If you build it, 'the families will come': Anticosti opens new daycare

The municipality of Anticosti hopes to entice more families to move to the island now that it has a daycare service up and running.

With a bid to become a UNESCO World Heritage site and several other projects on the go, there are more jobs available than workers to fill them, according to general manager Frédéric Lee.

But finding people to move to Port-Menier, which currently has 200 residents, always stirs up the same problem.

"If you don't have daycare for the children, we won't go," Lee said he's heard again and again.

From running the grocery store to welcoming tour groups, Lee estimates there are around 30 to 40 jobs available.

The worker shortage pushed the town council to set aside a budget to pay a child-care provider.

It also donated one of its municipal buildings to set up the daycare.

Open since the month of June, four children are now enrolled. Another two are expected to attend in in the fall.

"We're open for business," said Lee, predicting that from now on "the families will come."

Moving across the ocean

The town didn't have to work too hard to find someone to run the daycare.

Mathilda Palanca and her spouse Anthony Soler were living in Lyon, France, when they came across a documentary on Anticosti. 

Seeing the remote lifestyle and natural beauty of the island was enough to convince them to pack up and leave their city life behind.

For Palanca, running a daycare was always her dream job.

"I really wanted to work with children, so I couldn't have asked for more," said the 20-year-old.

In a bizarre twist of fate, Mayor John Pineault was discussing the need for a daycare worker and a mechanic for the municipality, just one day before Anthony Soler sent him an e-mail, inquiring about the possibility of moving to Anticosti.

"He thought it was a joke, but it was just a stroke of luck," said Soler, who is a trained mechanic.

Soler, 23, said doing jobs that are essential for people in the small community has given him a much stronger sense of meaning than pushing papers in the big city.

"We are adding our brick to the wall, so to speak," said Soler.

Surrounded by nature

The young couple said they intend on living in Port-Menier for the long-run.

The main selling point for them was the remoteness and wildlife that is unique to Anticosti.

"It just wasn't possible for us to drive 15 minutes and be all alone on the side of a lake [before]," said Soler.

Palanca said going out for a fishing trip in Lyon meant dodging traffic to get out of the city and dealing with crowded beaches, far from her experience on Anticosti.

"Here we can just pack up and leave, no questions asked," she said.

New future

Lee said he couldn't be more thrilled to have the couple settle in Port-Menier.

"We're very glad to have them, they bring a new energy to the town," he said.​

The recent controversy over oil and gas exploration on Anticosti Island was divisive for the population, Lee said.

But with new projects on the horizon, including plans to build a 600-kilometre hiking trail around the island, Lee expects to see more young people, like Palanca and Soler, pack up their bags.

"People were divided, and to [have this daycare], it's like saying 'OK, we're working together again, we have a bright future in front of us.'"