By Mark Squibb | Vol 8 No. 2 (Jan. 30, 2019)
Mount Pearl’s Gordon Slade, along with seven others were invested into the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador, the province’s highest honour, during a ceremony at Government House on Jan. 29.
“I was out walking on the trails here in Mount Pearl, when I got this call from the Lieutenant Governor, who I know because he used to live down the street from me,” said Slade, who received the call the first week of January.
“I was surprised, and pretty honoured, to be someone who would receive that kind of award.”
Hailing from North Harbour in Placentia Bay, Slade has always been interested in the fishery and ocean, which led to an appointment as provincial Deputy Minister of Fisheries with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1975.
As Slade watched over the years, he saw rural, coastal buildings that had stood for hundreds of years being torn down and replaced with metal buildings that had functionality but no architectural value.
“My view, was that we really have to save, for future generations, some representation of how we lived and worked,” said Slade.
“So I became really determined as an individual that we have to do something.”
In 1988, Slade established The Battle Harbour Historic Trust to preserve the historical fishing village.
Today, Battle Harbour is a registered National Historic Site, visited by tourists across the world.
Slade was awarded a Royal Canadian Geographical Society Gold Medal for his efforts.
He joked that one time in Battle Harbour, an elderly man approached him about his work.
“He said, ’I don’t know what you’re doing here. Old buildings, you tear them down, and you make something out of them if the wood is any good.”
“And I said to him, ‘If we do this right in Battle Harbour, it will be more important than the fish harbour in Mary’s Harbour.”
He has since been involved in heritage preservations in Red Bay and Bonavista.
“You got a really good appreciation of the importance of keeping our history, as much of it as we can, because future generations need to know how the people that came over here from England and Ireland, how did they live for the first centuries, and what kind of buildings did they work in, and how did the houses look?” said Slade.
“If we didn’t have these places, you wouldn’t be able to tell the generations of today how their forefathers and their foremothers lived, how they survived.”
He said that his efforts were guided by a sense of necessity, an urgency and a need to act, not just talk.
Gordon Slade of Mount Pearl was one of eight to be invested into the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador during a Jan. 29 ceremony at Government House.
“What can I do for Newfoundland and Labrador to preserve the unique culture and heritage? What can I do? I got to do more than talk about it. I got to be a part of it,” he said. “You’re actually involved. You’re in the buildings. You’re talking to the historians. You’re learning, and you get a sense that this is important.”
Slade explained that our heritage is unique in its construction. As a province settled by immigrants, there is no singular point of cultural origin.
“So many of the Irish lived in this community, and so many of the English lived in that community, but they worked together out on the fishing grounds, and when they sold fish and so on,” explained
“So, these individual communities were a little different than other places in Canada. So, Newfoundland had a community heritage that was its own in a sense. So, Fogo Island … and say, Trepassey, they are different. And they were different. And the people came from different places. So, we have something really special here, that you would not have in Ontario, or in other places in the country.
“So, we built heritage on this community basis, and it enabled us to have this character, this ‘Newfoundland character’ I call it, that is distinctive in Canada.”
Currently, Slade is an active member of the Shorefast Foundation, committed to preserving the cultural and economical identity of Fogo Island.
One aspect of the foundation is the New Ocean Ethic, dedicated to ocean health.
Slade has introduced a number of initiatives that Fogo residents can do to improve the health of the ocean, including introducing reusable bags, cod pots, and more.
“If coastal communities around the world did the kind of things we’re doing in Fogo Island for the ocean, we would be doing something significant about the health of the ocean,” he said. “It’s communities that will make the difference.”
Slade has been awarded numerous esteemed awards over the year, including the Order of Canada, the Tourism Association of Canada Award of Excellence ‘Volunteer of the Year for Canada’, the Royal Canadian Geographical Association Gold Medal, and more.
