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Losing the farm Ontario feed supplier cuts off credit to south coast’s largest salmon grower
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At home and school with young Johnny Page 11
UPWARDS OF 140 LAYOFFS ISSUED; 700,000 FISH LEFT IN WATER WITH NOTHING TO EAT By Ryan Cleary The Independent
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BUSINESS
Security is more than a sharp uniform Page 15
SPORTS
Michael Ryder to take Sweden by storm
he province’s largest salmon farming company issued layoff notices to its entire140-strong workforce late last week after the Guelph, Ont.-based feed supplier cancelled its line of credit. As of Saturday, North Atlantic Sea Farms Corp. of St. Alban’s had run out of feed for the more than 700,000 Atlantic salmon it has penned in marine cages off Gaultois and Pool’s Cove on the island’s south coast. A company representative says unless the feed supplier — Shur-Gain, a division of Maple Leaf Foods — reestablishes the line of credit or the provincial government steps in to save the day, the salmon farming business on the island’s south coast will go under. “The immediate problem right now is feed for the fish,” says Brian Rogers, chief consultant for North Atlantic Sea Farms. “The industry is being threatened by the major supplier … who’s cutting off
credit at a time when we’re most vulnerable,” he tells The Independent. “The fish will live, but we will not be able to feed them and from a business point of view we will have to lay off all the staff, maintaining a skeleton crew just for security.” Since 2001, Shur-Gain has forwarded feed from its Truro, N.S., plant to the south coast aquaculture operation using a line of credit. Payments were consistently made once the fish were sold to market, a relationship that reportedly worked well until last December when Shur-Gain unexpectedly cancelled its $6-million line of credit to North Atlantic Sea Farms. At that point, the company owed over $5 million. Feed is the most expensive part of a fish farming operation, representing up to 80 per cent of production costs. “They (Shur-Gain officials) said it was a corporate decision that they no longer wanted to be bankers for the industry,” says Rogers. “And we were in default of nothing. We had laid this plan out with them several years prior and we had lived up to everything we said we were going to do. We had provided them with everything from monthly financial statements, in
Paul Daly/The Independent
The Atlantic salmon farming industry on the island’s south coast has been jeopardized with the decision by a Guelph-based feed company to cancel a line of credit. Officials with Shur-Gain reportedly say they’re no longer interested in bankrolling the industry. Atlantic salmon is popular in restaurants around the world.
some cases weekly statements. They were intimately involved with us in the growth of the company.” The move was a devastating blow to North Atlantic Sea Farms, considering traditional financiers such as banks won’t lend a dime to the province’s
aquaculture industry. Early this year, Rogers says Shur-Gain officials agreed to a plan whereby if North Atlantic Sea Farms paid back half of its outstanding $5-million debt it would add $1 million to the company’s line of credit, bringing it to $3.5 million.
Cause for alarm
Page 25
By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
Ivan Morgan on winning Beth Marshall back Page 5
Quote Week OF THE
“One of the members saw him at a distance. From there, the rumour went that he (Chief Richard Deering) was running in the halls in his underwear.” — Staff-Sgt. June Layden
Continued on page 2
But questions of stability on vessels such as Ryan’s Commander have been raised by the feds for years
T OPINION
Sea Farms 28 per cent above the going market price for feed. Despite the fact the company paid its bills and the extra costs associated with the line of credit, Rogers says Shur-Gain still pressured
‘No such thing as an unsinkable ship’
Constabulary policing levels need an immediate boost: union
he new president of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Association, Tim Buckle, isn’t afraid to admit Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have every right to be concerned for their safety. Crime is up and police resources are down. “Well there isn’t the volume of police officers available out there like it once was,” he tells The Independent. “People’s fears in that regard are not illegitimate, they are very legitimate.” Buckle says the likelihood of an officer actually catching a person in the act of committing a crime is remote because Constabulary officers are too busy responding to complaint calls. Constabulary Chief Richard Deering agrees. “We are publicly funded — there’s only so much money to go around — policing is a priority in the community, but so is education and health … so my job as the chief of police is to apply my resources in the most efficient manner I have,” Deering says. The Constabulary currently has 306 officers on the force, whose jurisdiction includes the greater St. John’s area, Corner Brook and Labrador West. Thirty new recruits are currently in training at Memorial University. Buckle says the biggest issue facing the Constabulary and its association is a lack of staff.
