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A town on death row

OLIVER MOORE

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 11:06 PM EDT 10/11/07

A tiny Labrador community has lost its economic reason for being. A bad omen for rural Canada? ...Read the full article

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  1. Tom Fry from calgary, Canada writes: Some things don't add up. This apparently used to be a boom town, but there is no water treatment or distribution system. My guess is that there was once some optimism, but no-one ever delivered. That's a little different from a community which used to be legitimately prosperous, but has now declined.
  2. garlick toast from Canada writes: they have electricity,they should grow a huge pot crop.
  3. martha stewart from Canada writes: A truly stupid article. Making generalizations about 'rural Canada' based on this is moronic. Throw in the predictable but, as usual, unsubstantiated 'blame it on climate change' angle and it just gets worse.
    There is nothing new about one industry towns coming and going, and the climate always changes.

    Potholes in Toronto - doomsday for urban Canada?
  4. Mike McFae from Canada writes: Oh give up on this global warming hysteria. This problem has sfa to do with global warming young man. This is a story of political neglect. Minister Taylor was a fishermen from a tiny Nfld outport a few short years ago and I'm sure he heard dozens of politicians talk about strategies , meetings , studies , consultants ., etc in his past efforts to improve his lot as a rural fisherman. Shame on you Minister Taylor for puffing off the people of Black Tickle with political rhetoric. You've learned the doublespeak well and quickly.
  5. martha stewart from Canada writes: Mike McFae writes: 'Oh give up on this global warming hysteria.'

    But Mike, didn't you read about the 'persistent notion that global warming is partly to blame for the cod's collapse'? A persistent notion. What more proof do you need?
  6. CD W from coldwater, Canada writes: So one old guy says he cant afford to move, solution is, send the boat they use for gjoa haven and show up and move everyone off the island or town or whatever that craphole is. You chose poorly, now the government can do one last thing, get you a slow boat off with all of your stuff. The question I have is this, why are you still there? Why didnt you leave 15 years ago when the fishery collapsed? I know, you sat in your crapulence crying for a hand out. I once needed a job, in my field of study, so I moved to it. Catch the wave me boyo.
  7. Joel S. from Toronto, Canada writes: I understand that people may have an attachment to place, but sounds like the young people have a better idea. Instead of making excuses of 'not having an education,' they move out to get one, and improve themselves. It's a shame that it has to be this way, but it is very difficult to fight the forces of economic relocation.
  8. Candice E. from Nothern Labrador, Canada writes: When I read the other comments, I was so angered.
    Every community should have water and sewer, think about you, what if you didn't have water and sewer, how would you feel? Think about it, and now you know how the people of Back Tickel feels.

    Canada is a First World country-a FIRST WORLD COUNTRY and a community with no water and sewer is UNACCEPTABLE in this day and age.
  9. shoshana berman from Canada writes: Well, I live half an hour from Ottawa and dont have municipal water or sewers. Almost no one does that lives outside of large urban centres. This whining is ridiculous. Its solution is to have wells and septic systems. I know a fisherman who lives half an hour from St. Joohn's in Dildo and they have wells and septic. Everyone else does it in NFLD and most of the rest of Canada, except maybe St. John's, why can't they. This is a truely stupid article with no perspective.
  10. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Candice E. from Nothern Labrador, Canada writes:'... a community with no water and sewer is UNACCEPTABLE in this day and age.'

    Which is why the few remaining residents should pack up and get out.

    Or they can just accept the situation, since they seem to have practice at it.
  11. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: shoshana berman from Canada writes:'Its solution is to have wells and septic systems.'

