THE TREPASSEY STORY - Trepassey Management...

“A Trepassey Story”

ReflectionsReflections

OnOn

Our Community Development,Our Community Development,

The Impact Of The 1991 Fish Plant Closure,The Impact Of The 1991 Fish Plant Closure,

And OnAnd On

Some Pathways Travelled In Search Of Community Survival.Some Pathways Travelled In Search Of Community Survival.

By

Wilf SuttonTrepassey, Newfoundland

A0A 4B0

(709) - 438 - [email protected]

2003-01

Table of Contents

mailto:[email protected]


Reflections On Our Community Development, The Impact Of The 1991 Fish Plant Closure &

On Some Pathways Travelled In Search Of Community Survival

Page

Part 1 …………………………………………………………………….3-7

1.1 Introduction and Background……………………………..…..3-51.2 Early Settlers/Early History……………………………….. ….5-7

Part 2 …………………………………………………………..………8-27

2.1 The Formative Years……………………………….…….…….8-92.2 The Flourishing Years ………………..…………….…… …10-112.3 Trouble on the Horizon…………………………….……… 11-132.4 Devastation Strikes………………………………….……….13-202.5 Reflections on the Response ……………………….……… 20-232.6 The Dawning of Reality……………………………………..23-27

Part 3 ………………………………………………………………..…..28-39

3.1 The Development of the “CHAT” (Community Hope And Teamwork) Concept………………………………….….… ..28-32

3.2 The “CHAT” Schedule.……………………….…….……….33-353.3 The Trepassey Task Force On Community Economic

Development………………………………………………….35-39

Part 4………………………………………………………………..…..39-47

4.1 Shifting Gear and Mapping Our Future …………………...39-414.2 Accountability and Performance Review…………………...41-434.3 “Staying In Drive”…………………………………………..43-47

Appendix A

List of Sources………………….……………………………48-51Part 1

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1.1 - Introduction and Background

The Trepassey Region is located in the southeastern part of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula. The community of Trepassey and the Trepassey Harbour, are nestled safely about 2.5 miles North NorthEast (NNE) of Powles Head. For centuries this sheltered inlet has provided a safe haven to mariners from the sometimes-fierce Atlantic Ocean and has constantly served as an ideal fishing and marine base.

In January 1990 the major employer in the area, the Fishery Products International (FPI) processing plant located at Trepassey, announced plans for permanent closure due to shrinking quotas. Consequently, although somewhat later than the company had planned and for reasons that will be described herein, it closed permanently in September 1991. The ensuing economic and social turmoil played havoc with affected workers and families, and indeed entire communities on the Southern Avalon. Prior to 1990, “FPI was our community development”, it was why we flourished as a region and possibly, it was what lulled us into a false sense of community security and permanency. Similar to many other rural parts of Canada, we were a single industry town and as a coastal community and outport our “raison d’être” was fish!

The region comprises seven incorporated municipalities, all historically dependent upon the fishery, including the communities of:

Trepassey St. ShottsBiscay BayPortugal Cove SouthSt. MarysGaskiers - Point La HayeSt. Vincents - St. Stephens - Peters River

The community of Trepassey, which is centrally located within the Irish Loop provincial zone twenty (20), is situated 140 kilometers from the City of St. John's and approximately 120 kilometers from the Trans Canada Highway, via the Salmonier Line and the Irish Loop Drive.

The following notes and reflections on our community development prior to and after the plant closure are by no means all inclusive; much more could be said and written on this entire period, but these facts, thoughts, images, opinions and even verses are some that remain with me. I have attempted to capture some of the memories, thoughts, pains, fears, and hopes of the people I’ve encountered in this introductory poem.

Words From An Old Folk

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The gulls are silent in the cove,The nets lie rotting in the store;

The sky’s a dark foreboding gray,There’s no one left to have a say.

A tear trickles down my face in fear,As I slowly head down to the pier;

For boats are hauled up dry and bare,You’d never say, fisher folk worked here.

No sounds of children engrossed in play,No shouts of “cod tongues for sale today!”

Not even a trap buoy in the bay,The young and able, all moved away.

Fisher’s voices heard no more,No smell of fish guts on the shore;Left are old folks, bent and worn,

With memories, salted to the bone.

The fishery went in 92,And not long after, the young folks too;Footsteps silent, the past now in repose,

What’s the future? No one knows.

Old folks left to mourn the past,And tell how outport life was lost;But who to tell, of hearts so true?

What are old folks, even, supposed to do?

Only this I say, to you who remain,Trust in God and keep on ‘prayin.’

Life must continue, the seas must roll,Let not hardship, destroy your soul.

Take comfort in your memories, But dwell not in your pain,

For outports and the fisheryWill rise again!

As a former displaced plant worker and as someone interested and concerned for our community/outport survival, I feel a need to record some of my thoughts simply for

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personal reference and indeed, for the therapeutic benefits. As well, I have been asked on occasion to describe the formation and development of the Trepassey “Chat” (Community Hope And Teamwork) concept. This concept developed from a community discussion process that originated in 1998 and led to the formation of the Trepassey Task Force on Community Economic Development, which later spearheaded the development and release of the town’s first strategic development plan, entitled Mapping Our Future, on March 31, 2000.

Despite many of the sad overtones in this paper, I hope that if you choose to read it, that you will find it interesting, informative, thought-provoking and positive. If you find some of my comments too vague or opinionated, I would be pleased to offer further clarification or at least try to explain what I meant. I don’t proclaim to have a solution to any of the survival issues facing rural communities. But I feel that despite the statistics showing rural populations are becoming more urban centralized, that the rural parts of this country hold majestic value and add stately to our famed “Canadian Mosaic” image of greatness. Populations are declining yes, but everyone hasn't vacated the rural areas. The rural life style is still attractive to many and as such rural economies must continue to be protected, stimulated and enhanced in every way possible. Finally, I hope maybe at some point, these thoughts may even serve some useful community development purpose, or at least be of interest, to other communities facing major economic change. The processes described herein may not work as well in other communities, but sitting down as a community to “talk” or “chat” about a collective and realistic future is a good first step.

1.2 - Early Settlers/Early History

History demonstrates that our community had a colorful multicultural past, involving the French, English, Welsh, Irish and Portuguese. In fact, in spite of our rugged and barren coastline the Portuguese once called Trepassey Bay the “River of Roses,” or Riuo de bosas. The area is so named on a map dated 1505, according to a June 1981 Decks Awash article. The name Trepassey appeared as early as 1555, on a French map, where it was spelled exactly as it is today. In French, the word “trepasse” refers to people who have departed forever, or died. According to historians, it’s possible that Trepassey may have been named after Baie des trepasses in Brittany, on the coast of France. First settlers arrived sometime during the period from 1617 to 1622 and suffice it to say that it was close proximity to rich fishing grounds and a sheltered ice-free harbour that attracted them. It’s interesting to note from local archives, that in 1705 Trepassey had only two houses, only two families and one saw mill!

In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht granted the English control over Trepassey and its coastal area. For a while thereafter, the harbour was controlled and operated by English

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merchants who employed many Irishmen in the Newfoundland fishery. In fact, by 1779 Trepassey had 192 Irish residents, but only 68 English. By 1787, it was reported that a total of 129 fishing vessels were operating from the port, but the entire area was reported to be in a serious economic depression. In spite of the hard times or maybe because of the hard times, Trepassey was known as a place where both French and English lived and worked in peace. Trepassey’s population grew to 541 in 1857 and had grown to 793 by 1901. As evident from this brief historical overview, throughout the 1700’s and 1800’s and prior to the 1950's, Trepassey was an inshore fishing dependant community and residents used what the land and sea provided for subsistence. Fishers fished in open boats and schooners from many of the surrounding coves and inlets. Families grew their own vegetables, raised their own cattle, and cut wood to provide a cooking source and warmth from the cold Atlantic winds.

In terms of historical significance, just a short distance from here, at Cape Race, the first SOS from the sinking luxury liner, Titanic, was received on April 14, 1912. In May of 1919, Trepassey entered into aviation history, when the United States Navy-Curtiss 4 successfully flew from Trepassey to the Azores. As well, in 1928 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air, when she flew as a passenger on a flight from Trepassey to Burry Point, in Wales, England. I recall my Mom telling me how she remembered Ms. Earhart visiting with the elementary children at the convent school that year. For some strange reason Ms. Earhart had to overnight for a few days, while in Trepassey. Some say that it was because of fog! Then again, maybe she fell in love with this fair place. My mother, who was nine years old at the time, remembers that Ms. Earhart was “wearing a pants and fully laced, knee high leather boots.” It was the first time she had seen a woman dressed like that and in 1928 it looked very unusual. She couldn’t remember anything about what Ms. Earhart said to the class.

In the late 1700’s a “military battery” operated on the site known locally as the “Look Out.” Recently this site was given a justly deserved clean up and the historic past is remembered on a Government of Newfoundland and Labrador plaque that reads:

A BATTERY OF FOUR 9 PDR. AND TWO 6 PDR. CANNON TAKEN FROM H.M.S. PROTEUS WAS ERECTED ON THIS SITE IN

1779 AND WAS MAINTAINED UNTIL 1784 WHEN THE ORDNANCE WAS REMOVED.

RE-BUILT IN 1813 THIS BATTERY MOUNTED TWO 9 PDR. CANNON AND WAS MAINTAINED UNTIL 1815.

It’s obvious from this type of history that our strategic port/location played an important role in other ways in addition to the traditional fish harvesting trade.

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A railway track and a coal burning train ran between Trepassey & St. John's from July 27, 1915 until late 1932. A single passenger coach ran for a couple of years or so after that, but it too had to be discontinued due to high operating costs. Today both the trains and the tracks are long gone, but the old railway bed is now a popular walking trail for many that seek the solace of the open air. The surrounding seascape and countryside still exhibits the natural beauty and soothing splendor that could be seen from the old trains smokey windows. And yes, the site of the old train station in the “dock” is now nothing but a memory for some of the older folks who remain to remember. Back then, “Beaver baccy” cost one cent a letter for your pipe and “Target” tobacco and papers were the smoker’s choice for “rolls.” With the health risks basically unknown then, smoking was a very acceptable social behavior. Mail was delivered once or twice a week! After we got radios, the Gerald S. Doyle News was something that you weren’t allowed to miss! Sometimes, it even let you know how “Mom” and the “New Baby” were doing at the “Old General” in St. John’s!

In terms of communication and transportation, we also had a telegraph line and regular coastal boat service. One of the vessels in the famed “Splinter Fleet” built at the Clarenville Shipyards Ltd. in Clarenville, between 1944-1945, apparently even took its name from the Trepassey place name. These wooden motor vessels, ten in total, were owned by the Newfoundland Department of Natural Resources and were operated by the Newfoundland Railway. The M.V. Trepassey had a gross tonnage of 322 and a net tonnage of 191. She was 124.5 feet long, 28.2 feet wide and had a draught of 12 feet. She carried a crew of twelve and had accommodations for twenty-five passengers. The M.V. Trepassey was the first Newfoundland built vessel to have radar as a navigational aid. In 1946, the British Royal Navy, because of her extra strength and ice reinforcement, charted her to make two trips to the Antartic to service weather stations. She sank on July 16, 1964 while servicing an Oil Rig in the Sable Island area, some 75 miles south of Halifax, after a fire caused an explosion in the engine room. All crewmembers were rescued. Other vessels with community place names in the “Splinter Fleet” included the M.V. Bonne Bay, Burin, Clarenville, Codroy, Exploits, Ferryland, Glenwood, Placentia, and Twillingate.

