Joey Smallwood

Joseph Roberts Smallwood was born in Gambo, Newfoundland, and worked as a journalist in New York and London before becoming a beloved radio host on the Newfoundland network with his program The Barrelman, celebrating island folklore and self-reliance.

When a national convention was called in 1946 to determine Newfoundland's constitutional future, Smallwood led the ferocious campaign for union with Canada. Narrowly winning the historic 1948 referendum with 52 percent of the vote, he signed the Terms of Union, bringing Newfoundland into Confederation on March 31, 1949, and serving as its first Premier for twenty-three years as 'the only living Father of Confederation'.