Looking at Quebec’s electoral map, the riding of Duplessis, located in the province’s Côte-Nord region, might not stand out in the minds of the majority of Quebecers.
While it ranks as the province’s second-largest riding in terms of sheer size, with a land area of 249,090.96 square kilometres, the region is sparsely populated.
According to Élections Québec, there are 37,073 people appearing on the electoral list, out of a population of just over 48,000, the majority of which are concentrated in the cities of Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier.
But a closer look at the district’s boundaries — as they appear on Élections Québec’s electoral map, at least — reveals a long-standing grievance held by Quebec.
That’s because the map, also used by the media, including CBC News, encompasses a swath of southern Labrador, showing it as being a part of Quebec.
Map shows portion of Labrador which is included in the Duplessis riding
In a statement to CBC News, Élections Québec spokesperson Gabriel Sauvé-Lesiège cited a historical dispute over a portion of the territory going back almost 100 years.
“In 1927, the Privy Council in London defined a land boundary between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador — a boundary that Quebec governments have never formally recognized,” he said.
“This explains why any map of Quebec produced by a public institution includes this part of the territory.”
The council had been asked to define Labrador’s coastal area to settle a dispute between Quebec, represented by Canada, and Newfoundland, which at the time was a Dominion of the British Empire.
The ruling favoured Labrador, placing the land border far inland to encompass the entire water basin of rivers flowing east into the Atlantic Ocean — including the Churchill Falls river system.
When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, this exact 1927 boundary was entrenched into the Canadian Constitution.
While Quebec government maps will include the boundary line, it often appears as a dotted line with a label saying it is either not definitive or not final, reflecting Quebec’s position that an injustice was committed.
What does the map mean for voters in the riding?
The issue of the riding map raises the question of who can vote in a Quebec provincial election.
Would a resident domiciled in Newfoundland and Labrador, but within the Duplessis riding’s limits, be eligible?
Élections Québec says that since the scenario is hypothetical, it can’t provide further details.
“Currently, no one living in this part of the territory is registered on Quebec’s permanent electoral list,” Sauvé-Lesiège said.
“Should such a situation arise, a thorough analysis would be required.”
According to Kathryn Furlong, a professor of geography at the University of Montreal, the inclusion of a portion of Labrador functions primarily as a political statement, rather than serving an active voting population.
“I think it is a constant, subtle message to people that this is something that belongs to the province of Quebec,” she said.
The part of Labrador that’s included in the riding of Duplessis is what Quebec defines as ultra petita, Furlong said — a Latin term for something that’s granted in a legal decision above and beyond what was initially asked for.
The disputed territory, she explains, “was not requested by Newfoundland during the border decision of 1927, but accorded to Newfoundland as part of that decision.”
Day 2 of the debate at the House of Assembly over the tentative new Churchill Falls deal saw the Liberals and PCs come together on one point. Both sides accused Hydro-Quebec of misrepresenting the boundary between N.L. and Quebec. The CBC’s Heather Gillis reports.
Border dispute as leverage
The area along the southern border of Labrador remains particularly coveted due to its hydroelectric potential.
It’s been a point of contention on both sides of the border for decades, as the line cuts through five major river systems flowing south into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Furlong said the border hasn’t been a real barrier to Quebec development in hydroelectricity, especially in the case of Churchill Falls, where costs are concentrated on one side of the border, and wealth and benefits on the other.
And because Labrador is geographically isolated, its resources typically have to pass through Quebec to reach the rest of Canada or the global market.
For Quebec, maintaining a policy of non-recognition — such as drawing a “non-definitive” border on provincial maps — has served as an ongoing tool for political and economic leverage, whether in terms of negotiating energy deals or stoking nationalism.
In June, the Parti Québécois published its Blue Book on sovereignty, a policy document describing an independent Quebec.
While the party acknowledges there’s “no legal recourse” to challenging the border decision, it says an independent Quebec would submit a claim for redress, as part of its overall negotiations with Canada.
“For Quebec, the only way to redress this injustice would be to propose a political settlement, or even financial compensation,” the document says in French.
For Furlong, who grew up in Labrador, the discourse surrounding the border and its mapping seems very aggressive.
“It feels that people who have by and large probably never set foot in Labrador and never will, claim a territory as theirs for the purposes of resource extraction, not for any kind of purpose of good governance.”
She says this is something that Newfoundland is also guilty of, and that Indigenous communities in Labrador often find themselves feeling squeezed between the interests of Newfoundland and Quebec.
While the border issue invariably surfaces around election time, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham reiterated that the “matter is not up for debate.”
In a statement to CBC News, the premier’s office noted that the “borders of Newfoundland and Labrador are clear and recognized” and the “issue was settled a long time ago by a binding and legal decision.”