    The video shows that bedrock outcrops nearly everywhere. That means it's unlikely they can just drill a well down and find water easily. It also means that any septic systems will be limited, since those need depth of soil and proper drainage volumes to function properly.
  12. Snowed in in Barrie from Toronto, Canada writes: Fifteen million for water and sewer for all 150 people in the community is just too silly to contemplate. The province would be better off moving everyone to St. John's and just handing them each a hundred thousand dollars.
  13. michael moore from toronto, Canada writes: If you are going to say let communities with no prospect of an economic future die -- and that argument makes a lot of long-term sense -- how far do you want to carry it? What about the native communities in Canada's north that have grown far bigger than the land will ever sustain and never will have an economic future? Should Ottawa pull the plug on them, too? Tell the people we will support you only if you move to somewhere where you have the prospect of jobs? I changed provinces to get a job. My wife moved from the country to the city. But when it comes to government policy, we generally let the short-term discomfort trump the long-term economic logic in this.
  14. M. Mark from Victoria, Canada writes: There are some communities in Canada which are no longer viable Things change. We have to accept that. Cassiar and Ocean Falls here in BC disappeared 20 years ago when they were no longer viable. It would be foolish to sink 15 million dollars into this town. The government should offer to move these people into another viable rural community nearby. If the government needs to build a few new houses for those who cannot afford one, so be it.
  15. shoshana berman from Canada writes: There is something called dynamite that was invented about 100 years ago that can be used to safely blast rock. Then fill can be used for a septic bed or a septic tank can be emptied. As far as a well goes, the rockier the better. Every other rural town and villiage in NFLD has wells and septic with exactly the same rock. I will say again, a truely stupid article with no perspective, no science, no other side of the story, no other interviews from the rest of NFLD or anywhere else in rural Canada and way too much whining. Poor Journalism.
  16. shoshana berman from Canada writes: BTW a well and septic system for a three bedroom house in Western Quebec including blasting and fill costs about 15-17 thousand dollars. If there are 150 people in this town now, for each 3 person home to have a brand new well and septic system gets to $750 000, which is a whole lot less than 15 million. Did I mention this was a stupid article with no science or perspective to back it up. I'd ask for a professional oppinion but they're all busy blasting rock to put in septic systems and drilling through rock to put in wells all over rural Canada, as the chattering classes are asked to shed a tear for this poor NFLD community. Yeah right.
  17. David Howell from Saltspring Is, Canada writes: Candace E. from N. Labrador Says 'A town without water and sewer in this day and age is unacceptable. ' EXACTLY, so what the heck are those folks doing there? The Town is done! She's not resting, it's OVER!!! Last one out turn out the lights! Adios. Any money spent here would be spending good money after bad!
    I don't understand why anyone would stay in such a place.
  18. Mike McFae from Canada writes: Martha, great wit ! David Howell , regarding your last question , I often ask the same thing about Toronto :-). Unfortunately we can't all live on Saltspring Island , BC. I hear you have your own currency there in your little haven from the inconveniences of poverty , how cute.
  19. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: michael moore from toronto, Canada writes:'What about the native communities in Canada's north that have grown far bigger than the land will ever sustain and never will have an economic future? Should Ottawa pull the plug on them, too?'

    Absolutely yes. Many of those communities could still be sustained as in the past, but the people living in them don't want to put up with the living conditions that the subsistence past gave them. They want a high standard of living, but don't seem to understand that the communities that do have such a living standard work for it.
  20. ex banker from St. John's, Canada writes: Sure there are subdivisions on the very edge of St. John's with well and septic. No big deal.

    Now, a lot of little fishing communities in Atlantic Canada have lost their very reason for being with the decline of fish stocks. That's life, get over it. Move on. If you chose to live there then that's your problem. I'm dead set against using public funds to prop up declining communities just because a few stubborn folks don't want to leave, because they lament the old days and old ways. Blame it on global warming, blame it on the internet but economies and society eveolves and if you don't adapt then you get left behind.
  21. Jasper the Black Lab from Vancouver, Canada writes: I am usually not so heartless, but the people of Black Tickle are living better and have more opportunities than their ancestors in Ireland and the west counties of England had 150-200 years ago. Generations ago, desperate people made brave choices. Leave 'er byes, leave 'er. Keep the place in your minds and hearts, but move on.

    Black Tickle is not the best example of the problems that beset rural communities and smalll towns. It is an unusual, extreme case, more akin to northern Native communities, and to some native Reserves.
  22. Michel S from Fort Lauderdale, United States writes: It's an interesting small community, with a unique way of life. They have been hit hard by the government moratorium on fishery, and there are not enough entrepreneurial ideas to start new business ventures. There is a lot of oceanfront property there which is valuable. The lack of public town sewer/water is not the main issue; people can and have been living without it...the issue is lack of money and power, and a feeling that the future is hopeless. If the government allows the town to die completely, the country loses in the long run. The people there are very good citizens, and are asking for help from their fellow Canadians. Living in oil rich Newfoundland, and in one of the world's richest countries (Canada), hopefully a way will be found to maintain life in all of these places, for everybody's future benefit.
  23. R. D. Kimmel from United States writes: Factory ships have taken most of the cod from the Grand Banks. Despite this fact, factory ships continue to fish there while Newfoundlanders were forced to close their fisheries. I recently ate cod that was caught off the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador. I don't know exactly how the piece of cod I ate got to my store in Minnesota from NL, but I know that local fishermen were not involved in the process. I am aware that hydroelectric power from NL benefits the rest of Canada, but NL is not paid for the energy. I do not think that it is the central government's responsibility to save every little town, but it is important to realize that policies that have created a hardship in NL are also taking away a way of life. Is everybody in NL supposed to turn off the lights and take off for the oil fields of Alberta? When the oil is completely exploited from Alberta, what will remain is a toxic dead zone the size of Florida. Where do they go then?
  24. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: R. D. Kimmel from United States writes:'When the oil is completely exploited from Alberta, what will remain is a toxic dead zone the size of Florida.'

    No, what will remain is farmland, grazing, or forest. And if no new economic opportunities arise in places like Fort MacMurray, people will move to wherever there are opportunities.