The Trepassey Area hadn’t any modern amenities when Newfoundland joined Confederation with Canada in 1949. Times were tough and many young men and women had left home during The Great Depression of the “dirty thirties” to live/work in St. John's and the “Boston States.”

Some never to return!

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Part 2

2.1 - The Formative Years

1950's

Early in the 1950's Mr. Arthur Monroe, a St. John’s entrepreneur and businessman, traveled to Trepassey to scout for land and a sheltered harbour to construct a Fishery Products Limited fish processing plant. During one of his initial visits he met Father Frank Mullowney, the Roman Catholic Parish Priest at the time, and probably one of the greatest "community capacity builders" the Southern Shore has seen. Any one, who knew Father Mullowney, would know that Mr. Monroe didn't get away without a commitment to the Trepassey Area.

Soon, Sutton's Meadow, a flat point of land on the West Side of Trepassey Harbour, where the old plant now stands, was identified as prime property for development. A Fishery Products Limited primary processing plant was constructed and started operation there in 1954. Prior to that some herring processing was occurring at a smaller facility, situated to the North of this site and just a short distance up the beach from it. The fish was supplied by local boats and by the long-liners from Francois and other areas along the South Coast. The late 1950's and early 1960's brought steel side trawlers and eventually stern trawlers. In these early years, secondary processing with the production and packaging of breaded fish sticks, was also part of the operation. Indeed, the foundation for a solid community economic base had been established.

Growing up in Trepassey in the early 1960’s and 70’s, I remember how hard men and women worked over the years to see Fishery Products grow and establish itself into a major employer in the deep-sea industry. As a child I remember watching the plant lights from “across the harbour” and often I tried to count them. From Daniel’s Point, the lights looked to me like another community across the water and sure it was; it was a community of fishery workers! I remember earning my first pay cheque there as a high school worker in the summer of 1969 and saving earnings from there in 1971 to attend university. I remember the “fish plant smell” from the rubber boots in our porch and I remember the “meal plant smell” when the wind blew “our way.” I remember my mother often reminding me that “the money didn’t smell!” And, I remember my father’s arthritic hands and the pain the ice-cold processing waters inflicted, until he said he had to “give up” at 66 years of age.

When I close my eyes and think “inside” the processing area, I see many busy workers, fish and fish pans, weigh scales, the white and blue of employee uniforms, sharp knives, sharpening stones and steels, orange gloves, hairnets and paper caps. I hear the mechanical hum of Baader cutting and skinning machines, the sounds of conveyer belts,

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the tunnel freezer and the plate freezers. I see forklifts, storage pallets, water hoses and steam hoses; I see the cold storage room and feel the blast of cold air when the door was opened, and sometimes I can even smell ammonia. I see office workers and payroll personnel. I hear the sounds that were of a workforce in full-scale production and I see many happy faces.

Sometimes when I think “outside” the plant, I can even see and hear the deep-sea trawlers as they sailed up the harbour to tie-up and unload at the plant wharf. I hear the distinct “thump-thump” of the engines of the Marystown trawlers. I can hear the cargo hatches hitting the steel deck on a calm star-lit night, as night-shift discharge workers “hove back” the hatches to get ready to discharge. I see maintenance personnel and the many different classes of trades people. I see the trawler running lights, the red and green for port and starboard. I can even hear the ships horn blasting three or four times as the vessels approached or departed dockside. I smell the pleasant aroma of bark and twine from the “twine loft.” I see the harbour roadway light up with automobile headlights as wives and girlfriends head to the plant to pick up or drop off their loved ones. I see the trawler fleet “tied up and lit up” at Christmas time; it was indeed a peaceful and comforting sight, a sight that promised continued prosperity in each New Year. I see cars and trucks heading to and from the plant at each shift change. Again I see many happy faces and a work life that was good for the residents of this community and region; this province, this country, this universe.

Juan Samovia, head of the International Labour Organization once said: “Decent work is not an intellectual idea. It is not merely a concept or notion. It is the mostly deeply felt aspiration of people in all societies, developed or developing. It’s the way ordinary women and men express their needs. If you go out on the streets or in the fields and ask people what they want in the midst of the new uncertainties globalization has brought upon all of us, the answer is ‘work’. Work on which to meet the needs of families and safety and health, educate children and offer them income security after retirement…Everyone has the right to decent work.” Decent work was what we enjoyed and took for granted at Fishery Products International in Trepassey.

In retrospect and in terms of a community economic development (CED) perspective, we probably let our personal and community identity diverge too far from that corporate identity. It seemed that FPI’s business was FPI’s business! Maybe as a community of workers we could have done more to protect its bottom line and make Trepassey a place where FPI would have wanted to stay, despite the quota reductions. Who knows? The well-being and growth of that corporate body in our midst was something that as a people and as a community we failed to recognize and consider. We should know by now that all employers in our midst are an integral part of community capacity and fostering an attitude and desire/practice to be supportive, business friendly and informed, is in everyone’s best interest.

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2.2 - The Flourishing Years

1960's

Electricity was turned on in Trepassey for the first time in 1960. In the early 1960's Trepassey was fast becoming a major offshore port. Then on February 15 th, 1963 catastrophe struck - with the entire plant being completely destroyed by fire. The despair and sense of hopelessness was everywhere; I can still remember the worried "chats" around our kitchen table and at the “shop” where we got our “winter grub.” Fortunately, and as strange as this may now seem, “floating fish plants” were brought in during 1963-64, including the Elmer Jones, the Zim Downey and the Red Fern, thus ensuring continued processing at our port.

Thankfully, many prayers were answered and the Monroe family soon decided to reconstruct another plant on the same site. I'm sure Father Mullowney had a hand in this decision as well, as he did with the construction decisions of Holy Redeemer Church, Stella Maris High in 1962 and Holy Redeemer Elementary in 1971. The Father F. J. Mullowney Stadium bears his name today in honor of his memory and to show our appreciation for his contribution to the development of our community. During the re-settlement years of the 1960's, Trepassey’s population grew rapidly. With the reconstruction of the plant, Trepassey was soon recognized as a “growth center" by the government of the day. People from all over the island came here to work and live. Even bunkhouses and staff houses were required to provide outside workers with accommodations. Over fifty “fishery houses”, as they were called, were constructed in 1965 to house the influx of workers from all over the province. In the early 1960’s as well, the federal Department of Transport built eighteen single dwelling homes to house the federal employees that came to work at the newly constructed Cape Race Loran “C” Station. Even some Portuguese families returned to this “River of Roses” and took up residence in the locality, sailing on trawlers as deckhands and ships officers.

Trepassey was well on its way to establishing itself as a flourishing community. The first night club was constructed in 1965 and occasionally even a big screen picture was aired for public viewing at the Parish Hall. Trepassey was incorporated into the Local Improvement District of Trepassey in 1963 and had its first Town Council elected in 1967. We were being swept up in a tide of prosperous community development and times were looking quite good for our area.

1970's

Trepassey’s roads were paved in 1970. The population of Trepassey and the Southern Avalon communities generally continued to grow. The Trepassey Stella Maris

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Mariners & Mermaids won the All Newfoundland "A" division basketball championship for the first time in 1972 and continue that tradition of winning today. The telephone dial system was introduced in 1973; prior to that it was an operator assisted private/party line system, operated by the Avalon Telephone Company, which hosted a local switchboard and employed local operators.

The Trepassey Volunteer Fire Department was formed in 1974. The Trepassey Lions Club was also formed in 1974 and the Southern Avalon Development Association and other community groups/organizations were established. As a community our faith was strong, with Roman Catholic, Pentecostal and Anglican residents worshipping together. Today, Father Peter Golden, our present Parish Priest, tends tirelessly to our spiritual needs and encourages us constantly, through his example of kind words and deeds, to continue to be true Christian and community crusaders. Back then as well, housing starts grew and we boasted first class accommodations. A library and a museum were established; a new fire hall was constructed; a medical clinic was erected to replace the old "Nursing Station". This newly constructed clinic was officially opened on May 31, 1978 and was called after Nurse Christina Abernethy, a Scottish Registered Nurse, who served this area well between 1949-1965. Yes indeed, we were fast becoming an economically and socially vibrant community and region.

The Fishery Products plant became a year round operation and sometimes operated on two shifts, while the workforce continued to grow. Stern trawlers from other ports were landing here frequently as well. Trepassey, because of its strategic location in relation to the Grand Banks, became the port where all vessels requiring mid-trip service came for ice, trawl gear, sundry supplies, and/or to land sick or injured crewmembers. We were blessed then, as now, to have the Nurse Abernethy Clinic staffed by another very dedicated medical professional, Dr. Thomas G. McGarry and his very competent support staff.

Sadly, even in the good times, our community was not without hardship and grief. Some offshore workers gave their lives to the deep-sea industry and left their families and community to remember and mourn.

2.3 - Trouble on the Horizon

1980’s

In the early 1980's the fishing industry showed the first signs of massive trouble. In 1983, due to major financial difficulties, we witnessed the restructuring of all fish processing plants in the province and the subsequent formation of Fishery Products International. As well, all regularly fished stocks began to show signs of depletion and

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the 1987 - 1989 years brought continued northern cod quota reductions. What wasn’t apparent to most of us was the lack of capital expenditure by Fishery Products International, to keep this facility modernized and structurally sound, as evident from the reference to the processing plant roof collapse later.

In the fall of 1989, the rumors were rampant that the Trepassey plant may close, but to many, it still seemed too unreal to be true. Plant workers and residents thought this just couldn’t happen, for at the worker level, things were still looking fairly bright. In June 1987, based on length of service with the company, employees had been awarded share value, and for the first time ever, fishery workers were sharing in the company’s bottom line success. Then again, we were so strategically located and our port was in such demand when vessels needed emergency service. It’s no wonder that people felt this way, for FPI had kept the Trepassey Area booming. Records confirm that in 1989 alone, Fishery Products International had paid out a thirteen million dollar ($13,000,000.00) payroll to workers in the region, in addition to municipal property/business taxes and payments to spin off businesses for required services.

The following tables provide a more detailed sketch of the FPI economic activity in the area between 1987-1990.

The information was provided by Fishery Products International – Trepassey, in 1991.

Table 1:

Statistical and Financial Report of the FPI – Trepassey Operation 1987 – 1990

Year Number of

Trawler Landings

Fish Landings

in Pounds

TrawlerPayroll

PlantPayroll

Inshore FisherPayroll

PayrollTotals

1987 169 30,716,902 $2,135,532.00 $8,347,971.00 Not Available

$10,483,503.00+

1988 184 32,701,591 $2,145,151.00 $9,287,811.00 Not Available

$11,432,962.00+

1989 181 33,737,001 $2,820,993.00 $10,244,593.00 $302,642.00 $13,368,228.00

1990 109 18,019,050 Paid from FPI Marystown

$6,336,765.00 $614,305.00 $6,951,070.00+

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Table 2:

FPI Spin off Activity - Trepassey Operation

1987-1990

Year Taxi Service

(Trawlers)

Freight Provisions For Trawlers

Municipal Taxes

School Taxes

CommunityDonations

1987 $22,400.00 $28,369.00 $215,775.00 $63,000.00 $19,139.00 $5551.00

1988 $32,000.00 $31,057.00 $311,729.00 $66,150.00 $19,139.00 $3933.00

1989 $27,200.00 $38,697.00 $254,352.00 $69,396.00 $19,200.00 $4917.00

1990 $43,600.00 $18,072.00 $169,829.00 $86,771.00 $28,275.00 $2683.00

2.4 - Devastation Strikes

1990's

On January 5, 1990 - Mr. Vic Young, the President of Fishery Products International, announced the permanent closure of the plants in Trepassey, Gaultois and Grand Bank. The announcement came via the radio airwaves. Note that this was a full thirty months prior to the announcement of the cod moratorium by the federal government in July 1992 and we certainly were not ready for it. As one of Canada’s oldest European settlements, and having been a fishing port for nearly five hundred years, the shock waves were gut wrenching and immobilizing. All residents from the area were shocked and people stood in a trance of disbelief. There were no thank you letters, no golden watches, there were few severance packages, and the blow was direct and painful.

