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Category: Governance
Author: Holly Revollàn-Huelin
Date: October 31, 2025 — 8 min read
Part 2 of the "Nothing to do with Land" series. This article exposes how self-government frameworks in Newfoundland are quietly constructed long before public consultation begins. Through funding streams labeled “capacity building” and “governance readiness,” Ottawa lays the legal and administrative groundwork without ever invoking the word “land.” Using federal programs, REDBs, and cultural grants, it shows how culture is transformed into jurisdiction behind closed doors. Drawing on academic sources and recent examples from western Newfoundland, the piece argues that what locals believe is “just heritage” is often the first phase of a full governance framework under Section 35. In the end, it reveals how bureaucratic silence becomes a form of legal consent—and why public denial only accelerates the plan. Read More...
Category: Governance
Author: Holly Revollàn-Huelin
Date: October 28, 2025 — 9 min read
This article investigates how a little-known Newfoundland regulation—NLR 29/24—was quietly drafted in response to Tent City protests, then used against a 2024 fishing boat demonstration. It traces how moral protest over homelessness, food insecurity, and water rights was absorbed into administrative procedure and regulatory enforcement. Drawing on academic insights from Guo and Hogan, it reveals how Newfoundland’s dependency-driven governance system reframes dissent as a deliverable, and how both Left and Right use the same bureaucratic machinery to suppress public disruption. Ultimately, it argues that protest in Newfoundland is not silenced—it is funded, formatted, and contained. Read More...
Category: Governance
Author: Holly Revollàn-Huelin
Date: October 28, 2025 — 9 min read
In October 2025, a Facebook page tied to Benoit First Nation and Jasen Benwah — Penwaaq L’nu’k – Kji-Wikuom — assured readers that “self-government has nothing to do with private or Crown lands.” It’s a comforting line, but legally false. Every self-government framework in Canada is rooted in land, because once the federal government recognizes a community under section 35, the discussion automatically moves into Crown-land jurisdiction.This piece explains why Newfoundland’s situation is no exception, and how the recent Cowichan Tribes v. Canada ruling in British Columbia shattered the idea that private property sits beyond Indigenous title. As the courts redefine ownership and governments scramble to catch up, the gap between “theory” and “fact” isn’t measured in years anymore — sometimes, it’s only a few hours. Read More...
Category: Governance
Author: Holly Revollàn-Huelin
Date: September 29, 2025 — 9 min read
This article examines how political extremes have become the “new normal” in Newfoundland and Labrador, tracing their roots to fiscal bailout politics, the cod fishery collapse, and decades of boom–bust resource cycles. Economist Xinli Guo shows how soft budget constraints normalize fiscal brinkmanship, while Jessica Hogan’s comprehensive research links memories of the cod collapse, hydro megaproject overruns, mining bankruptcies, and offshore oil volatility to a cultural mindset of “sceptical optimism.” Combined with entrenched patronage politics and weak local institutions, these forces recast consensus as compliance and dissent as disloyalty, leaving communities trapped in cycles of hope and betrayal. The article argues that extremes are not random outbursts but systemic outcomes of Newfoundland’s political economy, and that naming this “unhinged” playbook is the first step toward restoring trust in moderation. Read More...
Category: Governance
Author: Holly Revollàn-Huelin
Date: September 29, 2025 — 7 min read
World Energy GH2 was promoted as Newfoundland’s leap into a clean-energy future, but it follows a well-worn cycle. From the cod collapse to Churchill Falls, Muskrat Falls, and offshore oil, megaprojects have been sold as salvation only to leave behind dependency, debt, and distrust. This article shows how WEGH2 repeated the pattern: weak municipal councils, shaped by soft budget constraints, lacked the power to push back; critics were sidelined as silence was branded “acceptance”; and Crown land was locked up before markets cooled. With the hydrogen boom faltering, communities now face the harm stage — stranded land and fading promises. Breaking this cycle will require stronger governance, transparent land use, and space for dissent, or Newfoundland risks adding hydrogen to its long list of hype-to-harm legacies. Read More...
Category: Governance
Author: Holly Revollàn-Huelin
Date: September 29, 2025 — 7 min read
This article examines how treaties and colonial paperwork in Newfoundland and Labrador have long served as tools of leverage for external powers rather than protections for local communities. From imperial agreements to the Churchill Falls contract, Muskrat Falls overruns, and the cod moratorium, paperwork has repeatedly shielded higher authorities while embedding risk and dependency at the local level. Today’s wind-hydrogen projects follow the same trajectory: communities are invited into consultation but left without enforceable leverage. The result is symbolic recognition on paper, but little in the way of material empowerment. Read More...
