Tod MaffinCanadian Commentator, From Far and Wide · Emotional Support Canadian

Most Canadians celebrate the day Newfoundland mourns

30 Jun 2026 · 3 min

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2:47

In this spoken piece, Tod Maffin explains why July 1 holds a unique dual meaning in Newfoundland and Labrador. The morning commemorates the devastating loss of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment at the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916, where 710 of 801 men became casualties—a 91% loss rate, the highest of any unit that day. At that time Newfoundland was a separate Dominion of the British Empire, not yet part of Canada, and it observed this day as a day of mourning for 33 years before joining Confederation in 1949, after which July 1 also became Canada Day. Maffin describes the preserved battlefield in northern France, the bronze caribou monument marking the regiment’s position, and the Royal prefix awarded by King George V. He also recounts the recent entombment of a Royal Newfoundland Regiment Unknown Soldier in St. John's, accompanied by 820 forget‑me‑not flowers—one for each Newfoundlander who served without a known grave—highlighting how grief evolves into ceremony and then into a shared identity for the province.

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While the rest of Canada will be setting off fireworks tomorrow, Newfoundland will be doing something else entirely. July 1st in Newfoundland and Labrador is sort of two days in one. The morning is Memorial Day, the afternoon is Canada Day, and the reason for that split is one of the most devastating 30 minutes in the history of this country. July 1st, 1916, the Battle of the Somme, day one. The 1st Newfoundland Regiment went over the top around 9:15 in the morning. They had to cross more than 200 meters of open ground just to reach their own front line. The previous waves had already been cut down. The German wire had not been cut. The week-long bombardment had not done what the commanders promised that it would do—clear the wire. But the men advanced anyway. By 9:45 that morning, it was over. Of the 801 men who went into action, 710 became casualties. The regiment's 91% loss rate, according to official histories, was second only to one other battalion across the the entire Somme that day. When those men died, Newfoundland wasn't part of Canada. It was its own Dominion of the British Empire with a population of about 240,000 people. It didn't join Confederation until 1949, so July 1st was a day of mourning there for 33 years before it ever became Canada Day for them. You can still walk the preserved battlefield today. It's in northern France, about 40 acres of land bought in the early 1920s after the regiment's Catholic priests spent years negotiating with 250 French landowners. At the highest point stands a great bronze caribou, the emblem of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, facing the old German lines. King George V awarded the regiment the Royal prefix a year after the battle while the war was still being fought. It was the only regiment in the entire British Dominion and Indian armies to receive that honour during the First World War.
Please stand for the arrival of the Unknown Soldier.
Two years ago, a century after the National War Memorial in St. John's was first unveiled, Newfoundland entombed an Unknown Soldier there. A Royal Newfoundland Regiment soldier brought back from the battlefield. 820 forget-me-not flowers were placed over the casket, one for each Newfoundlander who served and has no known grave. Grief, they say, tended long enough, becomes ceremony. Ceremony, tended long enough, becomes identity.