The Moratorium Experience

Toni Kearney understands the pull between the need to know and the fear of finding out. When she lived in Australia, a world away from her hometown, Conche was on her mind and in her heart. Returning to the small community on Newfoundland and Labrador’s Great Northern Peninsula was never in question.

“Conche is a magical place,” Toni says. “When you go away, there’s a pain in your heart and a feeling that you have to come back. I felt I was returning for something bigger, like I had to do something. I have always been passionate about the province and inspired by those who fought for Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Toni drove into Conche in March 2020, determined to make her dream – running a tourism business back home – a reality. “With Moratorium Children I want to create an unforgettable experience for someone who is looking to get away. I want people to come here and feel a change,” she explains. Two days later, the global pandemic and resulting shutdown of businesses was announced in Newfoundland and Labrador. “It was two months of snowshoeing, spending time in the woods, and redefining what my experience would have been like if I’d stayed in Conche.”

The closure of the cod fishery in 1992 ended almost five centuries of cod fishing. In the more than 25 years since, communities like Conche have faced outmigration, and economic, social and cultural issues.

“It’s the story I grew up in,” Toni says. “We were constantly moving, constantly saying goodbye, constantly making new friends, coming back and then having to leave again. It was a rough way to grow up.”

It’s the story she now tells through Moratorium Children, an experience that helps participants understand a historical event that shook rural communities to their core. Toni opens a door to the past through guided coastline hikes, storytelling, food and music. Meditation provides a sense of peace that remains with visitors long after they leave Conche. Fine dining nourishes the body; forest therapy soothes the soul.

“I tell people what it was like for me and my best friends growing up, what we saw and felt, the highs and lows, joys and sadness,” Toni says. “I try to paint the whole picture.”

Moratorium Children welcomed its first guests in July 2020, and operated under COVID-19 restrictions until closing in early September. Dawn Gaulin heard about Moratorium Children while travelling to St. Anthony during a province-wide microbrewery tour.

“Toni has created something special,” she says. “I was familiar with the moratorium, but having a familiarity from reading about it is one thing; immersing yourself in the culture with people who lived it is something entirely different. The hike, talking to people and learning through their eyes what happened and how it affected them was amazing. What really stood out for me was the tapestry [that] women in the community created depicting the history of the French Shore. Some of the women who helped create the tapestry had never held a needle prior to starting the project. In the finished product you can see the learning, and how the artisans worked together. I think it’s indicative of a small outport, coming together with their stories, teaching, learning and creating something really special.”

Fleur de Lys resident Millie Walsh, a retired teacher who runs Samantha’s Saltwater Joys Museum and Café, saw firsthand the negative impacts of the cod moratorium. Men who spent their lives earning a living from the sea found themselves suddenly bound to the shore. Fish plant workers, predominantly women, lost their jobs. Boats were hauled out of the water. Families who lived apart while fathers and husbands fished offshore were suddenly thrown together.

“I remember the social impact on small communities,” says Millie. “It was devastating. The social fabric that held families together was taken away. It was a sad time in the history of our province.”

Moratorium Children transported Millie back to that time. “I was really impressed with the experience,” she says. “I felt a great sense of hope that someone so young had a calling to come back to her community, reconnect, and look at the opportunity of making something great out of something negative.” Millie believes tourists are looking for experiences that are different from what operators have been providing for the last 20 years. “Toni is a visionary,” she adds. “I felt it when she talked about mind, body and spirit. You must look globally at the tourists you are going to bring into your community. She did that through her travels and lived experiences.”

Moratorium Children is accepting bookings for 2021, from June to the end of September, and will operate within COVID-19 protocols. The daylong experience includes a candlelight meal, the menu for which is based on fresh, local seafood and locally sourced vegetables. Supper is served at The Stairs, a restored early 1900s fishing premises. A private performance by talented local musicians skilled in storytelling and folklore rounds out the event.

“Most people here either sing or play an instrument,” Toni says. “Music is another important part of our culture, and there has always been music in our community.”

Toni says response from Conche residents inspires future ideas. “It’s extremely rewarding, and it gives me motivation for the other plans I have. It was beautiful to see and feel the energy in our community this past summer. It created a sense of happiness in Conche, and a sense of excitement.”

Passion, hard work and determination are key to making a venture like this one successful. “It’s looking at who is coming here and what they want. If I hadn’t left Newfoundland, I would never know I wanted to come back,” Toni explains.

“I look at Newfoundland with love and empathy for what has happened,” she says. “Our people are as resilient as the tiny trees we see on our hikes. Conche is not dying, it’s changing. It’s about embracing that change, and not feeling we have lost hope. All the resources we have are still here. We have already come through so much; it’s time to move forward.”

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