Newfoundland Joined Canada 75 Years Ago, Yet It Remains in Many Ways a Land Apart

Alma Gale, 90, is one of the last people alive who remembers what life was like in Newfoundland before it became part of Canada. March 31 will mark 75 years since Newfoundland and Labrador joined Confederation, and Ms. Gale recalls what life was like before and after. Many communities were isolated before federal funds helped build roads. And Ms. Gale rarely went beyond her own small community of Millville, in the Codroy Valley area of the southwest coast of Newfoundland. As a teenager, she would sometimes walk several miles to a dance, where a single musician on a single instrument would play tunes for waltzes and square dancing. That instrument was the accordion—or “accordeen” as it’s pronounced in the area....