Where Can You Find 460,000 Newfies?

Answer: Just go to Google.

While reading an article about Newfoundland and Labrador tourism this week I came across a line in the piece that noted the large number of web sites still using the slanderous term, “Newfie” in either their title or prominently in the content.

This piqued my curiosity of course so I decided to take a look for myself.

A quick search on Google confirmed the article’s assertion by turning up more than 460,000 web sites matching the query “Newfie”.

I have to admit to being more than a little shocked. I knew the term was still in use, even after so many people have finally begun to see it for the bigoted slur it is, but I never suspected it was as widely accepted as it still appears to be. Not in the twenty first century.

Perhaps my saddest realization was that some of the web sites in question appear to have been, believe it or not, developed by well meaning people either living in, or formerly from, Newfoundland and Labrador.

These sites often discuss everything from Newfoundland and Labrador history and culture to family backgrounds or local cuisine. Believe it or not the creators seem completely oblivious to the derogatory stereotype they’re perpetuating on their own people.

They also fail to understand the irony of what they’re doing.

When Newfoundlanders themselves display such an obvious ignorance of the connotations of that particular term they help perpetuate the long standing Canadian tradition of “Newfie” jokes and the stereotype of the “Stupid Newfie”.

There is no question about it.

How intelligent can someone be who refers to themselves in such a belittling way without even realizing they’re doing it?

These sorts of misguided people, and the web sites they run, are bad enough but there are others out there far more disturbing. Some even border on outright hate mongering.

On visiting some of the links I discovered blogs and forums where people, most of whom are from other parts of Canada, gleefully spend their time defending the use of the word Newfie with whatever convoluted logic their limited brain capacity can muster.

On one such site, I found comments like, “…most Newfoundlanders are smart enough to NOT bite the hand that feeds them”. Clearly making the argument that that it’s OK to belittle Newfoundlanders because without the financial support of Canada “Newfies” would starve to death.

In other words, “We keep you fed (which is not true) so we damn well have the right to call you whatever we want” (also not true).

Never mind that by saying Canadians are supporting the “Newfies” these neophytes are also suggesting that they don’t see Newfoundlanders as being Canadians.

This may not be too far from the truth since the Province has never been treated like an equal partner in Canada since Confederation, but that’s a subject for another article.

Clearly the people who perpetuate these myths have one brain cell between them and, on the day that specific bigoted comment was made, it clearly wasn’t the writer’s turn to use it.

Another example of outright Newfoundland and Labrador stereotyping, whether intentional or not, can be found at the site of the Goofie Newfie Restaurant at 105 Queen St. West in Fergus, Ontario.

Here we find online advertising for a pub and restaurant using the name “Goofie Newfie” in an effort to attract and serve bigoted or uneducated clientele living in Ontario.

The proprietors, whether former Newfoundlanders or not, are clearly quite happy to pander to the lowest common denominator in an effort to sell a few chicken wings and make a quick buck, regardless of the harm they’re doing to an entire culture.

I wonder if they would be as willing to sell those hot wings at an establishment called the “Nasty N*gger”?

Perhaps they might expand their business to one day offer a nice bagel at the “Jittery Jew” or a fruit salad at the “Fancy Fag”.

I seriously doubt they would but the “Goofie Newfie”, that’s just fine in their books.

These are just a small sampling of what’s considered acceptable and what is being said every day about the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

With nearly half a million web sites (a number that rivals the entire population of the province itself) it’s impossible to know what other, perhaps even more disgusting, dangerous or destructive uses of this, or similar, terms are actually out there.

After so many years of hearing the “N” word you’d think I’d be used to it but I can’t bring myself to quietly accept it. In many ways it comes across to me as being reminiscent of the old south and I simply don’t like it.

It’s disturbing to realize that after decades of paying Canadian taxes, helping build the national economy, providing workers for the factories, mills and oil fields of the nation, supplying raw materials such as ore, oil and timber to the rest of Canada and after consistently filling the ranks of the Canadian forces with nearly ten times more personnel than the province’s population would suggest it should, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are still treated with such open contempt.

It’s perhaps even more disheartening that all too often it’s Newfoundlanders and Labradorians themselves who are continuing to spread the term by buying into the bigotry, or buckling under its onslaught, and simply accepting that it’s somehow OK to be demeaned and belittled in this way.