    BTW, are you related to the Admiral scapegoated for the Pearl Harbour attack?
  25. I. Con O'Clast from Canada writes: Instead of more 'strategies', 'initiatives', 'meetings', 'conferences', etc. government should be upfront and honest with people in these communities - of which mine is one. There is no hope. It is over. Everybody with initiative, education, a grain of sense, and aged between 18 and 50, has already got up and gone. Now, how do you make vibrant communities with what's left? That is the brutal question which no 'conference' will address. As for water and sewer, let me give you an example: just a few years ago, government put water and sewer into a norther newfoundland town. Cost per household: $38,000. Assessed value of average house $30,000. Let's just stop the foolishness and manage the decline in this long march to the last funeral.
  26. Wallace McLean from Rand McNally, Canada writes: shoshana berman, Black Tickle is not in Newfoundland.
  27. Marian Olson from Vancouver, Canada writes: Let's not tear up over yet another one-industry town that had its last good days years ago. Someone back then figured out that installing an expensive water/septic system wasn't worth the trouble. Buy everyone a one-way ticket out of town, stop wasting money on phony jobs in order to qualify for UI, and can the nostalgia - we can't afford this sort of thing any more. And forget the blame game, it will never provide a real job for anyone.
  28. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Wallace McLean from Rand McNally, Canada writes: '... Black Tickle is not in Newfoundland.'

    Sheesh; that's an extremely petty detail that depends on semantics. When the province was still officially called 'Newfoundland' Black Tickle was most certainly part of it.
  29. Alexander Jablanczy from Sault Ste Marie, Canada writes: The savage inhumanity of most of these posters leaves me breathless. If their humanity is abysmal their knowledge is asinine. The reason this community is failing is because OF GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE in natural processes. Indeed thanks Yank, factory ships Russian? Japanese? American?? are still scraping barren the Grand Banks of Newfoundland while Canadian above all Newie and Lab fisherfolk are forbidden to harvest what little is left of natures bounty. I was wondering the last few years where the cod comes from if the cod fishery in the East and the salmon in the West is kaput. So these folk in Black Tickle got stranded high and dry not because of laziness or ignorance you moronic subhuman drecks but because of the equivalent of high grading factory ships' ecocide and governmental ukaz: you are forbidden to fish for a living or even on a subsistence level. People deserve the government they get: reading such inhuman rot it's no wonder our governments behave equally nefariously when they turn miriads of small towns and hamlets into ghost towns. Consider that ecological atrocity and moral cesspool Las Vegas, unsustainable by any means or measure in the desert where every drop of water for lawnwatering to sewage has to be imported drained off other aquifers and everything has to be imported at huge costs and ecological degradation. It has no viable self sustaining infrastructure none whatsoever but the sham robber financing by gambling and other crimes. Whereas a myriad small towns the world over are ecologically harmonious with their environs including those in the US by the way not just in Canada. Hundreds of railway whistle stops were savaged with the closure of the railways THE GOVERMENT DID IT YOU BUMS NOT NATURAL OR ECONOMIC PROCESSES the closure of hospitals post offices schools etc etc etc. There seems to be an insane psychopathic plot to depopulate rural Canada as well as all countries why I know not. To fill unliveable megalopises with crime?
  30. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Alexander Jablanczy from Sault Ste Marie, Canada writes:'The reason this community is failing is because OF GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE in natural processes.'

    And you propose more government interference in the natural process that leads to a decline in habitation?

    Heck, apparently even when the village was in what the video calls 'boom times' the inhabitants didn't bother to build water or sewer systems. Why should the rest of Newfoundland do it for them now?
  31. The Wet One from Edmonchuk, Canada writes: While the situation is sad, this is business. It's never been any different. I know a woman who is about 60 whose hometown has now been overgrown by forests in wealthy B.C.

    Any place that becomes economically unviable will not survive and we should allow nature to take its course.

    That's business here in the real world.

    The Wet One
  32. larry hallatt from Canada writes: Black Ticle is and always will be a bottomless pit, a hell hole to pour money in. Cold winds and ice frozes brains but not the enough frozen testicals. Time to move on where there is a future or create a legal 'Whiteman Reserve' and continue the 'welfare?', 'the social experiment', 'the wild life zoo on the rock with its 10/42 UIC lotto where 'everyone is the traditional social winner.' Global warming....ya right on, maybe wait ten thousand years and build a resort on the Labrador tropical Gulf stream invite the old Leaf Erickson and his decendents to return on a nostelgic holiday.....
  33. Alexander Jablanczy from Sault Ste Marie, Canada writes: You still dont get it do you. The village is non viable because of bottom dredging international trawlers killing stealing all the fish which by rights belongs to them as locals and because the government uses force coercion
    to forbid fishing as they did at Burnt Church by the way. There the Natives were willing to fish it was the Canadian governments Coast Guard RCMP whatever the strong arm of the law which prevented the lazy natives from fishing.
    Eh? Nonsense and lies. All these people are perfectly capable of supporting themselves and WORKING at a real job damn it not some namby pamby make believe hokum which the posters get paid for.
    They worked for pennies but the companies and distributors got fat on others labour. They worked in sleet snow rain storm high seas risking their lives for a pittance.
    Now they get insulted by city bums who never tripped over a shovel in their drones life.
    So the farmers loggers fishermen and miners are lazy bums while the industrious ant colony inhabitants of megalopolises are busy fluffing blackberries.
    Productive work indeed.
  34. Wallace McLean from Rand McNally, Canada writes: 'Sheesh; that's an extremely petty detail that depends on semantics. When the province was still officially called 'Newfoundland' Black Tickle was most certainly part of it.' - Black Tickle is still part of that province. But Black Tickle is no longer in anything, province or otherwise, called 'Newfoundland'.
  35. della baird from vancouver, Canada writes: dee vancouver:shame on you darren x from the 'the big smoke',what would you know about fresh air and the smell of the sea?if i could leave the city i'm in i would, in a toronto minute. i resent your waspish approach to this article.and don't talk about inbreeding,you had better add the royal families to that one! you 'wet one'from my old home town.please. do not remind us of the 'real world'!
  36. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Yeah, Wallace, and we also have no provinces called PEI or BC either, but people don't fuss about the use of those equivalent names.

