-AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPHER EDITOR JOURNALIST-
Michael Friis Johansen
Hidden City Canada
A two-year-long inquiry established in 2016 to find out why more than 1,000 aboriginal women had been killed in Canada between 1980 and 2012, released its final report on June 3, concluding that "persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause" for the murderous violence. One impetus for the inquiry was the strangling of a Labrador Inuk woman whose death sparked a demonstration on Parliament Hill in Ottawa within weeks. See photos. Read archived story.
Many hours drive north from Quebec's Manic 5 hydroelectric dam and south from the border of Labrador, Route 389 widens enough to create a parking lot that forms the start of a narrow footpath leading to the peak of Uapishka, which had for some years been called Mount Groulx. Soon after they head down the trail, hikers find something surprising: artwork everywhere among the trees and a small collection of unique buildings to use and admire. See photos. Read archived story.
Agriculture has never been an easy undertaking in the subarctic territory of Labrador, but Labradorians have nevertheless been coaxing things to grow in the sparse soil for centuries. Those efforts continue today, with large farms being cut out of the forest in Central Labrador, but at least until a few years ago the main hindrances have come from provincial bureaucracy and not from the climate. See photos. Read archived story.
Roads across the northeastern Canadian territory of Labrador are a relatively new sight, with many of its more remote communities still cut off from the rest of the country. The main highways that now link Happy Valley-Goose Bay with Quebec to the west and the Labrador Straits to the south are only a handful of years old. They still suffer growing pains.