As Gaultois prepares for resettlement vote, a resident wants to stay in 'heaven on Earth'

A once bustling fishing community in Newfoundland and Labrador may be inching closer to resettlement, thanks in part to changes in how the decision gets made.

The town of Gaultois, located on an island in Hermitage Bay on Newfoundland's south coast, used to house a seafood processing plant operated by Fishery Products International. FPI closed the plant in 1990, forcing many residents to leave, and the town never recovered. Fish processing altogether came to an end at the plant in 2010.

Over time, the idea of resettlement — which would come with provincial government assistance to the tune of $270,000 per household — gradually became more of an eventuality. Uncertain ferry service, a tough economy, and a severely depleted population made leaving Gaultois a foregone conclusion for many.

But in the town's last resettlement vote, 80 per cent voted to leave. But the threshold to trigger the province's community relocation program was 90 per cent — until recently.

In October, the provincial government lowered the threshold from 90 per cent to 75 per cent — less than the pro-resettlement share in 2015.

Now the town is headed toward another vote, one initiated by residents, according to a statement from the Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs. The department says it received 78 "expression of interest ballots" from people in Gaultois last month, with at least 75 per cent of them in support of requesting financial assistance from the provincial government for relocation.

The department says it's now working to determine residency status for the town.

One resident who wants to stay isn't keen to see a vote even take place.

Ronald Simms owns Ronnie's Groceries, the last store of its kind in the community. Before opening the store some 35 years ago, Simms worked in the ill-fated fish plant. When he opened his business, there were nearly 700 residents in the community, with 240 students in the classroom.

Today, Simms guesses there's between 75 and 80 residents, including four students and one teacher.

But Simms has no intention of voting to resettle.

"I'm just hoping that people goes against it again," said Simms. "I don't want to resettle the community. Not yet. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm hoping that it won't go that far."

Simms says the town is in the process of preparing the affidavits to determine who is eligible to vote, and he has some concerns about who will be involved in the decision.

"I'm hoping that it's just the people in the community that's going to do the voting, not somebody that left, got papers, and wants to vote to shut down the community," he said. "I don't want to see that."

Simms says he believes the change to the voting threshold was a major factor in the push for a new vote, although he doesn't know who campaigned for it.

"I think there was a couple of people who pushed for the vote, but I don't know who they were," said Simms. "It had to be somebody travelling back and forth. I think they got it in their head that they should bring it up again and see if people wanted to resettle." 

Despite the 80 per cent vote in 2015, Simms says he believes most residents, overall, are happy.

"They are. I calls it 'God's country,' said Simms. "We've got heaven on Earth here. When people come in, especially through tourism, they always say how nice and quiet it is. Some people enjoy that kind of stuff."

While a date for the vote hasn't been set yet, Simms said it's a hot topic around town. And he isn't giving up hope just yet that the town will survive.

"I'm gonna bet on it yet," said Simms. "But it may not happen. Keep your fingers crossed, anyway."

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