    Tu ne fais que branler les mouches.
  37. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Alexander Jablanczy from Sault Ste Marie, Canada writes: '... these people are perfectly capable of supporting themselves and WORKING at a real job damn it...'

    Well and good. They should go find themselves a real job then, instead of whining about the fact that no one is coming round to give them one.
  38. Will Hoaccio from Toronto, Canada writes: 250 people?!?! come on!, why is this national news. We have millions living in poverty in urban areas and we are focused on THIS?!?!

    It's almost as if there has been a constant, global, movement of populations from rural areas to more economically viable urban communities, oh wait, its called urbanization and it happened in most European countries in the 19th century. The tragedy here isnt that people are living in such squalor, the tragedy is that people moved here in the first place.

    In all fairness though, it is troubling that nobody saw this coming in the 1980s before the fishery collapsed. It is far too easy to draw parallels to all the boomtowns in Alberta. Why are Canadians soo stupid as to always move to boomtowns in search of quick money. Boomtowns by nature become bust-towns. When oil wells begin to run dry in 40 years, this will just repeat itself again.
  39. been there from Toronto, Canada writes: I agree this is a stupid article and masks the real problems.

    From this article, it seems that this place did not exist before until they came for the fish. Now that the fish are gone, then it's time to leave.

    Nothing here suggest that this is a native community where people have been living here with a distinct way of life for generations, so I am not sure why the sentimentality.

    And I am much more worried about these grand 'strategies' trying to artificially pump money in to prop the place open defying all economic and common sense.

    Yes, I feel sorry for the old people who don't have the means to get out but that is where the government aid should go -- help them relocate to places more sustainable.

    It is certainly better than even thinking about spending $15 Million on 150 people in an isolated place with no economic future (and that doesn't even include the cost of healthcare or education or other necessities, which seems non-existent either).

    And the 'global warming' line just cheapens the debate about real global warming problems.

    The whole article is simply misguided and much ado about nothing.
  40. Wallace McLean from Rand McNally, Canada writes: That's because they're not names, they're abbreviations.

    Black Tickle isn't in Newfoundland, nor is it in NFLD. That's not a 'fuss', that's a factual correction.
  41. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Will Hoaccio from Toronto, Canada writes:'Why are Canadians soo stupid as to always move to boomtowns in search of quick money.'

    It's not stupid to move to get quick money. It's only stupid to hang around after the money's gone.
  42. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Wallace, t'es en train de branler les mouches avec des gants de box.
  43. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: been there from Toronto, Canada writes:'And the 'global warming' line just cheapens the debate about real global warming problems.'

    Well, cheer up; the globe hasn't done any warming (on average) for the last six years or more:

    http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/temperature/nhshgl.pdf
  44. Dick Cheney from Calgary, Canada writes: 'The community was left reeling after the federal moratorium...' Gee as I see it, the one horse town was left reeling because all the fish were scooped up. With no more fish, THEN the moratorium was put in place.

    Always looking for someone else to blame for misfortune. The ubiquitous 'they'.
  45. Alexander Jablanczy from Sault Ste Marie, Canada writes: Boy some people are slow learners. They are not asking for a job or a handout THE GOVERNMENT get it THE GOVERNMENT TOOK THEIR JOBS ELIMINATED THEIR JOBS DEEP SIXED THEIR JOBS STOLE THEIR JOBS.
    The eked a meagre living from fishing and they didnt complain but lived with it. Then the high tech ecocidal international fleet stole their fish and destroyed their livelihood and THE GOVERNMENT forbade them to fish.
    They didnt quit OK?
    So it's a general principle if someone destroys something steals something then he makes restitution. Therefore the GOVERNMENT and the international fleet who are still at it are responsible and ought to make restitution.
    Not a hand out but what has been stolen from them.
    Their fish and their livelihood.
    They was robbed.
  46. GlynnMhor of Skywall from Canada writes: Alexander Jablanczy from Sault Ste Marie, Canada writes:'They are not asking for a job or a handout... but what has been stolen from them. Their fish and their livelihood.'