Some of the affected workers had given their entire lives to this industry and had in excess of twenty five to thirty years with the company. Many had low education levels, having left high school to take good paying labourer positions during the flourishing years. Some had just completed new homes; others had new home construction just started. In some cases, the entire family worked at the fish plant. We crowded community halls and expressed our anger and dismay; we blamed Vic Young; we blamed Fishery Products International; we blamed the government; we blamed

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ourselves. We marched on Confederation Building in St. John’s; we sent letters and briefs to Federal Fisheries; we implored greater action from our Member of Parliament and our member in the House of Assembly.

A committee of plant workers was set up called Operation Survival/Plant Workers Fighting Back and tried hard to reverse our plight. As well a seven member Community Development Fund (CDF) Committee was formed by council, to assist with the administration of the diversification funds provided under The Atlantic Fisheries Adjustment Program. As a former committee member, I remember many tiresome nights. Shortly afterwards, another five member group called the Trepassey Management Corporation (TMC) had to be formed to be the town’s business arm to enable access by the town to this seven million dollar fund. This group or “body” was needed in order for the town to be able to access funds from the program to build infrastructure, i.e. the building currently housing Mari-team Lighting, initially known as Glamax. In Trepassey at the time, there were very little in terms of infrastructure to entice new business and the CDF committee was not permitted to own real estate, consequently the reason for the TMC. The TMC continues to be that development and business arm for council.

My experience over the six years or so I spent on that CDF committee was very confusing and frustrating. Most times I felt totally inadequate to be sitting there, many nights until close to midnight, a study/story in itself, attempting to make funding decisions that for the most part were controlled from the outside by government officials. Absolutely no training was provided prior to serving on these committees, although it was considered serious stuff, as the Human Resource Development – Canada (HRDC) Minister in Ottawa had to approve all appointments. What did it all mean? For me it served to give me the impression that someone, somewhere, supposedly, knew what we were supposed to be at! That comment is meant with no disrespect to any of the many caring people I’ve met along the way, but is a reflection of my feelings with regard to the immensely frustrating complexities and challenges that were facing our small, single industry, rural community.

Although our focus was supposed to be on community diversification, we did not have any kind of written community development plan. In fact, we had never ever sat down to try and engage the community in any meaningful manner. After such a devastating and crippling economic blow, to both individuals and community alike, I’m not sure if even the foundation for hope and trust was even secure. Finding an alternate operator for the fish plant was probably our main focus and at that point in time I’m not sure if the community and area residents were ready to consider much else. Additionally and much like was reported in the paper prepared by the Andy Rowe Consulting Economists, for the Women’s Policy Office in August 1991, on the Effect Of The Crisis In The Newfoundland Fishery On Women Who Work In The Industry, “the committees tended to be structured to make decisions for displaced workers or for the community, rather than with workers or members of the community.”

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CED “training” to help with the “community planning” or “financial decision-making” required of us was very limited. I remember attending one full day general CED session sometime after the Southern Shore - St. Marys Bay Community Futures Committee was put in place. The reading and re-reading of armloads of proposals and revamped proposals was a routine duty prior to meetings. Many of the proposals were laden with facts and figures, market studies and financial projections that most times were bewildering and inaccurate. Some proposals, when well written, could even make the impossible seem possible. More often than not, for me, it was a matter of supporting the recommendations of the executive director. The two executive directors that worked with the CDF committee were both knowledgeable professionals, and each “moved in” to Trepassey to live after accepting the job. The first Executive Director moved on in 1992 to a similar position in Argentia, the other gentleman stayed until the program funding lapsed, then he too had to move on for work elsewhere. Prior to the hiring of the first executive director, the CDF relied on the expertise of a “commuting business consultant” to help with business plan review.

Business proponents seemed to be coming from everywhere and each was selling the ideal solution for Trepassey. From document imaging technology, to Chinese dim sum processing, to cedar jewelry box manufacture, to environmental waste disposal, to condom packaging; we tried to study the whole array. It was, as if, we were on some sort of production line, the business proposals just kept coming for consideration and oft times reconsideration, as adjustments or new information was provided. It’s frightening how “important sounding” company names can so easily get attached to business proposals, promoting great business plans from companies with little or no track record. Funding agencies and desperate communities need to be so careful and yet must be so open to all possibilities. From November 1990 to March 1992, a period of sixteen months, the CDF had entertained sixty-three (63) proposals and as of March that year most were still under active consideration. The government funds certainly created a wide spectrum of interest and we were anxious not to pass over the solution to our economic woes. The Trepassey Community Development Fund also seemed to be lucrative for lawyers and consultants, or at least it seemed to me, that everywhere we turned we had to pay either one or the other for something.

Community groups and organizations were not ready (nor did they get the opportunity) to work together for a communicated and common focus, in spite of the fact that many of us thought we were. I may be blamed for using too much hindsight here. Yet, these comments may not be attributed totally to hindsight, as the final report of the Industrial Adjustment Services (IAS) committee also pointed this out in April 1993. I sadly remember the Operation Survival/Plant Workers Fighting Back Committee being refused CDF funding assistance for even a few dollars to cover transportation to attend a meeting in St. John's. It just wasn’t in the community diversification policy guidelines, whatever that meant! It certainly did little to foster the co-operative spirit needed for community consensus building or to even set a tone for community vision

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development. It was widely known that there was a strong feeling among some affected plant workers that the Community Development Fund Committee didn’t represent them and that the committee members who had been “appointed by council” were not with their plight.

The Provincial Government came to the communities rescue in 1990 & 1991, providing a subsidy to enable FPI to keep all three plants open for at least twenty weeks in each year. In Trepassey, this effectively delayed the reality and probably helped develop a false hope in some people that “the government wouldn’t let it happen.” Sadly, the devastation became a reality on September 21, 1991, when the FPI plant in Trepassey closed permanently - affecting some 924 workers from the region. 726 of these workers were considered full-time (some of this number were later IAS approvals) and were members of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW). The initial impact affected 657 production workers, 36 trawler men and 33 management staff.

As mentioned earlier, an Industrial Adjustment Services Committee was formed in January 1990 to help with the transition and to seek a new operator, but it had no such luck. A report by TAVEL Limited of Nova Scotia entitled “Fishery Related Options Available For The Continuation of the Trepassey Fish Plant” presented to the IAS committee in August 1990, offered some detailed advice, but no real solution. Later efforts to secure a processing license and alternate quota, by a local entrepreneur planning to use a vacant structure on Wharf Road, were also unsuccessful. The IAS committee was originally made up of representatives of the Town of Trepassey, the Fishermen, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) and Fishery Products International (FPI). Following the closure of the plant in September 1991, the FPI representative, who was the plant manager and who had “moved in” to Trepassey to fill the manager’s position, withdrew from the committee and moved out of the area. Shortly after that the IAS Committee was reconvened as a “community based” committee, with equal representation from the Town of Trepassey and the FFAW.

The summary observations and conclusions as presented by the IAS chairperson Mr. Dennis Knight, a St. John’s based consultant, in the IAS (Trepassey Plant) Final Report – April 1993, are presented here in their entirety and verbatim for reflection and contemplation. Documents indicate that the IAS Chairperson was to receive remuneration for this part-time appointment/assignment at $400.00 per diem, “billed in days and half-days plus necessary out-of-pocket expenses.” Some of the Chairperson’s comments and references may now seem outdated, but some of the lessons learned here in 1990, 91, 92 and 93 are just as pertinent today.

i) The Committee initially played a wide range of roles, as it was the only organization set up with a mandate to deal with economic adjustment in the Region. With the establishment of other organizations such as the Community Development Fund Committee, the Business Development Centre and the

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Community Futures Committee, the IAS Committee focused primarily on labour force adjustment issues. With the Northern Cod Moratorium and the establishment of the NCARP Program, the need for the Committee diminished and its mandate had been completed.

ii) There has often been little or no cohesiveness displayed between the organizations involved with economic development in the Region. This has led to a division of loyalties and effort and ultimately lost initiative. There should be more effort spent in future in strategic planning sessions and the pooling of resources and ideas from the various groups.

iii) Residents were very reluctant to accept the fact that FPI was leaving and that the future of the Trepassey area would include a significantly smaller fishery. The two years of Government subsidization, while having an obvious positive side, actually suspended the reality of the impending closure and delayed the adjustment process.

iv) The Committee would have benefited greatly from an up-front orientation session addressing a number of issues such as the role of the IAS Committee in the economic development process and the production of an Action Plan for the Committee.

v) It is important to have Committee policies clearly stated and available for review, for example, in the area of training and hiring priorities and administrative matters.

vi) Worker surveys should be preceded or accompanied by a package of information, which can help to make the individual aware of his/her options.

vii) There should be a greater degree of ownership of the Committee by its members, including over its operating budget and its activities. This could be achieved in several ways, including having all parties to the agreement make at least a nominal contribution to the Committee budget and setting up the committee more as a “Working Board of Directors”, whereby tasks would be distributed among members.

viii) There should have been more contact between the four main IAS Committees involved with the Atlantic Fisheries Adjustment Program.

ix) The working relationship with representatives from CEIC (now HRDC), both the Newfoundland Regional Office and the St. John’s metro CEIC, was excellent. Co-operation and flexibility were demonstrated throughout.

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x) The staff at the Employment Services Office are of high quality and they provided very good support to the IAS Committee throughout the process.

xi) There has not been a well co-ordinated approach to career exploration in the Southern Avalon Region. The presentation of training opportunities to plant workers has been left largely to the various training institutions, who, in effect sell their particular programs. There is a need for a more objective and comprehensive presentation of labour market information and of the training facilities and options available to workers, to help them make well-informed decisions.

xii) It is recommended that in future, clear advice be given to all workers about their options and the policies of CEIC affecting their decisions, such as the two-year waiting period noted above. There may be a case for CEIC to be more flexible in applying the second level funding rule to plant workers now facing this situation. Representatives of the Town of Trepassey and the FFAW on the IAS Committee intend to follow through on this point with the manager of the St. John’s Metro CEC.

xiii) The IAS Committee did not have the mandate to consider social problems related to the pressures of widespread unemployment and adjustment. While no formal inquiry was made into this issue, at the final meeting of the committee, local members reported on the significant increase during the past two years of indicators such as depression, marriage separations, alcoholism and attempted suicides. The point was made that there is no professional support in the community and no where to go to share problems. In retrospect, it is a priority that probably should have been included within the mandate of the IAS committee.

xiv) There is a need for an increased presence in the Region by the Department of Social Services and for an Action Plan which addresses the social needs of displaced workers. From a preliminary assessment, there appears to be need for a drop-in type facility, with professional support.

xv) As new jobs are created in the Region, preference should continue to be given to plant workers. This policy was established and strongly promoted by the IAS Committee for workers trained under the AFAP program. First priority was given to workers on the FFAW/FPI seniority list, followed by part time workers. The Community Development Fund Committee have also been following this lead. Job opportunities should be well posted and plant workers given full opportunity to apply.

xvi) The Committee was largely successful in achieving its objectives. 47% of the workforce was enrolled in training programs and extensive effort was spent in informing all workers about their training options. 206 workers or 33% of the

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work force are recorded as receiving no funding assistance, although some of this number have been active clients of the Southern Avalon Employment Services office. The entire workforce was given ample opportunity to take advantage of the AFAP program and benefited from various initiatives of the Committee such as newsletters, the seminar on small business start-up and worker surveys.

xvii) All plant workers except for a few benefited from the NCARP Program. Those whom the Employment Services office were aware did not qualify for NCARP were contacted and advised of their options.