The company did just that. Shur-Gain, however, kept changing the cap on the line of credit until earlier this summer when it once again cancelled the credit outright. For use of the line of credit, Rogers says Shur-Gain charged North Atlantic
By Jeff Ducharme The Independent
A
Paul Daly/The Independent
The union representing Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers says the force is desperately short of manpower.
“And while we commend the (Danny) Williams government for finding new monies to train new officers, the earliest those officers will be able to work is September, 2005.” Even then, Buckle says the recruits will need some on-the-job training. “To give an officer a set of keys, firearm and send him out to do his job — he’s going to need at least six months training to gain some exposure to the real world.” There are new graduates of police training programs currently in the province looking for work. Buckle says they should be hired immediately.
“We have our chief who’s saying we don’t have the staffing level to respond to alarm calls, we have an increase in property calls, and armed robberies … and we concur with the chief of police that it’s very likely related to the drug trade of prescription drugs,” Buckle says. Deering recently stated the Constabulary would not be responding to any more alarm calls if a key holder isn’t on site. “The problem with the alarm business in this province is all these entrepreneurial spirits went out and sold all these
Continued on page 8
study four years ago by the Canadian Coast Guard expressed grave concern over the stability of fishing boats similar in design to the ill-fated Ryan’s Commander, The Independent has learned. Boat builders, designers and fishermen have blamed the Sept. 19 accident that claimed the lives of two fishermen on federal regulations that force them to build and operate vessels less than 65 feet in length. Builders contend they’re forced to construct vessels wider and higher, making them unstable. According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans report, “transport safety surveyors” described the vessel-size regulations and how they’re enforced as “accidents waiting to happen.” “Installations of heavy fishing gear on vessels whose design is fundamentally too small, have created too many ‘top heavy’ situations where stability problems could lead to potential accidents,” reads the report. Another report by Transport Canada set off alarm bells in 1999 when it stated that the “effect of heavy shrimp gear”
Courtesy of Jim Wellman/Navigator
The shrimp trawler Ryan’s Commander went down Sept. 19 off Cape Bonavista.
on stability was a “major consideration.” Snub-nosed vessels such as Ryan’s Commander, which was fishing shrimp when it went down, have been criticized because of their box-like construction — almost vertical bow, extreme width and height. Fishermen and builders blame federal regulations for creating the ves-
sels, known as snub nose 64-11s. Midshore vessels are between 65 and 100 feet in length, with anything over that length considered offshore. Capacity, which has long been a contentious issue between the feds, fishermen and industry, is also what has driven the design of the snub-nose boats. “Examples exist where current 65-foot Canadian fishing vessels actually have more hold capacity than American sword fishing vessels that are in excess of 80 feet,” reads the coast guard report. The report goes on to criticize the federal bureaucracy, noting a 1987 coast guard study. “While it noted that human error was a principle cause of most accidents, it was clear in its view that circumstances, often beyond the control of fishermen, set the stage for accidents to happen.” The same report went even further, saying “arbitrary rulings in the pursuit of Department of Fishery and Oceans goals often had an adverse effect on safety.” The 2000 coast guard report repeats many of the same concerns. Transport Canada, the Transportation Safety Board, coast guard, and the Fisheries Continued on page 2
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NEWS
‘Minister doesn’t feel it’s a time for politics’
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From page 1 Department, because of its “process and structure,” is “seriously lacking” in its ability to balance marine safety with conservation and commercial viability. The 1987 coast guard report voiced similar concerns. Transport Canada and the Department of Fisheries signed a memorandum of understanding to “provide for safety in fisheries management practices.” But by 1990, “there had been little progress made.” NUMBERS DECLINING In 1993, there were 100 search and rescue operations involving fishing vessels 45-65 feet in length. By 1998, that number peaked at approximately 175. Since then, the numbers have been on the decline. The Ryan’s Commander was the first fatality in the Newfoundland fishery since 2002, according to a DFO spokeswoman.
