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Our
school is a part of District 400 which has 122 schools with a total of 44 000
students. Donald C. Jamieson, located in Burin on the Burin Peninsula, currently
has an enrolment of 403 students and offers grades K-7. Students attending
Donald C. Jamieson are bussed from the surrounding communities of Burin,
Epworth, Lewin's Cove, Port aux Bras, Winterland, Fox Cove, Mortier, Garnish and
Frenchman's Cove.
Our
school is named in honour of Donald C. Jamieson; a broadcaster, politician,
amateur writer and quite possibly in his time, Newfoundland's best known radio
and television personality. He worked for Newfoundland's Department of Rural
Reconstruction, as a bookkeeper, and as a sales manager for Coca-Cola before
starting a career in broadcasting.
In
1945, he became the first Newfoundlander to sit in the press gallery of the
Parliament of Canada, reporting on the negotiations that led to Canada inviting
Newfoundland to join Canadian Confederation. During the two referendums on the
question in 1948, Jamieson vehemently campaigned in opposition to Newfoundland
joining Canada, urging an economic union with the United States instead.
In
1951, he obtained a partnership with Geoff W. Stirling, for a new radio station
in St. John's. He eventually established a private radio network in
Newfoundland, and the island's first television station CJON-TV. He became
president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters in 1961, and remained in
that position for four years.
Jamieson
entered politics by successfully contesting a 1966 by-election as a candidate
for the Liberal Party of Canada. He was re-elected in the 1968 election ,and
joined the Cabinet of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as Minister of Defence
Production. In 1969, he became Minister of Transport retaining that portfolio
until 1972 when he became Minister of Regional Economic Expansion. In 1976, he
became Secretary of State for External Affairs. He was re-elected in the 1979
election that brought down the Liberal government. Jamieson then moved to
provincial politics, winning the leadership of the Newfoundland Liberal Party
one month before the June 1979 provincial election. Jamieson's Liberals were
defeated, and he resigned as provincial party leader in 1980.
In
1982, he was appointed Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and
served until 1985.He returned to Newfoundland to run his broadcasting interests
before dying of a heart attack in 1986.