Thus ends the summary observations and conclusions of the IAS (Trepassey Plant) final report. As referenced briefly in the foregoing, the Committee operated in two “phases” or funding periods: January 1990 – February, 1991 and February 1991 – April 1993. I will leave the reader to be the judge of what lessons we should take from the chairperson’s April 1993 observations.

The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union were very visible locally during the early years of this turmoil. Union representatives attended regular IAS meetings; they assisted with worker approvals for program entitlement for individuals not on the company seniority list and other such issues. As well, the union played the key role in having the Fishermen’s Training Incorporated (FTI) training center set up at both Trepassey and St. Vincent’s. This training center was instrumental in encouraging some workers who had been very reluctant to consider academic upgrading to give it a try. In fact, two of the stated goals of the FTI training plan were “to familiarize participants with the academic program they may encounter if they chose to attend the Adult Basic Education (ABE) Certificate Program or other Training Program,” and “to build self- confidence and self-esteem.” The FTI approach did encourage wider participation at the basic level and later saw many participants move on to the ABE program. The system was computer based, using the Plato Education System and provided a very comfortable learning environment to over 100 participants between July 1992 and until it closed permanently on January 28,1994.

With regard to community economic development, too often, the FFAW’s main focus seemed to be “successor rights” as in the case of any possible new operators that might be attracted. This, in my opinion, at times may have been counter-productive to some of the alternative interests that did surface. I remember well a public meeting, with Mr. Bill Barry in attendance, concerning a proposal he was exploring under a company named Polar Sea Foods and it’s quite possible that having the union front and center didn’t do much to interest him. But then again the plant workers had been unionized for close on twenty years and the union executives had every right to be there.

In late 1992, Fishery Products International sold the idle facility to the Town of Trepassey for the grand sum of $1.00. The Trepassey Management Corporation provided

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funds to maintain security at the facility until July 1994, but thereafter, the unavailability of sufficient funding saw this effort having to cease as well.

2.5 - Reflections On The Response

The Atlantic Fishery Adjustment Program (AFAP)

The Atlantic Fishery Adjustment Program was announced by the federal government on May 7, 1990 and provided funding assistance for:

- Skills Training – an Employment Assistance Services office was opened in Trepassey on September 7, 1990 under the guidance of Human Resources Development – Canada. Many displaced workers began to take advantage of the training opportunities, and by 1995 over 200 former workers had graduated from post-secondary training. Many others had completed Adult Basic Education - some reluctantly! Some of the older affected workers felt that the money would be better spent if it was made available to help train their children, rather than themselves.

- Early Retirement – starting at age 50, but at a lesser rate than for those at 55 yrs. The IAS final report indicates that 56 older workers were initially interviewed. Of these, 36 were certified. This number included 20 individuals aged 50 – 54 yrs. and 16 individuals aged 55 – 64 yrs.

- Community Diversification Funding - provided the community with dollars to hire an Economic Development Officer and a Community Development Fund Committee was formed to assist in the diversification efforts. In May 1990 when the Atlantic Fisheries Adjustment Program was announced, Trepassey, like other communities first struck by this collapse, was allocated community diversification funding as part of the $584 million federal program. Trepassey was to receive $7 million dollars over a five-year term. Of the $7 million, $900 thousand was designated as administration funds over five years and the balance of $6.1 million was designated as an investment fund over five years.

In total, $29 million was specifically allocated for the affected workers and the community of Trepassey. This funding was to ensure that the affected workers receive Unemployment Insurance benefits throughout 1992, that training funds would be available for those who might wish to take advantage of other employment opportunities and that retirement benefits would be provided for older workers. Thus, in addition to the

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$7 million Community Diversification Funding mentioned earlier, the government was allocating/estimating an additional $22 million as part of the short-term adjustment package for the Trepassey Area workers. Additionally, further funding was available from existing programs such as the HRDC - Canadian Jobs Strategy and the Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency (ACOA) if specified funding criteria were met.

Throughout the ensuing diversification contract, staff, community volunteers and government representatives, worked passionately to attract new business to our area. Indeed, many of the “interested” proponents “found Trepassey”, thus in many cases, it was a reactive community economic development process, rather than a proactive community focused approach to development. It’s noteworthy as well, that a number of the local entrepreneurs who applied for funding assistance and were turned down for such reasons as competitive impact or poor marketing/sales prospects, often felt ostracized and felt that the fund seemed to be for “outsiders.” As well, issues arose from time to time with regard to outlying communities and affected workers who might want to develop a business idea outside the community boundary of Trepassey. All in all, I think it is accurate to say that to the best of our ability, all business proposals were fairly assessed on merit, with particular emphasis placed on those proposed for the Trepassey Region.

We had some success, but achieved little to replace the jobs from the fishery. Several trips to the Boston Seafood Show by some community and IAS representatives in the early nineties also failed to attract any alternate interests for our fish plant. So, cognizant of the need to be open-minded and positive, a community delegation, in 1992, even traveled to Norway to explore how our community might fit in to the developing Oil and Gas Industry on the East Coast. We spent a lot of time and money on this initiative, in particular looking at our chances of becoming an “alternate supply base”, but our efforts didn’t pay off, or at least not yet. It’s noteworthy to reflect that as a community built on fish that investment spending on the fish plant and fishery infrastructure was restricted. One wonders if that policy was sensitive to our community reality and well-being? Most disconcerting of all when the five years were up, our town still had over $1 million dollars remaining in the investment fund and no "government approved" plans for its usage.

In fairness to the staff and volunteers, this was viewed as a matter of prudence and probably exemplified the scrutiny that the proposal assessment received. It was indeed, a measure of our accountability as a community. It's noteworthy however, that even though it was called "a Trepassey fund", government never really let it go, as every dollar had to receive the spending approval of bureaucrats who lived outside the region and that is an important point. Then as governments go and contracts end, the remaining funds had to be returned to the Federal Treasury; our opposition as a community was to no avail and it seemed no one could prevent it. The federal government had changed hands as well and that didn’t help matters either. The mandate of the fund, small as it was, why it was provided in the first place, and what had been accomplished in Trepassey

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and the enormity of the work remaining, seemed to get overlooked. In my opinion, Trepassey, a coastal community, and region, with historic attachment and undisputed adjacency to one of the greatest ocean environments in the world, the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, had its recovery hopes further devastated.

Our community diversification efforts brought about some business successes and some failures. The successes are apparent today with the combined employment of some 30 to 40 area residents at the Mariteam Lighting plant, the Weather Shore Windows manufacturing plant and the Discovery Springs water bottling facility. However, as stated, over $1.2 million of the $7 million fund had to be returned to the Federal Treasury in 1996 because there was no development plan for its usage. The Economic Development Officer who had “moved in” to the area as well, was laid off and also had to leave to seek work elsewhere. The community diversification and development impetus dissipated and waned, so the future was left to volunteer effort and luck.

By now the entire East Coast fishery had collapsed and many in Atlantic Canada were affected, it just wasn’t a few Newfoundland south coast communities anymore. The Northern Cod Adjustment and Recovery Program (NCARP) was over and Atlantic Canada was now in the midst of The Atlantic Groundfish Strategy (TAGS). These programs provided similar individual adjustment measures for affected workers as AFAP, but differed in that they also provided mobility funding and income support. The fishery collapse was a much greater problem and the story continues to be written.

At one point in 1996, I thought the message penned in this simple verse was loud and clear to anyone who might care to listen. Today, I’m not so sure. It’s called:

A Codfish Speaks

I was born just off the South Coast, in a place called 3PS,Where nets and trawls just took us all, and seemed not to care less.For day and night they dragged us up and sometimes threw us o’er,

Such destruction of our species I’ve never seen before.

The big, the small, they took us all,It seemed it had to be,

For even during our spawning time,They wouldn’t set us free.

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The Spanish and the Portuguese, sure they were worst of all,And as we scurried o’er the Banks, you could hear the Skippers call.

What’s on the go in 3NO and what time will you be hauling?But little did they know back then, that in 2J and 3K, we had already fallen.



For a codfish cannot escape a twenty-four hour rape,So if you want to live with us, then some precaution you must take.

Don’t over fish our young ones and give us time to reproduce,If you practice conservation, then employment we’ll produce!



2.6 - The Dawning of Reality

In 1995, the Town of Trepassey sold the FPI premises to an Italian company called Tannel Holdings. This selling was agreed to with “a show of hands” at a public meeting where every one “sat back on to each other” and listened as the council and TMC members at the “head table” outlined the offer. The selling price was $450,000.00. I’m certain that we all thought that this was the best decision at the time and in fact without its occurrence, we wouldn’t have any money in the TMC account today. However, in hindsight again, this decision was worthy of much more public scrutiny, open debate and “chat.”

Tannel Holdings had promised that a furniture manufacturing plant was in their long-term plans, but this didn’t materialize and in time it even proved difficult to make contact with this company as municipal taxes for the site accumulated. Shortly after the purchase, Tannel Holdings had the plant machinery dismantled and removed for shipment to Tanzania. HRDC provided funding to train 12 – 15 people from the community in “An Orientation to Tanzania Culture”, so that workers from this area could travel to Tanzania to assist with the re-installation of the equipment. One worker from Trepassey did actually go and work there for a while. This venture certainly didn’t have the long-term future of Trepassey in mind.

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The Irving Oil fuel storage tanks, which had stored fuel for the facility and the fishing fleet for the past forty years or so, and had stood as prominent landmarks on the hillside above the plant, were removed by Irving on October 18, 1995. The wharf where the oil tankers used to tie up to discharge was left in a dilapidated condition and remains as another sorry reminder of better times. The following winter the processing plant roof deteriorated and fell in on the production floor. Vandalism and scavenging at the site became a profitable past time for idle hands. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), town officials and concerned citizens were unable to curb this destruction and the owners were many miles away and seemingly not interested. Yes, the reality of Trepassey without a fish plant was steering us in the face and many appeared ready to vent their anger on the property itself.

Fortunately, in 1998 the town was successful in having the former FPI property repurchased from Tannel Holdings and returned to the Towns control. The repurchase price was $147,500.00. This repurchase was negotiated in part, as a result of business dealings with a company called Bella Marine Co. Inc. to have the former plant site used as a cold storage facility. The owners of Bella Marine Co. Inc. and its associated companies indicated to the public on an undated July 1998 Information Bulletin, that they had been involved in the shrimp fishery on the Flemish Cap since 1993. In 1996 the company reported operating fourteen shrimp vessels from countries of the former Soviet Union and had landed over six thousand tons of shrimp. This shrimp was stored in rented Cold Storage facilities in Harbour Grace, Carbonear and Argentia. In early 1998, the company decided to operate its own Cold Storage facility and thus approached the Town of Trepassey with a view to converting an existing building on Wharf Road for this purpose.