The New "Newfie" Joke

Newfoundland and Labrador premier, Danny Williams, was quoted recently as saying, “The days of the newfie jokes are over”, in reference to his province no longer being a recipient of equalization payments. Not so fast Mr. Williams, it seems you spoke too soon.

For decades the people of Newfoundland and Labrador have been belittled, ridiculed, condescended to and laughed at without regard for feelings or facts. The province has been derided and demeaned like no other in the federation, simply because of circumstances largely beyond its control, that forced them to accept federal equalization payments to offset a weakened economy.

The days of having to accept those funds are over, unfortunately the habit of mocking and putting down the province and its people as “stupid newfies” and worse is something that has not gone away and in fact is getting more rabid every day.

For as long as the equalization program has been around and up until just a few weeks ago, very few Canadians cared much about the system or how it worked. Mind you many of them, especially those in Ontario, knew it existed and knew that Newfoundland and Labrador was a recipient, thus the verbal attacks, but beyond that equalization was something they could have cared less about. This is not the case today.

What happened? Why has equalization suddenly become so important to people standing around the water coolers of Bay Street or in the streets of Toronto?

The answer is simple. Ontario is now a recipient while Newfoundland and Labrador is not.

No longer is Newfoundland and Labrador the one talking about equalization and its potential effects (both for good and for bad). It’s now Ontario that is directly impacted by the issue.

When the people of Newfoundland and Labrador spoke out for decades about the impacts of the federal program, calling for its overhaul and for a more balanced approach to meeting the goals of the program nobody listened. They simply brushed asided any talk from, to quote Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente “Canada’s scenic welfare ghetto”.

Now that Ontario is on the receiving end of the calculation suddenly the program has become the single most important issue in Canadian politics and is fast becoming a disaster for the nation.

It seems that with the advent of Ontario’s new “have not” status, which is based solely on a numbers game, not reality, a new means of attacking the people of Newfoundland and Labrador has moved to the forefront.

No longer can Ontarians feel good about themselves by simply complaining about how Newfoundland and Labrador is a “drain on Canada” or how those “lazy newfies always want suckle at Ottawa’s teat”. That form of attack will no longer fly.

Instead they’ve opted for the only avenue left open to them that allows them to collect federal handouts yet still feel good about it, at the expense of Canada’s perennial door mat.

The new way of attacking Newfoundland and Labrador is by comparing it to Ontario and bemoaning any federal equalization formula that is so distasteful it would dare make it appear that Newfoundland and Labrador is no longer the lowest rung on the federation ladder.

In the words of Ontario opposition leader, Bob Runciman, “It’s hard to swallow the concept of being Newfoundland’s poor cousin. We’re used to being the bread winners in Confederation…not welfare recipients or whiners”, no doubt tarring the people of Newfoundland and Labrador as being the latter.

Open any major paper in Ontario or across Canada, whether it be the Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star or a host of others and you’ll find exactly the same sort of rhetoric that has been published ever since 1949. The thing of it is, with Newfoundland and Labrador having cast off the stigma that comes with equalization the disdain has not dissipated but has instead been turned up a notch in an effort to console the poor folks in Canada’s heartland.

In the past few days alone there have been several articles and commentaries that would make the hair stand up on the neck of any Newfoundlander or Labradorian. The verbiage is outright hostile and it's clearly intended to put "those newfies back in their place”.

One article I read recently noted, “…the hare (Ontario) is scratching his head wondering how the tortoise (that would probably be Newfoundland) crossed the finish line ahead of him.”

Other articles ponder the question, “… how is it that Ontario is a “have not” province and Newfoundland and Labrador is a “have”?” It goes on to provide an even more clearly aimed slap to Canada’s newest “have” province by stating, “Just how Ontario -- once as sturdy as your grandfather's house -- got laid so low is best left for speculation.”

Indeed, the days of ridiculing and demeaning the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are far from over. The jokes may taste more bitter on the tongues of the tellers these days, but the need of many Ontarians to keep anti-Newfoundland and Labrador sentiment alive, in a pathetic attempt to inflate their own egos, is alive and well.