    The fish just aren't coming back any time soon, so what they are asking for really is a handout.

    Those who wanted a job have already left for parts more prosperous.
  47. Jim Cairns from St. Catharines, Canada writes: That's evolution... the smart ones got out; those who missed the boat stayed there. Like anything else, things change and it's time to wrap it up. Not one nickel should go to that place.... let it die.
  48. Hugh Lawlor from The Gullies., Canada writes: Wallace Mclean, do you have any real issues in your life, or do you hang out in a free web cafe there in Ottawa waiting to call semantic rebuttals to anyone on the internet who doesn't spell the name of the Province 'correctly'?

    You are a bore.
  49. R. D. Kimmel from Edina, Minnesota, United States writes: I agree with Mr. Jablanczy's point of view. The only reason I did not label the factory ships 'foreign' in my earlier post was because I am not sure that Canada does not have factory ships out there as well. I am trying to understand the journey that the slice of cod that I recently purchased took. The slice of cod was packaged in a wrapper that indicated that it was caught in the waters off NL. The slice of cod was an import from Canada. After the fish was processed, it took one day for the fish to arrive at a store in Minnetonka, Minnesota. We know that all of the fisheries in NL are closed. Did Canada buy the fish from a foreign factory ship? Does Canada have ships out there as well? Perhaps somebody reading this thread knows the answer. All NL fisheries are closed. It seems to me that fishermen in NL should have the right to fish off of their own shores. Everybody else should go home. Such a change in policy might be too little too late for Black Tickle, but it would help other small communities.
  50. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: lol...I just wish that I had all the answers like some of the posters here. It is truly ironic that many of these comments come from people whose Premier just recently called for government intervention on the fall of the American dollar. If stupid platitudes and slogans are now how we are going to conduct ourselves in examining problems in Canada, would the last one out of the manufacturing sector in Ontario, please turn off the lights? Good article -- A topic that rarely gets addressed, and applies to many communities across the nation.
  51. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Amazing when the most sensible post on the entire thread comes from the USA!
  52. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: RD Kimmel: Excellent points! It doesn't seem that Canada has not done very much to protect the livelihoods of these people by keeping the foreign fleets out of Canadian waters, doesn't it? I suppose that the Federally subsidized Canadian coastguard is probably quite busy with keeping the St. Lawrence seaway open in the winter so that ships can bypass the Port of Halifax in favor of the Port of Montreal.
  53. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: R.D. Kimmel: To try to answer your question about the journey that your particular NL cod might have taken, my understanding is that Newfoundland fisherman are still allowed a certain quota of cod per year. In other words, the cod fishery is not completely closed. There is still a small annual quota set by the Federal Department of Fisheries. I read recently of a NL having a 3,000 pound annual quota which at $0.60 per pound earned him a grand total of $1800 per year. The other possibility is that your cod was taken by a foreign fishing boat and sold in the USA.
  54. Wallace McLean from Rand McNally, Canada writes: Hugh Lawlor from Toronto, the spelling of the province wasn't an issue. The previous poster made the mistake of saying that Black Tickle is in Newfoundland. It isn't. Labrador isn't in Newfoundland. Is that so hard to understand? Nationalist Newfoundlanders seem to reserve to themselves the right to complain about 'Victoria to Halifax', but heaven forbid a Labradorian correct anyone else on the name or geography of the province of which Labrador forms a part.
  55. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Let me translate to Albertan for some of you as to the point that some of us are trying to make: Oil in ground in Alberta! Foreign country (ie. Russia, China, whoever) comes to Allberta, puts in well and starts pumping out all the oil in the ground. Federal government looks the other way! Of course, Albertans would not be upset by that! PS. I am not a Nationalist Newoundlander by the way, Wallace.
  56. CD W from Canada writes: So it is your position then, that coastal provinces own all of the continental shelf and its fixed and non fixed resources. Best to get yourself a provincial navy then.
  57. R. D. Kimmel from United States writes: Mr. Miller: Thank you for answering my question about the fish I purchased. I thought that all of the cod fisheries in NL were completely shut down. I broiled the NL cod that I purchased and served it with melted butter. It was fantastic! I grew up on the south shore of Lake Superior. I ate Lake Superior whitefish by the pound when I lived up there. Fresh cod is a bit like Lake Superior whitefish. Have a good night!
  58. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: RD Kimmel: You're welcome and thank you and Michel S very much for weighing in on this discussion with inteliigent perspectives from south of the border. CD W, I assume that you are addressing me, however, I don't recall saying what you have attributed to me. I think my point is that if the offshore fishery is a Federal responsibility then the Federal government should actually endeavour to protect the resources. The idea of a country simply giving away its resources to other countries at the expense of its own citizens is not a sound economic idea, and oddly enough, doesn't get practised in too many other countries.
  59. Michael Manning from Mississauga, Canada writes: Okay, a reality check here. The cod moratorium is 15 years old. That means for the last 15 years the population has been subsisting on provincial government make-work projects to qualify for federal government hand-outs. In short, these folks have been living off the public weal for 15 years.