Province may lend a hand From page 1 North Atlantic Sea Farms, although he has no idea why. “You’d have to ask them that question,” Rogers says. “My personal belief is that there has been a corporate directive out of Maple Leaf Foods to get all of these lines of credit … from our point of view we told them exactly what we were going to do and stuck to it. There was an excellent relationship.” The Independent placed numerous calls to Jerry Vergeer, Shur-Gain’s president, but the paper’s messages weren’t returned. Scott McCain of Maple Leaf Foods, Shur-Gain’s parent company, also failed to return calls. LARGEST EMPLOYER North Atlantic Sea Farms — the largest employer on the south coast — employs about 60 workers at its processing plant in St. Alban’s, with another 80 employees at its hatchery just outside town and two marine farms. All but 20 employees are full-time. Last year, the company produced four million pounds of salmon, worth an estimated $7.2 million. This year’s product level of 5.8 million pounds was expected to fetch more than $11 million. Rogers says North Atlantic Sea Farms had asked Shur-Gain to
extend its feed credit until this December so the company can harvest the salmon it has in the water and pay its outstanding bill. Shur-Gain officials refused, however, and North Atlantic Sea Farms has — since August — been cutting back on the amount of food it feeds the salmon it has in the water. OUT OF CASH The company is now completely out of cash, and the feed ran out completely Saturday. Rogers says Shur-Gain officials have been advised they could harvest the salmon as a means to cover the money they’re owed. “That’s not necessarily a good thing to do, but we have told them that,” says Rogers. “But if they come in and harvest it aggressively, if they come in and don’t grow the crop out for another month they will basically put the death nail in North Atlantic Sea Farms.” Rogers says the company has been working with the provincial government on a way it could possibly help. The province, for its part, isn’t commenting. A spokeswoman for the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department says Minister Trevor Taylor isn’t prepared to comment “because negotiations are taking place between the two companies.”
Federal Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan declined comment. “The minister doesn’t feel it’s a time for politics right now,” spokesman Steve Outhouse tells The Independent from Ottawa. “The department is obviously going to follow closely the results of the investigation that (will) be done and we’re open to hearing if there’s anything that needs to be changed within the department.” Transport Canada also says changes are in the works. “There is numerous areas of the regulations that are being reviewed,” says spokesman Maurice Landry. “That includes vessel construction and inspection, lifesaving and personal protective equipment as well as operator certification.” Landry says one of the major changes being considered is a move towards a “risk-based approach to the regulations, rather than a focus on the size of the vessel.” Stability data, the point at which a vessel will capsize, is
currently not required on shrimp vessels such as Ryan’s Commander. Landry says that may change as new regulations are brought into force.
“Stability data does not ensure immunity against capsizing. There’s no such thing as an unsinkable ship.” — Maurice Landry, Transport Canada “Stability data does not ensure immunity against capsizing,” Landry says. “There’s no such thing as an unsinkable ship.” But he says stability is a “primary consideration” of the new regulations. “I mean ultimately the safety of any vessel depends greatly on the judgment of the master, on deci-
sions made on when to leave or return to port given specific weather conditions or weather forecasts and on decisions on how to operate the vessel in a specific area and weather conditions,” says Landry. IMPOSSIBLE TIME FRAME With approximately100 proposed changes to current regulations, he says it’s impossible to put a time frame on when they’ll be enacted. Fishermen, unions and industry are still being consulted. According to the 2000 coast guard report, previous attempts to make such changes fell flat. “Consequently, the issues keep revolving and the problems refuse to disappear, threatening in many cases, to get even worse,” the report read. David Ryan, 46, and his brother Joseph Ryan, 47, died in the sinking of Ryan’s Commander, which capsized in heavy seas off Cape Bonavista. Four other men survived.