The town invested over $100,000.00, from monies it had received from the initial sale of the plant, to install refrigeration equipment at this site, but Bella Marine representatives later determined its storage capacity was too small. A few trawlers were unloaded and had their catch stored, but work was sporadic and limited. At a hastily called public meeting on Trepassey Day, July 18, 1998, the TMC and Bella Marine asked for public approval to take the estimated $450,000.00 in the TMC account to use as leverage funds to access “other available government funds.” The intent was to take the funds as a “grant” and to use the dollars to increase the capacity at this present Government Wharf site; the decision to consider the former FPI site surfaced in subsequent discussions. Bella Marine hadn’t at any point submitted a detailed business plan and to the best of my knowledge, their “investment” was supposedly to be their “expertise.” At one point Bella Marine also indicated that they would require a ninety-nine (99) year lease on the former plant site if they were to proceed with that plan. This entire proposal generated much public debate and scrutiny and in the end the proponent’s interest waned and lapsed.

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A lot of the intricate details were covered in the local newspaper, The Southern Post, at the time and included: details of Sheriff seizure orders on the boats and their contents, to local petitions by some residents to hand over the $450,000.00 or so to the proponents. To a planned community referendum on the fate of the fund, (the Polling Booth had been set up and ready for July 23, 1998), to the proponent hurriedly withdrawing the request for funds, without explanation, and leaving the Mayor wondering what was up. On the positive side and fortunately as indicated, the business dealings and contacts initiated as a result of the Bella Marine Co., Inc. interests did help expedite the repurchase of the former plant facility. It’s fortunate because it’s a prime harbour-front site; it’s unfortunate, in that what we managed to buy back five years later was a dismantled and vandalized mess.

I strongly feel that there should be governmental and industrial responsibility to help communities clean up and secure former corporate structures. Our former FPI site is a national eye sore; newspapers and media from all over the country and the United States have placed it in front of the eyes of the world. The Town of Trepassey, with some labour funding assistance from HRDC under a Term Job Creation Project, attempted a minor clean up in 1999, but how can a community with its very economic heart tore out be expected to bear such costs? Furthermore, it's unhealthy, unethical, and indeed an insult to former fishery workers who have given their lives to this industry, to have to look at the deteriorating remnants on a daily basis. Make no mistake about it, the very health of a community and its people has been impacted by the havoc of stock depletion and fishery failure.

Current research being conducted here and in several other communities by Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador (MUN), entitled a Natural Resource Depletion and Health Study will allow residents to describe exactly how their lives/health have been impacted over the last decade and hopefully will provide some guidance/support in addressing same. In addition to charting health statistics, this project will look at the communities to see by what measures they are addressing their difficulties and in general learn what factors promote community resiliency and give them the ability to bounce back from adversity. This is a collaborative project and one the research team hopes will foster change, learning and community development. With regard to the plant site itself, our current efforts to redevelop it into an Industrial Park will clean it up in time, but we certainly are due some help from our former partners in its demise.

From a positive perspective some good can be said about the educational opportunities the economic catastrophe brought via the federal adjustment programs. Many of the younger workers embraced the training opportunities and went on to be very successful. Today many former workers are on new career paths as tradespeople, technicians, technologists and health care workers. Many of them are working outside our area and province. Additionally, unconfirmed indications are that present high school students are not as prone to “quit” now, with the plant “gone”.

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The profound personal impact that many of my “chats” with displaced workers had on me is reflected in the following lines of humble verse. I remember writing this after speaking to a man and his family who were about to close up their home and head for Alberta. It’s called:

Reality

See the hurt upon my face,Feel the pain within my heart.

Look at my home and all I’ve got,Then tell me truly where to start.

With myself, my heart, you say,Life must continue, there’s a brighter day.Pick up the pieces of what you have left,

Carry on, along the way.

Make your plans, choose your options well,Like boats on water, ride that swell.

Don’t despair, use the lessons learned,Your too wise at heart, to be easily burned.

Continue on, suffer the knocks,Life is sweeter when you overcome its blocks.

Feel good about yourself and pass the cheer on,Doom and gloom will also pass on.

And wherever you travel, be it near or far,Remember these last words wherever you are.

Home may be where your house is today,But real “home” is “family and friends” – even away!

It was the older, long-term workers who had the most to lose. Some had everything they ever worked for, in terms of homes and property secured, and it was the mid-to-late adult workers, the ones who failed to qualify under the Early Retirement packages who have the saddest story to tell. Individuals, having to approach Social Services for basic living allowance, after twenty-five to thirty odd years in any industry makes one wonder about social justice and equity. Long-term attachment to the industry was overlooked in too many cases. But what is left to say to someone who has given it all?

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Again I found my comfort in the simple verse that follows.

Beyond the Skiff

There’s hope out there, there’s life beyond the stem of the skiff,Face up to the reality, deal with the “what if!”

Yes, there’s life beyond the stem of that old skiff,Fear not to ask “what if?”

The paths are varied, the roads are rough,But fear not, learn to cope, nurture the right stuff!

Take up the tools, get on with the job,There’s more to life than over-fished cod.

Take your chances, dwell not in defeat,Life goes on, we still must eat.

Strive to improve your lot in life,There’s more to living, than that skill with a knife!

Learn your lessons and pass the best on,Lead the way for you and your son.

Practice the resilience, for which we are known,When you excel in effort, then you have grown.

Fear not my son, for the sun will shine again out o’er the water,And try each day to move forward, let your steps not falter.

Fear not my son, for life is oh so short,And it’s never too late, for a fresh new start!

In 1989 Trepassey's population stood at around 1600, today it is estimated to be around 900. Many in Trepassey and the outlining communities remain unemployed, and as the recent Statistics Canada figures indicate, many have left for work and opportunity elsewhere. Yet, many have stayed and many want to come back.

Working together as a community and region, to make both staying and returning an option, is simply what this Trepassey story is all about!

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Part 3

3.1 - The Development of the “CHAT” (Community Hope And Teamwork) Concept

Much of the philosophy entwined in the development of the “chat concept” is found in the writings of Dr. Stephen Covey. One of my favorite quotes, and one that I feel says so much to all of us, as individuals, agencies, groups, organizations, and/or communities is the following:

"When we really, deeplyunderstand each other,

we open the door to creativesolutions and third alternatives.

Our differences are no longer stumbling blocks to communicationand progress.

Instead, they become the stepping stones to synergy."

Dr. Stephen R. Covey

“CHAT” is dialogue.

It’s the stuff that gets talked about around kitchen tables; at the Convenience Store; at the Post Office; on the Wharf and/or every other gathering place where people might stop for a yarn or to bid the time of day. Community chat sometimes may even be gossip; it is not usually considered confidential stuff; it’s most often open and honest; and sometimes it is of important community development interest and concern. It is what I refer to as the stuff of community and individual survival interest and works best when it’s a two-way process. Chat has a lot to do with individual and community trust; it has got to be genuine and it leaves no room for false pretence. “Chat” even finds its very essence in the word “community” itself; the first four letters of community are also the first four letters of the word “communication.” The last five letters in community spell “unity”, and that, quite simply, is the “chat” concept defined. It’s about communicating for unity and self-help at the community level. Throughout the years following the plant closure, our community was given ample opportunity to think about it.

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In the fall of 1993, a committee was formed in Trepassey to pursue enhancing the social support network in the area, a concept from which the Trepassey Area Social Support Committee took its name. This fourteen-member committee was in place until the regional Health Council was formed and it engaged community members in looking at community self-help and health issues from the perspective of education and prevention. This group tried hard to have government expand its social support network in the area and sought specifically to have either a Social Worker or Health Counsellor accessible locally. Efforts didn’t meet with immediate success, but the services were provided at a later date and a Health Counsellor is now available on a regular basis.

The following year, in 1994, funding was granted under the Northern Cod Adjustment and Recovery Program (NCARP), to the Canadian Mental Health Association to conduct health research in the communities of Trepassey, Biscay Bay, Portugal Cove South and St. Shott's. The objective was to further explore the potential for a community self-help response, which would support people in coming to grips with the changes in the fishery, their communities and their lives. The research in the Trepassey Area was part of a Needs Assessment for Community Self-Help sponsored by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and carried out by Extension Community Development Co-operative. Earlier research had been funded by Health Canada and carried out in two other areas of the Avalon Peninsula during the spring and fall of 1993. This earlier research (Part I) covered the communities under the umbrella of the Upper Trinity South Development Association and the communities under the Southern Shore Development Association from Bays Bulls to Cappahayden. The results of the Trepassey Area research (Part II) was released in March 1994, and a report entitled Working it Out: The Challenge of Change from Within was publicly presented, describing the project and its findings.

Two of its findings and recommendations later helped develop and are reflected in the idea for Trepasseys “Community Chats.” With regard to community involvement the report pointed out quite clearly that “no one knows the needs of communities better than the people who live in them. Promoting and enhancing the collective health of the community requires their participation. Residents have told us of prior activities such as health fairs that successfully involved the community. It is important to provide venues for the community to come together and look at their options, as well as pool their resources and decide what is appropriate and feasible. Before any further steps can be taken in determining strategies for community self-help, idea sharing, consensus building, and collaboration should take place. One route to achieving this is the development of the community planning process through which people can start to work together and strategies can be defined.”

As well, the report pointed out with regard to information and communication that “lack of information about the future and being forced to wait for policy decisions by leaders and government officials is causing worry, anxiety and a sense of powerlessness. Local organizations have a role to play in helping community residents find ways of

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seeking and disseminating information. Organizations are also more effective in helping voices to be heard, and should offer themselves as sites for the production of collective views and voices.”

Additionally we had the value of the Improving Our Odds experience. Improving Our Odds was an educational process initiated in Newfoundland and Labrador by the federal department of Human Resource Development – Canada in 1993-94. Its purpose was to assist displaced fishers confront the formidable personal and community challenges generated by the collapse of the East Coast fishery. An industry wide survey conducted in the spring of 1993 had revealed that nearly 80% of the fishery workers affected by the moratorium had chosen “Training Within the Fishery” as the preferred training option. Recognizing that the industry couldn’t possibly absorb all these workers even if the Northern Cod did recover, government and education officials, in consultation with individuals directly affected, designed Improving Our Odds. The program was six weeks in duration and dealt with the fishery, the community and the individual.

In keeping with the andragogical approach to education, this process was intended to be learner-directed, addressing needs generated by real life tasks and challenges, with resources developed for and intended for use primarily by the facilitators. Learning content was derived specifically from the learners stated needs. Participation was intended to be voluntary and time frames were flexible. The main resource for this learning activity was seen as the knowledge, skills and experience of the participants. Emphasis was placed on developing self-awareness through relevant discussion and reflection on the magnitude of the economic catastrophe and what could be done to make appropriate decisions about lives, livelihoods and communities.

So now in 1997-98, with the forecasted end of TAGS in sight, (it was being forecasted to end and did, in August 1998), what had we got? At least three different groups/organizations/programs/studies had been urging people to start an active role in creating their own future. The IAS final report in 1993 had suggested we needed to start working together as groups and individuals, the CMHA report outlined the need for self help and community planning and indeed the whole premise around which Improving Our Odds had been created was to encourage individual and community empowerment. Without a doubt, there seemed to be a well-documented purpose and articulated need for continued “Community Chat.”