    If someone wants to make the sacrifice to live in an economically unviable location full of rugged beauty then good on them. However, to ask the rest of us to pay for this 'lifestyle' is unjust. What makes their 'lifestyle' worth preserving? If they want to hunt and fish and forage for berries as if it were 1650 fine but they want to have the modern conveniences such as clean water and decent waste management. For that you have to move where there is at least the hope of economic activity.
  60. Wallace McLean from Rand McNally, Canada writes: I never accused you of being one, Robert.
  61. eileen morris from Canada writes: Dear Globe & Mail !! I AM FROM BLACK TICKLE & the article you have written about Black Tickle is not very accurate. You only listed the negative things about this community & none of the positive things, like the many people who graduated from grade 12 there & went on to University & became teachers, nurses, social workers, pilots, etc.. The people of Black Tickle are very proud of these young men & women who have made a very good life for themselves. Black Tickle is a very quiet place to live, there is little violence & the residents there worked hard & continue to work hard for the things they have & their present lives. This community in unlike any other community in Canada, the people there are very close & they help each other out in any way they can & I know this because I am from this communty & I have lived there for 20 odd years & have have borned children there. I no longer live in Black Tickle, but if I owned a house there, I would be back there in a heart beat !! There are many different things about Black Tickle that you probably never even thought to write about, like the abundance of wildlife there, the common berry like the bakeapple or "cloud berry" which many people wish for, or how close the people of this community really are. When the fish was plentifull in Black Tickle, everyone wanted to live there to get a piece of the profit, but now that the fish are no longer present, nobody wants to hear about this wonderful community. There may not be many people living there presently, but they are very proud of themselves & the community they live in, these people are very welcoming, comforting & make you feel at home, by offering you something to eat or a cup of tea, & yes even the editor of this article would be welcome in these homes. It discussed me to hear many people say very harsh & mean things about this community, because to many people this place is home & will always be home, I know it will always be mine, even though I am no longer there.
  62. eileen morris from Canada writes: My name is Robyn Morris & I have lived in Black Tickle all my life. I know many things about this community that you may not care about. People can say whatever they want about this community but to me, this community will always be home to me no matter where I am & the people there will always be considered family. Maybe some of the people writing these comments think that Black Tickle is a "crap hole", but thats only what you read about about that made you think this. This is a wonderfull community & if the residents living there worried about every little thing people said about, then the wouldnt have much time to think about anything else would they? When you write an article about something, dont just put negative things in there about something, put the full truth !! But no matter what you say about this place, to me it's the best place in the world ! I wouldnt change it for anything
  63. Robert Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Michael Manning: You are correct, in that, the moratorium is fifteen years old. Fifteen years of the Feds telling Newfoundlanders and Labrodorians that they couldn't fish while factory trawlers from the rest of the world continued to deplete the stock off their waters. Where would these folks be if the Federal Government had taken meaningful action to protect the stock during those fifteen years? I guess we will never know, will we?
  64. eileen morris from Black Tickle, Canada writes: After reading some of the ignorant and egocentric remarks that were made toward Black Tickle and the article related to it, I am disgusted by the disrespect and lack of support portrayed by some of my fellow Canadians. You may have heard the phrase “Don’t judge me until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes”? Well, unless you have lived in a community like Black Tickle, you cannot begin to understand the connection that exists there. But remember that just because you don’t understand the way they feel, does not mean that what they feel isn’t real. I am a member of the community of Black Tickle, although I am living away attending school right now. I may never return there to live due to a lack of employment, but I can guarantee you not a day goes by that I do not regret the fact that my daughter may never have the privilege to experience a childhood as wonderful as mine was in Black Tickle. The safety, security, and sense of family that exists there is everything you could hope for in raising a child. So before you are so quick to judge next time, keep in mind that you are not the only person who has opinions and to keep yourself open to the feelings and opinions of others. Home is where the heart is and my heart will remain in Black Tickle. For those of you who made comments suggesting relocation, I think you may have lost sight of the purpose in this article, which was to promote the PRESERVATION of our rural towns. Anyways, my point is, think about what you are saying before you type it. For God sake, we are real people with feelings and I, for one, was hurt by some of these remarks. Trista Parsons Black Tickle, Labrador
  65. Will Hoaccio from Toronto, Canada writes: "If they want to hunt and fish and forage for berries as if it were 1650 fine but they want to have the modern conveniences such as clean water and decent waste management. For that you have to move where there is at least the hope of economic activity."

