This short documentary includes three vignettes about life off the coast of Newfoundland. In Island of Birds, we visit Green Island, a sea bird sanctuary where puffins frolic. In Caplin Harvest, little silvery fish called caplin spawn by washing ashore along the waves, making an easy catch for fishermen. In Outports on the Move, off-shore houses are pried loose from their foundation and floated to the Newfoundland mainland, where schools, hospitals, stores and services are available to the community.
Credits not available
Ages 12 to 17
Geography - Territory: Regional
Science - Biology
Social Studies - Communities in Canada/World
In a class discussion, compare the culture and lifestyle of Newfoundland as depicted in the film with what your students know of present-day Newfoundland. Discuss the narrator’s comment in the film, “… plenty of fish for everyone.” Is that statement accurate today? Detail the advantages and disadvantages of relocation of whole communities. Refer to the relocation of Africville in Nova Scotia in the 1960s and the negative impact it had on its residents.