Coming on the 70th anniversary of Newfoundland joining Confederation, as well as the 150th anniversary of its first rejection of Canada, Where Once They Stood challenges popular notions that those who voted against Confederation in 1869 and for union with Canada in 1948 were uninformed, incompetent, ignorant, and gullible. Raymond Blake and Melvin Baker demonstrate that, in fact, voters fully understood the issues at stake in both cases, and in 1948 women may have been instrumental in determining the final outcome, voting for Canada, believing it provided the best opportunities for their children.

Raymond B. Blake is Professor of History at the University of Regina and formerly Director of the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy. His books include Trajectories of Rural Life: New Perspectives on Rural Canada, co-edited with Andrew Nurse (2003), and Canadians at Last: Canada Integrates Newfoundland as a Province (1994 and 2004).

Raymond B. Blake's profile page

Melvin Baker received a PhD in History from the University of Western Ontario and has published extensively in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Newfoundland history. He is currently Archivist-Historian for Memorial University.

Melvin Baker's profile page