Innovation, Trade and Rural Development
Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs
November 22, 2007

Rigolet Receives Funding to Re-create Lord Strathcona House

The Town of Rigolet, Labrador has received funding from the Provincial Government to construct a replica of a Hudson Bay Trading Company building and complete a boardwalk. Rigolet will receive a total of $126,809 from the Regional/Sectoral Diversification Fund to replicate the Lord Strathcona House and complete a 4.4 kilometre boardwalk begun in 1999.

"Rigolet was often the first port of call for Europeans traveling to the New World to fish and hunt seals in the 18th and 19th centuries," said the Honourable Trevor Taylor, Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development. "These projects are an important addition to the region�s tourism infrastructure and will help tell the story of Rigolet�s role in the history of this country."

"I am pleased that the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development will be proceeding with this program," said the Honourable Patty Pottle, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. �It will provide Rigolet with the opportunity to retell a part of its vibrant and rich Aboriginal history. This is a significant investment to develop local tourism in the area and along the north coast which will provide a significant benefit to the community."

The Honourable John Hickey, Minister of Labrador Affairs, said he is proud to be part of a Provincial Government that recognizes the importance of preserving Labrador's rich history.

"There are countless benefits to this project, not the least of which is ensuring future generations are exposed to what Labrador once was," said Minister Hickey.

The Lord Strathcona House was once one of 25 Hudson Bay buildings in Rigolet that housed supplies for the Hudson Bay fur trading posts and forts in the north. The original building was torn down in the 1920s and the new facility will serve as an interpretation centre, tourist information site, archival display and storage facility. Many of Rigolet�s artifacts from the Hudson Bay era are now housed in The Rooms in St. John�s and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. This new facility will allow them to be repatriated.

"Our mandate is to efficiently serve the needs of the town so as to maintain a steady flow of development and economic growth in a fiscally-responsible way," says Sarah Blake, town manager, Rigolet. "This project will create immediate construction jobs, and once the structure is completed it will create positions for three people including an archivist, which will help increase tourism to the area."

Boardwalks are part of the history of Rigolet and were used in the 1800s to connect the various Hudson Bay buildings in the community. The town has been developing the waterfront area since 1999 when it began a boardwalk of two kilometres, and it will now continue it to the top of Burnt Cove with additional lookout areas, a picnic area and a gazebo. The board walk will also serve as an interpretative trail allowing hikers to view former World War II sites and, at its final destination at Burnt Cove, an historic salmon factory.

The Regional/Sectoral Diversification Fund is a $5 million fund of the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development and a component of the province�s Comprehensive Regional Diversification Strategy. The fund provides non-repayable contributions to economic development agencies for initiatives that address regional and sectoral development and diversification.

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Media contacts:

Scott Barfoot
Director of Communications
Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural
Development
709-729-4570, 690-6290
ScottBarfoot@gov.nl.ca
Lori Lee Oates
Director of Communications
Aboriginal Affairs
709-729-3733, 690-8403
oatesll@gov.nl.ca 
David Salter
Director of Communications
Labrador Affairs
709-729-3015, 691-3577
davidsalter@gov.nl.ca
 

2007 11 22                                                            10:55 a.m.

 


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