When such chat/dialogue is organized and properly facilitated at the community level, it provides a vehicle for information exchange and open community discussion. More specifically, when a community is ready, it enables committed residents to seek a co-operative and collaborative approach to community survival issues. As such, community chat attempts to clarify and provide a basis for critical thinking; as well, it’s about listening to understand and it’s about engaging synergy in community effort. Ideally, it should involve all levels of thinking, specifically the knowledge,

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comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluative levels. It’s about individual and communal decision-making; it’s about community vision, buy in and consensus building. It is the economic, social and human resource development fabric that residents examines and analyzes to create opinions and to formulate decision-making strategies with regard to communities’ present and future. It is the “stuff” that helps one to decide whether to stay or leave and it is the chat that gives one hope or fills one with despair. Since the plant closed in 1991, I have had many such “chats” with individual residents; all of us were concerned for our personal future and the future of our families and our community.

On October 24, 1997, one such resident Tom Sutton - the former Chief Engineer at the FPI plant, stopped by for such a “chat” and asked me quite bluntly "What do you think of Trepassey?" I replied, "I think we're finished!" To be honest, I have to admit it was indeed an "F" word, but it wasn't "finished" - if you get my drift. After a minute or more of silence, Tom asked, "So what are we, as a community, able to do about it?" There was no doubting his determination and both of us felt community economic development just wasn’t happening here, in spite of the many bright economic forecasts media was reporting for the province. Indeed, the influx of proposals I referenced earlier had stopped, now that Trepassey was a community without diversification money.

At the community level, as with most small communities, our staff and volunteers were busy managing the day-to-day business of a struggling municipality. There was still no focused approach to community economic development. Understandably, any focus on day-to-day survival issues prevents involvement in even a search for new economic opportunities. My comments are not intended to lay blame or single out any one individual or group. If there’s any blame to be laid, we all must share it equally. If you are expecting to find a villain in this story, you won’t find one. Certainly there were some different personalities constantly at play, some unhealthy community development practices and possibly even some hidden agendas from time to time. I firmly believe, however, that on all the pathways we’ve traveled, everyone I encountered was acting in the perceived best interest of our future.

If we strayed or went askew in any way, it was with the initial approach and management of the community development process. All community individuals have to be connected to the process and for consensus, all people have to feel confident that their input is being heard, valued, and considered. All individuals have to be continually given an opportunity to participate. The community development process cannot fly like an unattached kite above the heads of community residents; residents need to have their hands on the kite string at all times. It’s hard to believe that so much literature had been generated on community economic development, yet so little of it was there to guide us. Sadly, the expertise of Memorial University (MUN) Extension had pulled out of these rural parts in the early 1980’s. However, a proposal was considered by the IAS Committee, from Mr. Bill Pardy of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) for a pilot project in CED, in conjunction with Cabot College and MUN in

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1992. The IAS committee indicates in its final report that they were interested in “the human resource aspects of the proposal” but suggested that the lead be taken by the recently formed Southern Shore – St. Marys Bay Community Futures Committee. I remember attending one Pardy Session that dealt with exploring individual/community options and I recall it being a very well facilitated and useful exercise. More of them certainly would have been helpful.

The public college had representation here early and tried several approaches to engage and motivate the community through public meetings and guest speakers and so on. The delivery of Improving Our Odds, a short program referenced earlier, with an objective to empower displaced workers both on a personal and community level was also facilitated by the college representatives. Although this program was based on sound adult education theory and had been developed by leading adult educators and career specialists, it wasn’t well received by a number of displaced workers. Government had made participation in it mandatory under the adjustment program and many workers felt that they were being “forced into training.” However, my experience with Improving Our Odds on a personal level was very positive and it also certainly played a key role in the later formation of the “CHAT” concept. As well, Cabot College served as the delivery agent for the individualized Adult Basic Education program, between 1990-1995. The public college was also responsible for having a local Community Facilitator in place for a twelve-month period in 1991-1992. This certainly was an innovative, creative and promising approach, but sufficient funding to continue the role was inaccessible and the position lapsed when government and community groups were unwilling to foot the bill. Since 1995, the public college system has been absent from this area and has played a limited, if indeed any, community role.

It’s difficult to write this stuff without wondering if I am engaging in some form of community and/or self-pity or self-praise. It’s intended to be neither! As well, I realize it’s pretty easy to write this stuff when it’s all history, as per the old adage “hindsight is 20-20.” However, I know no other way to record my reflections on this period and I believe, as individuals and as a community, we have many stories to share. Mine is just one of them. At that initial meeting with Tom, I indicated that I would work with him, but I wouldn’t be agreeing to form another committee; this time around, we had to work with the twenty-five or so community groups already in place and with the community generally. We didn’t know what that really meant or what it would entail and we spent many an hour afterwards, chatting and wondering about a direction to take.

Tom Sutton was and still is a very persistent and community-minded person; it was his unwavering perseverance and determination that launched the following “CHAT” schedule. There is no doubt that my role in all of this wouldn’t have happened without his rock solid determination and constant encouragement. After our discussions that day, we agreed to seek a meeting with the Town's Mayor and the Trepassey Management Corporation Chairperson to discuss our concerns and the merits of rehiring a Community Economic Development Officer.

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3.2 - The “CHAT” Schedule

Our subsequent schedule went something like this:

October 28/97 We met with then Mayor Dan Coombs and then Chairperson Ron Wilson of TMC at the Mariteam Lighting plant. Both supported our concern and proposed initiative for community consultation.

November 18/97 We met with all members of the Trepassey Town Council at a regular council meeting. We were scheduled a presentation time of 10-15 minutes to make our case; before we left the council members had given us over an hour and a half. There was no doubting that all supported our concern and were willing to take a chance on this process.

The scenario of the “community as a family, with a sick family member” was introduced; as well, the scenarios of the “deflated basketball” and the “photo album” allegory were used to help explain our rationale and purpose.

Dec. 97 & Jan. 98 We held informal discussions with many individual community residents about the need for community development “talk” or “chat.” We also spoke about this process in the groups we were part of; our goal was to get CED on everyone’s agenda and to keep it there as a “standing item.”

February 18/98 We presented a Community Discussion Paper to Council and asked for support in having it forwarded to all community groups/organizations for feedback. It was distributed to 25 groups or so in March 1998. The Community Discussion Paper was suggesting that as community we start coming together on a regular basis to

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“talk” or "CHAT" about our community and its future. We felt that by putting it on "paper", groups and individuals would have to address the issue - and they did. The feedback was very positive.

April 13, 1998 We listened to Jim Marsden, a Community Development Officer, from Ramea, NL on the CBC Morning Show being interviewed by Jim Brown. His determination and the sense of community purpose he portrayed was impressive; especially his reference to the community of Ramea working together to give over 70, 000 volunteer hours to up-keep their plant facility. Our plant facility, which was presently owned by Tannel Holdings, a foreign company, was being repeatedly vandalized and plundered by some community and surrounding residents.

Spring & We engaged in six Community Presentations Summer 1998 adding more “meat” to the purpose and intent of the Paper.

Each presentation opened with the word “CHAT” and ended with the word “CHAT.” Throughout each presentation we covered as best we could the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where and Why) and the H, the How.

“CHAT” was about “COMMUNITY HOPE AND TEAMWORK!” and it was clear that people were interested in our “CHAT” concept. In each presentation we tried to stress why Community Economic Development must be on everyone's agenda and why it was important to recognize that in a lot of cases “it was already there.” This process was about “connecting the dots.” The “Community Eye” concept was introduced and this concept later developed into the role of the “Community Roundtable.”

We were very pleased when the Town Council of St. Shott’s invited us to make our presentation in that community as well. We did so at a public meeting and again the feedback was very encouraging and supportive. Some residents from the communities of Portugal Cove South and St. Vincent’s also expressed interest in this

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approach and we were pleased to share the details with them as well.

July 15, 1998 We asked Mike Bruce, Regional Manager of Community Capacity Building with HRDC, after hearing that while in Trepassey speaking to a group of business people, that he had shown interest in the Discussion Paper, if he would allow us to make our presentation to him.

Our intent was to seek some formative evaluation and/or validation of it as a logical process. He agreed and gave us a full day at his office, we even had the HRDC Director General, Don Sellers, drop in and listen for a while - we left very impressed with the HRDC support. Mike Bruce assured us that we had covered or were planning to cover the necessary steps to ensure open community participation and he pledged his support.

September 1, 1998 Mike Bruce came to Trepassey for a Public Meeting that was attended by 140 local residents. Together with Sean Hanrahan from HRDC, John Morris from ACOA and Pat Curran from the recently formed Irish Loop Development Board, all spoke in support of community planning and this planning initiative.

John Morris of ACOA has been a mountain of support for this community from day one. He may not even know it, but he was actually the first chap to read our Community Discussion Paper. It was his initial stamp of approval in February 1998 that helped us decide to float it publicly. As well, Randy Pike of HRDC was a very strong supporter of this community initiative. His encouragement and insight was also instrumental during the formative stages of this process.

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3.3 - The Trepassey Task Force On Community Economic Development

October 28, 1998 At this follow-up Public Meeting on October 28, 1998 - the Trepassey Task Force on Community Economic Development was formed with the full support of Council and the general public.

The Committee started with seven publicly appointed members and had constant and dedicated mentoring from Pat Curran, Derek Curtis and Aidan Costello of the Irish Loop Regional Development Board.

The Irish Loop Board had held its first official meeting on September 26, 1997 and for the past number of months had been actively engaged with the development of a strategic regional plan for Zone 20, encompassing all communities from Bay Bulls to Mall Bay on the Avalon Peninsula. There were many meetings in the ensuing months and these chaps always ensured that one or the other, stayed behind after the close of their work day at 4:30 p.m. to attend our night time sessions.

November - 1998 A HRDC Term Job Creation Project provided the Trepassey Task Force with funding to hire a Secretary. Germaine Corrigan, a former displaced worker and college graduate was hired to fill this role. The support then and the continued support of the many HRDC officials were pivotal to our efforts as we slowly embraced community capacity building and ownership of our future development.

At its initial meeting the Task Force, after much discussion, agreed to have a Floating Chairperson. The intent being that no one Task Force member would be expected to carry a heavier load than the others and each would have the opportunity to share equally in meeting preparation, and indeed personal and professional development.

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Throughout 1999, with the superb help and dedication of many individuals, groups, organizations and businesses the Task Force conducted and/or participated in:

- An Initial Planning Session - with Mike Bruce of Human Resource Development – Canada.

- A Strategic Planning Workshop - with Joe Whiffen, Industry Trade & Rural Development.

- 40 Task Force meetings.

- A review of the Irish Loop Regional Strategic Plan.

- 13 Community Focus Group Sessions facilitated by local residents Viola Pennell & Cathy Perry.

- A Community Survey sent to all 360 households.

- Regular "Community Chats”

- Regular “CED Task Force Newsletters”

- A Community Business Overview conducted by the Southern Shore – St. Marys Bay Community Development Corporation representatives, Theresa Hynes and Mark Agriesti.

- A review of the Town Plans of Mt. Pearl & Grand Falls/Windsor, NL.

- 3 comparative Community Surveys with the communities of Ramea, Newfoundland, Winkler, Manitoba, & Isle Madame, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia participating.

- A workshop entitled "Rural Communities Learning From Each Other.” Community representatives, including Jim Marsden from the Town of Ramea, Sandy Ivany from the Town of Buchans, Paul Connors from the Town of Bell Island, and Bill Sterling from the Town of Bishop Falls, all gave freely of their time and shared their experiences and wisdom with us.

