Ghost Towns

Perhaps understandably, Ottawa has decided to shut down the outpost towns along the southwest coast of Newfoundland rather than fund their continued survival on a subsistence level existence. While Newfoundlanders seem to find many reasons to be happy and cheerful in their daily lives, they are not achieving great economic vibrancy in their current situations. One by one, the federal support disappears and so too do the outpost towns.

Petites is a classic example of an outpost town being shut down. While we did not go ashore, we could observe the dilapidated structures from Brio. They do look ghostly. We heard from others that Ottawa essentially "bought out" the residents, giving them cash to leave immediately. Signs of life stopped in an instant abound with cooking implements, dishes, and table settings suggesting that perhaps the stove was shut off, but the meal was never consumed.

The town pier beckons, but it is low tide, and the harbor is far too narrow to accommodate Brio.

You can see the jumble of houses in the background. While the activity in the town had been ebbing since the 1980s, Ottawa ordered the town to be vacated in 2003.

The church steeple had fallen down due to neglect and perhaps storms.

In any case, it was a thin existence on a rocky location only feet from narrow inlets and dangerous ledges.

Is this the solution for these outpost towns? How can the federal or provincial governments afford to support such small populations in shrinking villages? It is a sad, but perhaps necessary outcome when the government had shut down these outposts' only source of revenue and economic activity, that of fishing.

One more stop for Brio before Port-aux-Basques: in the group of islands known as Isle aux Morts, so-called because of the many shipwrecks in the area. The recommended stop is Squid Hole.

Cheers,

Brio