Bon voyage
Premier spent $30,000 in travel since January By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
P
remier Danny Williams may not be drawing a salary from taxpayers, but the provincial government is footing the bill for his travel. Between January and midAugust, the premier took 16 trips throughout Europe, Canada and the province – all work related meetings and conferences – racking up expenses totaling $30,245. The most expensive trip — coming in at $8,600 — involved a May excursion to Italy, Germany, France and Belgium for a host of meetings on subjects ranging
from the promotion of 5 Wing Goose Bay and tourism, to education and foreign overfishing on the Grand Banks. A July trip to Ireland where the premier signed a memorandum of understanding cost taxpayers $7,000. Three cabinet retreats, held in Corner Brook, Plum Point and Port Union, cost $1,600. Ken Morrissey, spokesman for the premier’s office, says Williams’ wife, Maureen, seldom travels with the premier. If she did, the province wouldn’t pick up the tab. “The government does not pay for Mrs. Williams when she travels,” Morrissey tells The Indepen-
dent. “There’s no spousal travel allowance — whatever the policy was there, it’s still in place.” The policy suspending spousal travel was instituted by former Liberal premier Roger Grimes and banned all MHAs, the speaker of the House and party leaders from using taxpayers’ money to pay for their spouses to travel with them. The travel information, obtained by The Independent through the province’s Freedom of Information Act, was sparse because, according to Morrissey, Williams pays for all his expenses except travel and the meals he eats while on business.
The Independent, October 3, 2004
NEWS
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The problem with being a Newfoundlander
I
had hoped to write my inaugural column to address, specifically, our plans for The Independent and our commitment to giving Newfoundlanders and Labradorians a unique perspective — a Newfoundland and Labrador perspective — on what’s happening in and outside of our province. Unfortunately, I must use this space to explain how 140 Newfoundlanders are losing their jobs in an aquaculture industry collapse on the island’s south coast. Almost 10 years ago I put a second mortgage on my house, sold my car, and cashed in my life insurance policy to create a company called Newfound Developers. The idea of the company was pretty simple: to gather the expertise required for business success here, at home, and raise risk capital from outside the province. We had a long-term vision to grow an industry here that had a real future — simple, but not easy. That started an odyssey that has led me around the world and increased my belief that we have one of the most beautiful environments on the entire planet in which to live. My commitment for investment in the province has also been reinforced — creating jobs here so the people who want to stay, can
Brian Dobbin, publisher.
stay. This year Newfound Developers employed — through its companies and contractors — approximately 1,000 Newfoundlanders in new industries ranging from tourism to technology. Of all the struggle and success required to make this happen, I believe the aquaculture industry holds the greatest promise for the preservation of our rural culture. A lot of people are afraid to say that — not wanting to create false expectations — but after seeing
Letters to the Editor
Addressing the ‘Newfie Diaspora’ Dear editor, I would like to script a few lines regarding the out-migration from the marine vineyards of rural Newfoundland and Labrador to the employment oasis of mainland Canada. Is there a possible solution to slow this continuous hemorrhage? Possibly, but sporadic visits to selective towns in the province by caucus or cabinet just wont jive. I would recommend that a brain-trust committee — drawn from both the public and private sectors of this province, including leaders, and government officials — be assembled immediately to address this Newfie Diaspora. A novel, forward-thinking agenda for rural prosperity — especially the poorest regions — must be the pivotal focus of social policy. Dub this committee what you wish, but in the name of compassion, initiate it immediately in an attitude of sincerity and accountability.
