well as Francophones who settled on the Port au Port Peninsula on Newfoundland. Languages The inhabitants speak French; their customs and traditions are similar to the ones found in metropolitan France. The French spoken on the archipelago is closer to Metropolitan French than to Canadian French and maintains a number of unique features. Basque, formerly spoken in private settings by people of Basque ancestry, had disappeared from the islands by the late 1950s. Religion The population is overwhelmingly Christian, with the majority being Roman Catholic. The Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Iles Saint-Pierre and Miquelon used to manage the local church until it was merged into the French diocese of La Rochelle and Saintes in 2018. Culture Every summer there is a Basque Festival, which has demonstrations of harrijasotzaile (stone heaving), aizkolari (lumberjack skills), and Basque pelota. The local cuisine is mostly based on seafood such as lobster, snow crab, mussels, and especially cod. Ice hockey is very popular in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, with local teams often competing in Newfoundland-based leagues. The crew of the Fulmar, a patrol ship stationed in the islands, formed an ice hockey team, "O.K Fulmar". Several players from the islands have played on French and Canadian teams and even participated on France men's national ice hockey team in the Olympics. Street names are not commonly used on the islands. Directions and locations are commonly given using nicknames and the names of nearby residents. The only time the guillotine was used in North America was on Saint-Pierre in the late 19th century. Joseph Néel was convicted of killing Mr Coupard on Île aux Chiens on 30 December 1888, and subsequently executed by guillotine on 24 August 1889. The device had to be shipped from the French territory of Martinique and it did not arrive in working order. It was very difficult to get anyone to perform the execution; finally a recent immigrant was coaxed into doing the job. This event was the inspiration for the 2000 film The Widow of Saint-Pierre. The guillotine is now in a museum in Saint-Pierre. Transportation For many years there was no direct air link between Saint Pierre and mainland France. Although the 1999 opening of the Saint-Pierre Airport was intended to overcome this problem, a direct air link was not established until Air Saint-Pierre announced it would conduct direct seasonal flights from Paris in the summer of 2018. Until then,