Grand Lodge. Hist ...

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 ...

, Labrador City 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.

Attractions

* Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help

Climate

Wabush and Labrador City has a

continental subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

( Köppen: ''Dfc''), with mild summers and severely cold winters. Precipitation is heavy year round (although higher in summer) due to the strong

Icelandic Low The Icelandic Low is a semi-permanent centre of low atmospheric pressure found between Iceland and southern Greenland and extending in the Northern Hemisphere winter into the Barents Sea. In the summer, it weakens and splits into two centres, ...

to the east driving cold, moist and unstable air onto the region. Snowfall, as is typical for the province, is very heavy for seven months each year and depths can reach as high as . Despite its moderate latitude around the same as cities like

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, its annual mean temperature is colder.

Notable residents

Notable former residents of Labrador City include: * Damhnait Doyle, singer-songwriter *

Margot Kidder Margaret Ruth Kidder (October 17, 1948 – May 13, 2018), known professionally as Margot Kidder, was a Canadian-American actress whose career spanned five decades. Her accolades include three Canadian Screen Awards and one Daytime Emmy A ...

, actress * Dan LaCosta,

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 ...

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 ...

* Pascal Pelletier, National Hockey League player *

Chad Penney Chadwick Paul Penney (born September 18, 1973) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. A career minor leaguer, Penney played three games in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators during the 1993–94 season. Penney was hi ...

, National Hockey League player * Mark Nichols, 2006 Turin Olympics gold medallist curler

References

External links

*
Labrador West website

The Aurora
newspaper (published by

Transcontinental Transcontinental may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Transcontinental", a song by the band Pedro the Lion from the album ''Achilles Heel'' * TC Transcontinental, a publishing, media and marketing company based in Canada, a subsidiary o ...

)
Labrador City - Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, vol. 3, p. 221-222.
{{coord, display=title, name=Labrador City, 52, 57, N, 66, 55, W 1960s establishments in Newfoundland and Labrador Mining communities in Newfoundland and Labrador Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador