Doris Saunders, the revered Labrador oral historian, passes away

Labrador and the rest of Canada suffered a great loss on May 28 with the passing of Doris Saunders, who founded and edited Them Days magazine.

A lot of important Labrador history and culture has been preserved thanks to her vision and commitment.

We can certainly be grateful for the way she insisted in writing out the words the same way they were spoken by our elderly Labradorians, many of them long gone.

These days, with mass media and ease of travel causing dialects to blend and English to be spoken for the ears of the general Anglo populace rather than for unique regions, we are fortunate that Doris captured a lot of the original Labrador vocabulary and parlance. (Labradorians are different than Newfoundlanders.)

It is ironic that Doris preserved the memories of so many Labradorians, yet lost her own memory through Alzheimer’s.

But she will not be forgotten.

Bob Mesher
Kuujjuaq