- 11 Community Feedback “Boil-Down” Sessions, where the information gathered from the community/area residents and the processes described above, was prioritized and edited for similarities and major community development themes.

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The resulting plan entitled “Mapping Our Future” – Trepassey’s Strategic Development Plan was released at a public meeting on March 31, 2000.

From it the Community Vision Statement reads as follows:

“Trepassey is a vibrant, caring community where a co-operative environment is fostered through a process of open communication. Citizen involvement and participation in all aspects of community planning and development promotes a positive family oriented and business friendly community.”

Mapping Our Future states clearly that the focus of this document is not about projects or make-work initiatives. It does not promise jobs. What it does contain however, are strategies and initiatives that are aimed at creating a community atmosphere that is conducive to long-term community economic development and community empowerment.

In its Summary of Recommendations the Task Force urged Council to consider the following as key components of a community economic development strategy for the Town:

1. Adopt a holistic community economic development program which includes the Task Force recommendations on:

- Social Development- Human Resource Development- Economic Development

- Attitude and Climate- Communication and Co-operation- Marketing and Promotion- Information and Education- Sector Opportunities

- The Fishery- Port Development- Industrial Site Development- Manufacturing and Business Development- Tourism

2. Embrace the principle of open communication with the community by employing various communication mediums along with conducting regular Community CHATs.

3. Ensure there is accountability for Plan implementation with an annual monitoring and evaluation process.

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4. Structure a Community Roundtable, with appropriate sub-committees, to foster community action necessary for implementation.

5. Require Town Council/Committee members to participate regularly in Strategic Planning Sessions.

6. Maintain control of industrial land and port at all times.

7. Engage services of a Development Officer to assist with overall implementation of the Strategic Plan.

Indeed, Mapping Our Future is an exhaustive document and one the people of the entire Trepassey Area can say they had an opportunity to be part of. It sets high expectations of municipal leaders and volunteers. It sets even higher expectations of the residents; without resident support, resident wishes and directives will not be accomplished. It will require a commitment of time, patience, co-operation and funds. Any discussion of municipal funding in an economically depressed region is never pleasant, but with every attempt at community capacity building that may require investment, it’s always helpful to consider a sentence Mike Bruce of HRDC repeated frequently:

“Allocating funds to Economic Development is not an expenditure, it’s an investment in the future of your Municipality.”

Part 4

4.1 - Shifting Gear and Mapping Our Future

I think with the release of Mapping Our Future, most people in the community of Trepassey did shift gear. Now we have to ensure that we don’t slip back into neutral or even reverse. As a community we have to stay focused on and engaged in a rebuilding mindset. It may not be an easy task. It is significant to note that the planning process that brought us this far was, at times difficult as well, but it was a focused and engaging one. The public participation included people from Trepassey and all surrounding communities, the data collection and tabulation, the actual editing and the writing of the material was all done by people/resources from the local area. Ms. Viola Pennell was seconded from the Southern Avalon Development Association to edit and write the information gathered. More than once she reminded us of the time and effort real community development takes, with the choice of the first quote to appear in Mapping

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Our Future. It is a quote from George Santayana, a Spanish born American educator and reads “the difficult is that which can be done immediately, the impossible, that which takes a little longer.”

Very little happens as soon or as quickly as we sometimes wish; it takes time, patience, co-operation, commitment and above all else a ‘plan.” That’s what the people of the Trepassey Area told us in Mapping Our Future. Furthermore, the lesson in this for anyone seeking such, is that most times the professional/people skills and resources needed for community initiatives are right there in your own community. Although designed to be economic in focus, the plan, in being true to what people said, also recognized and encompassed the social and human resource aspects of community development. The revised Municipalities Act now gives towns the mandate to act in all these areas.

Mapping Our Future is tangible evidence that ordinary folks want to have a say in the development of their community and that they have an important role to play. Resident comments on the GRASSROOTS video, Trepassey – A Peoples Story – 2000, produced by Ms. Cathy Murphy of Cable 9, demonstrates that ordinary people have a strong and compelling voice. “Community vision”, “community buy-in” and “community consensus building” doesn’t happen without open communication, co-operation, trust and “Chat” at the community level. The lesson and challenge for municipalities and indeed all groups and organizations, is to not lose sight of that important element in community cohesiveness. The concept is so simple, its impact so influencing, that it’s a mystery why we fail to engage it regularly.

Today, with a Community Development Officer in place, the plan continues to be used as a means to market the Town of Trepassey as a progressive place to do business, while ensuring that the wishes and recommendations of its citizens are clearly articulated. This plan was the result of over twenty-four months of extensive community consultation, co-operation, and volunteer work by many residents. Repeatedly people said that Trepassey must have a community development plan and that the Town Council must take the lead in plan implementation and in, ensuring and marketing Trepassey as a community minded and business friendly town. A town that is “OPEN FOR BUSINESS”! It would do well for us to review occasionally what people said here. If we are to be a community minded and business friendly town then we must not let ourselves slip into regressive and “boxed” thinking. Manifesting that employers should restrict hiring to only Trepassey residents is indeed, regressive and counterproductive. Building strong communities and regions demands that we be open to a wider and more progressive perspective.

In November 2000, with the support of both federal and provincial agencies, the Town hired Ms. Viola Pennell as a Community Development Officer. Both HRDC and the Trepassey Management Corporation provided the required funding under a possible three-year (36 month), Local Labour Market Partnership agreement. Viola has been in

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this position for just over 24 months and deserves much acclamation for the community development momentum and partnership building she has initiated. The Community Integrated Workplan/Achievements profile she maintains, details for all the many initiatives she has undertaken with the support of the town and the many interested groups/organizations and individuals. The support of all partners and indeed the business community is needed, appreciated and acknowledged. We hope that HYGENITEK, a dental product manufacturer, and the latest manufacturing company to show interest in this area, will be a strong and active partner as well.

Although Mapping Our Future makes no promises about jobs or community growth, it states quite clearly that continued community co-operation and information exchange, with a futuristic and sustainable development focus, must become our way of thinking and acting. With such a focus, we hope this community philosophy just might pay off!

4.2 - Accountability and Performance Review

In keeping with the accountability and performance review mandate called for in Mapping Our Future, the former Trepassey Task Force on CED was asked by the Town Council in February 2002 to regroup and review the first year of plan implementation.

The members of the re-grouped Task Force included: Mayor Tony Hewitt, TMC Chairperson and Deputy Mayor Rita Pennell, Yvonne Cheater, Tom Sutton, Viola Pennell and Wilf Sutton. Former town councilor and member Reg St.Croix and former youth representative Mary Linehan were not available, as both are now living outside the area.

Members of the Task Force met on March 2, 2002 and put forth the following comments and recommendations for consideration.

REVIEW & RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. It was felt that the position of Community Development Officer was key to Trepassey being able to continue to strengthen and rebuild its economic base. Therefore, it was recommended that the Town, the Trepassey Management Corporation, and other partners should begin planning and exploring options to maintain funding for the position of Development Officer, if and when, HRDC assistance under the LLMP program is no longer available.

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2. It was recommended that the Town begin to investigate resources for the development of a Marketing Strategy. Experience in Year 1 revealed a need to become more focused. We need to decide what types of businesses are best suited to our area and then develop a strategy to actively pursue them.

3. It was recommended to expand the Trepassey Roundtable on CED by making it more open and inclusive. All signatories to Trepasseys Community Economic Development Accord, signed prior to the release of Mapping Our Future, and any other interested parties will be encouraged to participate at Roundtable Meetings. The intent being, as intended from day one, that the information shared and discussed, will be brought back to all individual groups and organizations so there will be greater opportunity for information exchange and community CED education and support.

4. It was recommended to invite CED members from the Port Development Team and the Business Retention Team to participate at the Roundtable, rather than function as separate committees. It was felt that the work of these teams was been sufficiently handled through committees already in place and we wanted to avoid a duplication of time and effort.

5. It was recommended that the Development Officer concentrate more on economic development activities. The Development Officer in conjunction with the Town should focus on setting up a working group consisting of various government/industry/local representatives to explore marketing and investment opportunities for Trepassey. Although not wishing to minimize the importance of the social and human resource sectors of the plan, it was felt that existing community groups and organizations were working diligently to promote and maintain our social and human resource sector activities.

6. It was recommended to hold a “public” roundtable meeting, whereby community residents could observe the Roundtable in session. The meeting agenda should provide time for public input.

7. It was recommended that the Town continue to meet with and support all local business in any way possible.

8. It was recommended that CED training for councilors and all other committee members be initiated. It was felt that the Irish Loop Development

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Board might be able to provide the facilitators/trainers to assist the town with this endeavor.

9. Finally, it was recommended that the public be given an opportunity to have input or give feedback on plan implementation. The next “COMMUNITY CHAT” should be the process by which to garner such input.

Over sixty residents from the area, including the Mayors from the surrounding communities participated in this recommendation at a regular Community Chat held on April 6, 2002. In terms of accountability and performance, the public indicated strong support for the initiative and leadership the Town Council, the Trepassey Management Corporation and the Development Officer were demonstrating in attempting to address the community development needs and priorities as outlined in Mapping Our Future.

4.3 - “Staying in Drive”

The future of Trepassey, and a number of other coastal communities like Trepassey, will be challenging without fish; there’s no escaping that fact.

Thus, it's important for all of us in Atlantic Canada, that Canada and the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) take appropriate steps to prevent the over fishing so recently documented. The premise that the Nose and Tail of the Grand Banks and the Flemish Cap should be included in Canada's jurisdiction is without question. As the Standing Committee On Fisheries And Oceans stated in March 2002, we need to better manage the resource. Without a resource, no fishing community or company will survive, nor even return to it. As well, the recommendation contained in the recent Report of the Special Panel on Corporate Concentration in the Newfoundland and Labrador Fishing Industry, to ensure some reasonable balance between regional resource availability and regional processing capacity in a regional economic development context should be considered. Ensuring that all the communities with processing capacity in the Irish Loop Region are getting a fair share of what’s been caught adjacent to our coastline is a fair and just objective.

Losing the main employer can threaten the demise of any community or region. The regional development perspective introduced by the provincial government in 1997-98 with the set up of Provincial Zonal Boards is an intelligent and collaborative approach to such dilemmas. Or at least from my observation of the development efforts in the Irish Loop Region, it appears that way to me. The fact that the Southern Avalon Development Association is still around and active, in addition to playing a supportive role to the Irish

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Loop Development Board, speaks volumes for the present co-operative will of the people in this area. These are community and human resource assets that we must recognize, maintain, celebrate, and build on.

Likewise, the formation of a “Community Roundtable” on local development issues and the regular “Community Chats” that the Town of Trepassey has adopted is indeed a collaborative and useful approach at the community level. Working together, these processes can only have positive results and all community/regional players must continue to realize and support this. Our community/regional players and our faithful supporters in both levels of government deserve high praise for the co-operation and good will practiced to date in the midst of so much economic uncertainty. We must not be deterred by the naysayers, or by those who feel that a rural demise is upon us. The connotation of “rural” means a lot of different things to many different people across this country, but be it within a rural population of 800, 8000, or 18,000, a lot of dedicated people are trying to make good things happen in many rural parts of Canada. To survive, smaller rural areas just cannot afford to be complacent and lackadaisical.

