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A community's plea to save Labrador's Black Tickle

Running on empty. Residents of Black Tickle, Labrador are in crisis after learning they're about to lose their only fuel provider. Already set to lose their sole nurse-practitioner, the remote Aboriginal community is pleading with the government to intervene.
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Boats are shown in the water near rocks with houses in the background.
Black Tickle, Labrador, which has about 140 residents. (CBC)
As It Happens7:16A community's plea to save Labrador's Black Tickle

In a letter to the federal government this week, the residents of the small Labrador community of Black Tickle did not mince words.

"Put bluntly, if you don't have fuel in the Labrador winter, you die."

The remote Aboriginal settlement is in crisis and pleading for Ottawa to intervene, following news that their sole fuel provider is cutting service.

It's yet another blow to the town of about 147 people, who just months ago learned that their only nurse-practitioner is also scheduled to leave in the fall.

"We were devastated about this," Joseph Keefe tells As It Happens host, Carol Off, from his home in Black Tickle. Keefe is the chair of the local service district and has been a resident of Black Tickle all his life.

Black Tickle's full time, onsite nurse was scheduled to be replaced by a fly-in visit once a week to the small island community. (Google Maps)

Keefe says residents had been bracing for Woodward Group Companies, the fuel company, to make this decision since last fall.

"With some negotiations with [provincial] government, between them and Woodward, they came up with a scheme last fall ... to run it for another year. But we knew this wasn't a permanent solution," Keefe explains.

Woodward plans to pull its operations beginning Sept. 1.

Residents of Black Tickle attended a community meeting in 2013 to consider their future. They opted to stay put. (PETER COWAN/CBC)

The residents of Black Tickle have long been used to feeling isolated. There are no commercial flights to Black Tickle, no road in, and a weekly coastal boat that only operates in the summer and fall months. Internet is largely inaccessible and no one has access to running water.

And in 2012, the community's largest employer — the local fish plant — shut down its operations.

Woodward group will be ending regular fuel delivery service to Black Tickle during the winter months starting in 2016. (CBC)

The provincial government offered up a stop-gap solution to the fuel problem — to supply three empty barrels per household so that residents can store fuel for the winter, but Keefe says that won't be enough to get through the harsh Labrador winter.

He says this announcement, coupled with the departure of the community's only nurse practitioner, puts the community at risk of collapse. Keefe explains there are 28 children in the community, and many with chronic health conditions.

"We've got people with [Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease]. We've got people with Lupus. There are heart problems, diabetes... We've got people here that have to go to this clinic on a daily basis. Not five days a week, but seven days a week. And now that clinic won't be there." 

Residents in Black Tickle have long complained about the poor state of their roads, and the frequent occurrence of serious potholes like this one, which spans more than four metres in length. (JEFFREY KEEFE/FACEBOOK)
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Keefe hopes the letter gets the federal government's attention, but is concerned it may not be at the top of the priority list. He says having to leave Black Tickle would be a devastating consequence to residents.

"I was born and raised here. I've been here for 62 years. I have a great attachment to the community. If I had to leave, I'd feel devastated."

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