Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson proclaimed an amendment to the Constitution Thursday, officially changing Newfoundland's name to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Premier Roger Grimes was on hand for the ceremony in Ottawa, along with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and federal Industry Minister Brian Tobin, the former premier of Newfoundland who introduced the motion in the House of Commons to change the name of his home province.

The name change was approved by the Commons and the Senate earlier this fall.

Labrador and the adjacent island became the tenth Canadian province in 1949.

"The great northern peninsula of Newfoundland and the southern coast of Labrador are severed only by a passage nine to 18 miles wide, the Strait of Belle Isle..." Clarkson said after signing the amendment.

She said most of the people who live along the strait acknowledge it "might as well not be there" and that it's a body of water separating people who are "closely interwined."