    - never heard it said so well

    @eileen morris from Black Tickle

    How the hell do you have internet? you don't have waterm, roads, electricity or a job, but you spent money on internet?
  66. Serena Holwell from Canada writes: I was just reading some of the comments posted here about Black Tickle, and it truely makes me feel sick, that some people can be so mean about a situation thats so bad.....Yes the community is dying, has been since the fishery died, however its home to 280 people....It may be easy to say just up and leave the place, but, saying it is one thing, doing it is alot harder than some of you obvisouly know!!! How could someone actually have nerve to say that Black Tickle isnt a good camping ground let alone a town...how dare you!!!!! I am from Black Tickle, but I left in 1998 when high school was done, the same as every other young person is doing...we are leaving to further our education, but its still home!!!!!!And the people that remain, have been there all their lives.. know no different...no matter what you may think about our little community from this piece, if you were to ever go there you would see why people love it so much...and you would see people smiling at you even though they know we are in a bad situation....Its sad to think that fellow Canadians, can say some horrible things thats posted about a fellow community.....sad!!! Im from Black Tickle, and damn well proud to be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  67. eileen morris from Canada writes: Will Hoaccio from Toronto, Canada - Are you really that sightless !! they have water, you just got to go get it ! And for your information , there are roads there, dont be so clueless !! The documtary stated that they had no RUNNING water & sewer ! not that they had no roads or electricity or internet !! They dont live in a ice world or caves lol .. if you watched the documentary you would see that !! I cant believe some people are so clueless !!
  68. Will Hoaccio from Toronto, Canada writes: okay, semantics aside, my point still stands, how can you justify the paradox of you're first world material desires and you're subsistence economy?

    (btw, my neighborhood in Toronto only got sewage in 1998, so its not that weird that you don't have it)
  69. Will Hoaccio from Toronto, Canada writes: Sorry if my comments are rude, but my frustration comes from the fact that there are millions of people in Canadian cities that live in conditions just as bad.

    There is no way i could ever really understand what it is like to live there and what is happening is truly regrettable. But that said, the prosperity and success of urban areas is inevitable.

    You complain that the government hasn't given you a chance to open you're selves up to tourism, but outside of a small group of eco-tourists, vacationing in a remote island on the coast is pretty low down most people's priorities. Even if black tickle became the Las Vegas of the east coast, this would still be happening in countless other villages across Canada.
  70. Laura Keefe from Canada writes: I just finished reading all the comments that people have made about the article on BLACK TICKLE......and I am about ready to start crying my eyes out! How can people from my own country of CANADA be so ignorant and racist? I have always been proud to say that I am Canadian but now I am starting to think that maybe the USA is the better country, seeing how they were the only people who made comments with an open mind and educated mouth. Just to make a few things clear....not everyone in Black Tickle are without water and sewer.... and I am one of them. We put in our own septic system and in the summer we have running water but in the winter we have to carry water from wells to holding tanks in my basement.....and so what....I really don't mind doing that!!!! It takes a very special kind of person to live here in this BEAUTIFUL community and when I say special, I mean you have to be a hard worker and not mine hard labour, you have to be a community person who doesn't mind helping out your fellow neighbour and you have to understand that things just wont be handed to you and you will have to deal with MORONS with closed minds who think that you live in igloos and are inbred. Black Tickle is in this state of economic failure right now because of the government and because of our resources being stripped out from under us. We are not lazy people and we don't mind working. We do have a multi species fish plant here in Black Tickle and it could be very viable but the combination of reduced quotas and poor management makes things very difficult. Even though life is hard here, you won't be seeing me or my family leaving here anytime soon. At least I won't have to worry about my kids getting shot on the streets or in their school seeing how we have little to no crime here. So you ignorant morons who want to live in cities full of murder and crime...you go ahead.....enjoy youselves....I could never live where I didn't feel safe!
  71. garlick toast from Canada writes: the federal gov't.oversaw the destruction of the world's richest fishery.it is akin, in scale, to the total failure of the ontario auto industry or the alberta oil patch,except that it was a renewable resource and should have lasted forever.it fell victim to greed and political expediency,tossed away like a casino chip.
  72. Will Cole from Petries NL, Canada writes: Chew on these bullets...

    http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=75697&sc=87
  73. garlick toast from Canada writes: thanks,will cole.it's a little dry.maybe add a little oil.
  74. eileen morris from Canada writes: Just a little reality check for those of you who are too illiterate to know any better....most poeple in Black Tickle do have water and sewer today, just not on a municipal level. There is seasonal employment, just not enough to provide an adequate income for many. There is a local road. We do have internet, cable, satelite dishes, and so on. This is not a town caught in some sort of time warp. We are not living in huts without electicity. As a matter of fact, some of the houses are probably better than some of the ones owned by these people who are making such uneducated comments. This is not a HillBilly Ranch filled with illiterate, uneducated morons like some of you seem to be thinking. Do your research, get your facts straight, and don't talk about things you don't know anything about.