In Trepassey, hopefully we are slowly finding a new identity, an identity based on small-scale manufacturing and new technology. It may take years, even decades, to grow this identity and economy, but it is our best option at this time; five or ten years is a very short time in any community’s transition and development. Creating a strong and viable economic cluster of successful businesses makes good sense from the point of view of community development. Therefore it is important for us as individuals, groups and organizations to continue to support the established businesses in our area and to work with them to “grow from within.” We need to build on what we have.

The Trepassey Area, from the rugged cliffs of Cape Race and the great work being championed there in the tourism industry, to the new manufacturing technology in Trepassey; to the growing of the “greenest of green” sods at Emerald Sod Producers in St. Shotts, and the caribou and whale excitement of Peters River - St. Vincents - St. Marys, this locality has a lot to offer. Maybe we could aspire to become a modest “rural model.” Someone recently wondered if the now vacant elementary school in Trepassey could be turned into an Irish Cultural Centre. Being centrally located within the Irish Loop, this idea might be an opportunity to consider building on our Irish connection and the growing interest in the genealogy of the Southern Shore, our love of Irish dance and song, the Gaelic language and other cultural connections. Dreaming you may say, but in the business of CED, much like in life, dreaming is permissible.

As a region, there are benefits to focusing more on innovation and research & development. Innovation can happen anywhere, but like some other processes, we need to be encouraged to think about it. The success of the Youth Ventures program, under the guidance of the Southern Shore - St. Mary’s Bay Community Development Corporation and the latest award winning recognition of the innovative ideas of some of our youth entrepreneurs come to mind as an example. As well, there should be

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dedicated/enhanced support and direction for research and development, for those who want it, within the established businesses currently operating in struggling communities and regions. I think to ignore it, will be at our peril.

Dedicated marketing assistance should also be a focused priority. Marketing assistance can be as simple as regular business profiles in the Irish Loop newsletter. Encouraging and educating businesses to the value of using signage on established business ventures is also worth taking a look at. Too often, the signage is just not there. As well, we need to keep searching for new opportunities to enhance our diversifying economy. It’s for such reasons that rural areas need high-speed broadband access to the Internet, if we are to learn to play any role in the knowledge-based economy we hear so much about. The possibilities if we’re continually learning, searching, focusing, networking, and collaborating, are there. So yes indeed investors come check us out, the Irish Loop Region and the Trepassey Area in particular is worth taking a second look at. We got the history, the culture, the life style, the geographical location, the dedication, and the people to make your business grow and succeed.

The important role of education at all levels and indeed the leading role that our schools may play in community learning and revitalization generally, cannot be over-looked either. I’m thinking here of the Burgeo Broadcasting System (BBS) media model, a community-owned cable television system which was set up in Burgeo in the early 1980’s. According to a presentation recently delivered by Dr. Ivan Emke at the Rural Matters Conference in Miramichi, New Brunswick, since 1988 Burgeo has been doing its own regular community television broadcasts from a studio, “located in the new high school.” BBS has two people on staff, one to deal with technical issues and one who is focused on programming. Every week a news program on events around Burgeo is aired. It is broadcast on Sunday nights at 8:30, a time when the roads of the town are uncharacteristically empty. Dr. Emke pointed out that this is an amazing accomplishment in itself, that a town of around 1800 people can support its own station, with its own programming.

Even more significant, is the fact that the success of BBS relies on the active integration of high school students as volunteers. The BBS relationship with the school has allowed students access to new learning opportunities, and has provided some local content ideas for curriculum development at the school. This project has been fully supported by both the Zone Board and the local cable company. School Board statistics reflect the positive impact this integration of media technology has had in the classroom, with a noted reduction in the percentage of “students at risk.” I’m convinced and I think most would agree, that this type of convergence in the classroom, where communications technology is used to build human capital and community capacity is a sound community development practice.

There is no doubt that the link between schools and their communities is an important one. It is maximized when schools develop instructional programs, nurture

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community development interest and leadership skills, while facilitating learning on local history, local economic, social and political issues, with a focus on the present and on alternative futures for those places we call “home.” We need look no further than to the success of the “BINGO” initiative here in Trepassey, between the Trepassey Minor Hockey Association and Persona Communications, to see the informative, educational, and social benefits of such co-operative and technical partnerships.

This next comment reflects a strongly held development hurt that just won’t go away, in spite of all the positives government has provided. Yes, the support of HRDC, ACOA and the provincial government was very important and is still very important and appreciated. But, for the community of Trepassey, the time has never been more appropriate to have the $1.2 million dollars the federal treasury took back from the diversification funding of the Atlantic Fisheries Adjustment Program in 1996. In 2003-2004 we definitely have plans for its usage. Such previously allocated diversification funding should stay in place and/or be made available to at least enable these communities to maintain the services of a Community Development Officer. This would ensure the facilitation/continuation of community capacity building initiatives and the championing of economic initiatives at the community level. Community development needs someone on the ground, living in the community, "to do the legwork," it will not happen by itself, nor with volunteers alone. Strong, solid communities and regions, are built from the inside out, by the informed people who live within them; not the other way around.

The immediate challenge for Trepassey is to maintain the momentum and focus we have established with “Mapping Our Future.” Managing to keep a community development focused/dedicated person on staff is a key requirement. When it comes to community development, again there’s got to be “someone on the ground to do the legwork.” Town staff responsible for day-to-day municipal operations can’t do it, but their help and support is crucial. Volunteers alone can’t pull it all together either, but they are a key resource when strong CED leadership is present at the community level, with appropriate and dedicated regional/governmental support. Likewise leaders need support. Community development cannot occur without strong leadership, but leadership alone is not enough for community development. CED has got to be a team effort and the opportunity to participate at an open Community Roundtable and at regular Community Chats, such as exists in Trepassey today, helps build that capacity and support.

Individuals, community groups and organizations must keep connected through regular information exchange and dialogue. Having only 20 or 25 turn up to a scheduled “Chat” is not a reason for despair or dismay, in this business you work with the interest you have and try to build on it. Community education and positive attitude building is an ongoing/continuous process and we must recognize that in the business of community economic development, challenge, change, and chance are constant. Therefore, as community leaders and as volunteers we must know how to engage in positive attitude

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building and we must practice it constantly. As residents, we must all share in holding that kite string! Aiming for realistic objectives and adopting solidarity of vision, while striving to be co-operatively engaged at all levels, in spite of our human shortcomings, is a commendable goal.

In Trepassey, and indeed in the entire Irish Loop Region, our community development focus has been on trying to make all these great ideals a reality. I realize that amidst so much unemployment, job insecurity, and economic uncertainty in so many parts of our region and province, that these foregoing words may sound very, very hollow. Yet, as on all pathways to achievement, any success at the end begins with a focused commitment and a desire and will to succeed. The section of this paper dealing with the development of the “CHAT” concept began with a quote from Dr. Stephen R. Covey and it will conclude with another bit of his wisdom on life and community. More than once in his teachings, he has pointed out that in all that we do or try to achieve “the main thing, is to keep the main thing, the main thing!”

“Staying in Drive,” to ensure a legacy of “thinking and acting” for community survival demands that we continue to work at it.

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Appendix A

List of Sources

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. (May 2002). The Southern Shore: An Economy in Transition. Newfoundland and Labrador, Government of Canada.

Atlantic Canada Vision Community Business Development Corporations (CBDC). Volume 3, Number 1 / Fall 2002. Atlantic Marketing Committee. Mulgrave, NS

Atlantic Fisheries Adjustment Program. New & Existing Initiatives. Government of Canada. May 7, 1990.

Bella Marine Co., Inc. Undated Information Bulletin. Presented at a Public Meeting in Trepassey, Newfoundland - July 18,1998.

Canadian Mental Health Association (1994). A Needs Assessment for Community Self Help - Trepassey Area. Working It Out: The Challenge Of Change From Within. Produced by Extension Community Development Co-operative, St. John's, NL.

Counselling Foundation of Canada. (2000). A Coming of Age: Counselling Canadians For Work In The Twentieth Century. Ottawa, Ontario

Covey, Stephen R. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: A Fireside Book. Simon & Schuster Inc., (1990).

Covey, Stephen R. Principled - Centered Leadership: “Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime.” New York: A Fireside Book. Simon & Schuster Inc., (1992).

Appendix A

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List of Sources

Covey, Stephen R. First Things First. New York: A Fireside Book. Simon & Schuster Inc., (1995).

Covey, Stephen R. Living The Seven Habits: The Courage To Change. New York: A Fireside Book. Simon & Schuster Inc., (1999).

Decks Awash. Cape Race to St. Vincent’s. Published by the Extension Service, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Vol. 10, No. 3, June 1981. St. John’s, NL.

Dennis Knight Associates. Final Report - Southern Avalon (Trepassey Plant) Industrial Adjustment Measures. St. John's, NL. (1993).

Employment and Immigration Canada. Worker Programs and Services. Employment Counselling Services. Planning For Change: Implementation And Delivery Guide. (June, 1993).

Statistical and Financial Report of the Fishery Products International – Trepassey Operation, 1987 – 1990. Prepared by FPI – Trepassey, Newfoundland. (August 1991).

Grassroots. Trepassey: A Peoples Story – 2000. Produced by Cathy Murphy & Cable 9 Community Channel, St. John’s, NL. (2000).

Human Resources Development – Canada. The Community Development Handbook. A Tool To Build Community Capacity. (1999). Ottawa, Ontario

Appendix A

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List of Sources

Memorial University of Newfoundland. From Talk To Action: A Program Focusing On Fishers and Their Livelihoods. Prepared by Centre for the Development of Distance Career Counselling. St. John’s, NL. (1993).

Prowse, D.W. A History of Newfoundland. Portugal Cove – St.Philip’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Boulder Publications Ltd. (2002)

Rural Innovation Summit Report. Canada’s Innovation Strategy. Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. (June 6 - 7, 2002). Government of Canada.

Rural Matters: CRRF Rural University Conference. Miramichi, New Brunswick. (October 26 – 29, 2002). Hosted by: Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation; Rural and Small Town Programme, Mount Allison University; and People of the Miramichi, Chaleur, Kent, Peninsule Region of New Brunswick.Conference website: www.mta.ca/rstp/crrfconf/home.html

Sailing Directions – Newfoundland. Fisheries and Oceans – Canada. Government of Canada. Sixth Edition. (1980).

The Irish Loop Development Board. Creating a Vision for the Irish Loop: A Strategic Economic Plan for Zone 20. Trepassey, NL. (1998).

Appendix A

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http://www.mta.ca/rstp/crrfconf/home.html




List of Sources

The Southern Post. The Voice of the Irish Loop, the Goulds and Petty Harbour. Vol II: No 38, 41, 42 and Vol III: No 5, 6. (1998).

Town of Trepassey. (1992). Trepassey Community Development Fund Inc. Annual Report, November 1990 – March 1992. Trepassey, NL

Town of Trepassey. (2000). Mapping Our Future, Trepassey's Strategic Development Plan. Report of the Trepassey Task Force on Community Economic Development, January 2000. Trepassey, NL.

Winsor, Eric B. “The M.V. Trepassey” - The “Splinter Fleet” Vessels. From the Original Oil Painting by ERIC B. WINSOR. A Limited Edition Print published by Dicks and Company Limited. (1991) St. John’s, NL.

Women’s Policy Office. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Effect Of The Crisis In The Newfoundland Fishery On Women Who Work In the Industry. Prepared by: Andy Rowe Consulting Economists. August 1991. St. John’s, NL.

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