The population of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is largely derived from settlers who migrated primarily from England and Ireland in the 1700s–1800s. This study analyzes 1,110 Y chromosomes from an NL cohort using 5,761 Y-specific SNPs to determine the paternal genetic structure. The majority (71.4%) belong to the R1b haplogroup, resembling English and Irish ancestral populations, with additional contributions from Basque, French, Portuguese, and Spanish populations. Observed population structure shows geographical and religious clustering associated with settlement patterns of predominantly Protestant English and Catholic Irish communities. Limited subsequent in-migration and geographic isolation contributed to the genetic substructure, supporting its classification as a founder population.

Heather Zurel, Claude Bhérer, Ryan Batten, Margaret E. MacMillan, Sedat Demiriz, Sadra Mirhendi, Edmund Gilbert, Gianpiero L. Cavalleri, Richard A. Leach, Roderick E. M. Scott, Gerald Mugford, Ranjit Randhawa, Alison L. Symington, J. Claiborne Stephens, Michael S. Phillips