For visitors who are not familiar with us, Newfoundland and Labrador is a province of Canada and is situated at the eastern edge of North America.  A province of Canada since 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador was first inhabited by aboriginal people thousands of years ago, was visited by the Vikings in the year 1000, was visited by John Cabot in 1497, and became Britain’s first colony in 1583. The population is approximately 510,000 in a land mass of 405,720 sq km. Our settlement patterns were largely dictated by access to the fishery, and virtually all our communities are still on the coast. While the fishery continues to play a very important role, the Province has a diversified economy based on oil and gas, mining, agriculture, manufacturing, and professional services.

The Rural Secretariat was established in 2004 and acts as a focal point within government and with communities to advance the sustainable development of our regions. Among the ten Canadian provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador has the largest portion of its population living in rural areas, and indeed, even the capital city of St. John’s with a population of just under 100,000 is small in comparison to most cities. However, both the capital city and other cities and towns in the Province boast access to high standards of health, education, cultural and recreational services.

As a government, we are committed to sharing information, building knowledge, and planning and working cooperatively with citizens to develop solutions to the challenges and opportunities that face rural areas. Part of the work of the Rural Secretariat is to provide access or links to information. The Rural Secretariat has divided the Province into nine regions, each with a number of larger and smaller communities – the regional maps show the location of communities and services, including hospitals, schools, airports, ferry terminals, large retail outlets, and post secondary institutions. Over time, we hope these maps will be updated to reflect other assets available in a region like parks, historic sites, mineral deposits, etc.

The Rural Secretariat also works closely with the Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency to develop and maintain the Community Accounts. The Community Accounts is an awards winning information system that provides users with access to community level data on a wide range of social and economic indicators. This system is the first of its kind in Canada, and has received national and international attention for the innovative way it provides citizens and policy makers with access to information.

Our website is good only if people find it useful or informative. We would welcome your opinions on the site, on what additional information you would like to see, or post pictures you have of our rural areas. You can contact us at 729-0168.  We hope you enjoy your visit to this site – come back again soon and see the changes we will continue to make to the information.