    Trista Parsons
  75. eileen morris from Canada writes: Oh and by the way, we also have the convenience of a post office, an all-grade school, grocery stores, a recreation facility (though it could stand with a little repair work), a clinic, an air port, a marine dock, a Family Resource Centre, and all those lovely things that separate communities from the wilderness. I will admit we don't have trees, but hey, I'm allergic to all plant forms anyways, so I'm set.

    Trista
  76. R. D. Kimmel from United States writes: To the residents of Black Tickle: I am very curious about your community and would like to come up for a visit. I spent a week in Newfoundland in 2002 and had a great time. I admire your spirit and understand why you treasure your town. Please know that there are shrill comments in response to almost every article that appears in the online edition on G&M. I wish some people would show more humanity when they post comments. There was not reason for anybody to say nasty things about the people who live in Black Tickle. You all seem like nice folks to me. :)
  77. R. D. Kimmel from United States writes: To the residents of Black Tickle: I am very curious about your community and would like to come up for a visit. I spent a week in Newfoundland in 2002 and had a great time. I admire your spirit and understand why you treasure your town. Please know that there are shrill comments in response to almost every article that appears in the online edition on G&M. I wish some people would show more humanity when they post comments. There was not reason for anybody to say nasty things about the people who live in Black Tickle. You all seem like nice folks to me. :)
  78. Damian Roberts from Black Tickle, Canada writes: Firstly, I would like to start by saying anyone who comments negatively towards this article can’t be more wrong. Oliver Moore did an outstanding job with the article and portraying Black Tickle&8217;s situation. Most of you commenter&8217;s are fancy big shots from the opposite side of Canada in which are to lazy to work real jobs, so a days work consists of sitting at a computer and writing one irrelevant comment so you can go home and feel better and that you&8217;ve made a big difference in the world. When reality is your just as uneducated in the situation as the chair your sitting on. I mean most of you can&8217;t even or are to idiotic to determine where Black Tickle is even located. ( Which is in fact south east coast of LABRADOR not in Newfoundland.)

  79. Angela Dyson from Black Tickle, Labrador, Canada writes: Well people say that Canada have got some of the nicest people in the world, it really is only SOME.Seriously Will Hoaccio how in the hell do you think we use the internet here, the last time i checked to be able to use the internet you had to have a computer which you need to plug in and requires electricity to use.So the next time you try to act big and smart actually use your head and get something right, and if you actually watched the documentry you would have seen a road. Black Tickle is a very beautiful place and i am proud to say this is my home and no matter how much the government trys to ignore us or how much some narrow minded people try to insult us i will always be proud to call Black Tickle, Labrador my home.
  80. manuel pardy from Cartwright, Canada writes: To RD Kimmel To add to the information re the fish you speak of, according to a report on October 24 2007 by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation the fish you eat may have come from New Zealand or China, to be labeled 'Product of Canada' it need only to have 51% of its production costs spent in Canada. A primer on fish depletion, Newfoundland relinquished rights to fish in coastal waters when it joined Canada. (Premier joey smallwood encouraged everyone to 'burn their boats') Canada used the huge resources of fish as a tool for trade so Upper Canada benefits by having markets for wheat, manufactured goods and sundry (in exchange for licence to fish Canadian waters). Huge foreign offshore fleets scooped up breeding stock as well as destroyed breeding grounds directly off Black Tickle(Hamilton Banks). A fishery still exists in the area for crab but again most is returned to the Island(Newfoundland) plants. The billions of pounds of fish could never have been overfished by local crews, the modern technology on offshore draggers killed the resource. Newfoundland (and Labrador) leaders through the provincial government has been a dismal failure to the people of Labrador. They have always been satisfied to settle for jobs at the expense of the established users of the land. Megaproject Churchill Falls will have produced the equivalent energy of over three billion barrels of oil (To drive industry for all of North America) when the contract expires that was signed to create it, yet despite the huge contribution to the global economy the provincial government refuses to place infrastructure such as roads without the full participation of the federal government.The people and the resources of Labrador were here when Canada signed on. We share our resources willingly, yet see small returns for the contribution.
  81. R. D. Kimmel from United States writes: Mr. Pardy: Thank you for educating me on the history of NL and giving me more insight on the journey of my now famous piece of cod. :) I am going to call the store in Minnetonka tomorrow to try to find out the name of the distributor in the United States that supplied the store with my fish. From there I can find out who the broker is and trace the origin of the shipment. I can get all of the details from the freight forwarder. This is the kind of call forwarders enjoy getting. It's not business, but it is interesting. It will be a welcome break from a day that is too hectic. (I started my career in international trade as a freight forwarder in The Loop (downtown Chicago.)) I really want to get to the bottom of this. :) In my opinion, the people of NL have been exploited. I hope that Danny Williams can get things turned around. I love NL. The people are very kind, and the natural beauty is beyond words. It is no wonder that people who live there don't want to leave. Well, it's late here in the Twin Cities.....almost 1 a.m. Have to go now. Have a good night. All of the best!
    • Posted 13/11/07 at 1:50 AM EDT |