Drawing Rooms

When the Newfoundland author, actor, and comedian Andy Jones considers his province’s fate, he will quip, “Future possible, possibly horrible.” (What he calls “FutPoss” for short.) And indeed, this sense of “future-pessimism” has been a consistent part of life on the Rock, as its people react to the ebbs and flows of the ocean that surrounds them. Europeans visited and later settled this place because of its unbelievable bounty of cod, but the moratorium brought the island’s major reason for existence to an abrupt halt in 1992, while destroying much of outport life. A few years later, the ocean yielded another economic boom — with a different offshore resource. But “possibly horrible” came with the recent volatility of oil prices.

What does a possible post-pandemic future — with high unemployment, a soaring cost of living, and dwindling tourism — mean for the culture of Newfoundland and Labrador? This is a question that Mireille Eagan ponders with Future...