There is little doubt that when Danny Williams unveils his plan for a celebration of his province's new found status the anger now showing itself will only intensify.

I can hear it now, “How dare Newfoundland and Labrador celebrate at a time when the very Ontarians who paid their way for so long are suffering so greatly?”

Fortunately for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, most have lived with the disdain and slurs of “mainlanders” for so long that it’s become little more than a dull hum in the bacground. White noise if you will.

There is no doubt the party will proceed as planned even if Dalton McGuinty himself is forced to stand in a welfare line, hat in hand, to collect a cheque.

By the way, if any of the fine folks of Ontario happen to be in Newfoundland and Labrador this summer let me be the first to invite you to what will surely be an event to remember.

It might do you good to get out of Ontario for a while and forget about your troubles.

As always, you’re more than welcome to join us.

They're Just Newfies...

In March of 2006 I penned a commentary for Web Talk, which was picked up and carried by other media outlets. The piece was entitled, “Newfies, Niggers and Other Terms of Endearment”. The opening paragraph read as follows:

As a proud Newfoundlander it makes my skin crawl and my blood pressure spike whenever I hear people use the word “Newfie” in a derogatory way. I’ve come to see this word in the same way I see words like “Nigger”, “Kyke” or “Polack”. Each of those words is extremely disturbing to hear, just as disturbing to commit to paper and I hope even more disturbing for you to read.

I felt that way then and I feel it even more so today. Newfie, Polish and Black jokes, to name a few, have been around for generations.

They are not funny in any way, shape or form.

These jokes serve no purpose other than to make the uninformed and bigoted jokester feel superior by demeaning and belittling a recognizable group of people.

Every time an individual belittles an entire segment of the population it does a great deal of harm in society in general and the tendrils of their words, though they don’t often realize it, have far reaching effects well beyond their little circle of acquaintances.

Most cultures, ethnic groups and races understood long ago how harmful the underlying message behind this dark humor actually is and how damaging it can be.

In standing up for their rights and their dignity certain segments of our society forced Canada’s political leaders to enact laws to address the issue. Although this legislation may not have been successful in fully removing such damaging speech from society at least it has been relegated it to the darkest corners and the public has become fully aware of the need to avoid using them.

Newfoundlanders are the exception.

For as long as Newfie jokes have been around most Newfoundlanders have either kept silent on the issue, brushed it off as harmless fun or worse yet, laughed along under the misguided belief that “no harm was meant”. I beg to differ.

If someone at a social gathering today were to suddenly say, “By the way, did you here the one about the three Niggers who walked into a bar”, that person would immediately be labeled a racist and shunned by everyone around them, and rightfully so.

If, on the other hand, the term “Newfie” were substituted for “Nigger” we would find a room full of people hanging on the speaker’s every word and waiting for a punch line that inevitably portrays how stupid they believe Newfies to be.

I know there are those who honestly believe there is nothing wrong with the term “Newfie” but the truth is just the opposite. By letting the term continue to be used in civilized society the stereotype of the “goofy newfie” or “stupid newfie” is perpetuated.

As the roots of any stereotype spread and grow ever deeper the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable language in our society expands outward to its extreme limits.

A case in point is an incident that happened just 2 years ago, when a police officer in Edmonton saw nothing wrong with officially stating one of the reasons he detained someone as because, “He is a newphie”.

What does that tell you about how harmful such stereotypes can be?

As recently as this week reports have surfaced that T-shirts are now appearing that depict the words, “Save a Seal, Kill a Newfie”. Is that supposed to be funny and why is it considered acceptable?

If the T-shirt read, “Save your Neighborhood, Kill a Nigger” or “Save your Money, Kill a Jew” would it be laughed off as easily? Would that be acceptable in today’s society?

Such a statement, using a term denoting any other group of people besides Newfoundlanders, would be considered hate speech and those promoting such hatred would be investigated and charged under the criminal code of Canada. Not so in this case.

Unfortunately the term Newfie is considered acceptable right across the Country. It, and the stereotype it promotes, has become so entrenched in the Canadian language that many people actually see Newfoundlanders as being inferior.

This is the real damage that the term brings with it. That’s why those who are the victims of T-shirts that say, “Save a Seal, Kill a Newfie” simply don’t matter.

They’re just Newfies.