Stage one of this committee must be mandated to circuit the poor regions of this province, and search out job possibilities. Stage two should spark radical measures to stimulate private investment to fund the work. Private/public partnerships may, at times, be the solution to rural employment strategies. Government-funded projects should be somewhat frowned upon. Such an approach may not be a curative approach to our outmigration problem, but at least it may prove palliative. In my personal repertoire of plausible solutions to our mammoth rural out-migration and the decimation of our rural outports, there is only one true solution, and that is one that provides economic opportunities for rural Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Harold Hayward Musgrave Harbour
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with my own eyes the industry boom in places like China and Chile, in my mind it’s crazy not to recognize and invest in its potential here. In the last 20 years this industry has gone from producing less than five per cent of the world’s daily seafood consumption, to over 45 per cent in 2004. Still think it’s not the future? Given the fact that the new species being chased in the world’s aquaculture industry is cod, you would rightly surmise that fish farming in Newfoundland should boom in the next decade. How is it then that 140 people are losing their jobs in places like St. Alban’s and Pool’s Cove? Keep in mind the company laying them off is one of the few (if not only) companies in Canada that can brag about being profitable (albeit marginally) over the last three years in some of the worst salmon markets in history. Let me explain … In order to hatch a fish, you need a big investment in research and equipment, and then the real money is required. That little fish takes three years to get to market and 80 per cent of the cost to get it to market is feed. In our case, we took over a bank-
rupt company four years ago that produced 700 tonnes of fish a year. After investing over $16 million of private money, we have grown the business so that it’s now producing 3,200 tonnes of fish — with next year’s crop expected to tip the scales at more than 4,000 tonnes. By now the problem should be clear: how do you harvest a salmon crop with a small profit and pay for the bigger crops that are still in the water? You need financing, and therein lies the problem with being a Newfoundlander. Rightly or wrongly, Newfoundland and Labrador is perceived by Canada as being an economic sinkhole. What the rest of the world sees as normal financing is often an impossible task in this province. We are limited to getting loans and investments from a Canadian establishment that has no interest in putting money to work here. Add in a large Canadian feed supplier (McCain’s) that has decided to get out of the business in this province, 28 per cent interest charged for credit on top of their feed cost, and in my opinion some bad legal advice from a St. John’s law firm, and 140 people are out of work when they shouldn’t be. Our provincial government is aware of this situation, and to their
credit have been working feverishly to provide a program to help the industry — as has been done in every other successful aquaculture region in the world. After paying $5 million directly to McCain’s this year to reduce a feed credit line that was arbitrarily cut off in January, our coffers are exhausted for this business. Even more painful than the loss of the salmon operations is the halting of the cod expansion, which we have planned for many years and are ready to commence. I would love to talk about the great successes that we are enjoying on other fronts and what we see in the future for The Independent, but I will save that for another time. All I can do now is apologize to the people who will likely be losing their livelihoods in the immediate future. But we can do no more. The aquaculture workers on the south coast do not deserve this, and although we will be taking McCain’s and their lawyers to the courts for a remedy, it is of little comfort to those who are seeing their company destroyed over corporate greed and a disdain for Newfoundland and Labrador as a normal place to do business.
How to win Beth back
D
anny, Danny, Danny … You sure seem to keep putting your foot in it. It never ceases to amaze me how you blow the no-brainers. I’m beginning to get the distinct impression you aren’t reading. I already had this week’s column written, but thanks to you I had to put it aside and write another one just for you explaining the basics of effective management. To be honest, it’s getting a little tiresome. Please try to follow what I’m saying. MANAGEMENT TIPS Management: getting people to do what you want them to do. It’s an art. I’m no expert, Danny, but I have learned a few things over the years. Looks to me like I need to share them with you. Let’s take my relationship with Ryan Cleary as an example. Cleary is my managing editor. He has a lot of others working for him. While I am only responsible for this column, Cleary is responsible for the whole paper. This, I am sure, you can relate to. I know it’s not quite the same as your Cable Atlantic experience, as Cleary has to deal with competition with other newspapers, but basically he has the same in-house management challenges you’re familiar with. Cleary, like you, has a lot on his plate. So he makes his job easier by letting me do my job. Cleary and I have an understanding. He likes his job and I like mine. If and when Cleary has a problem with me, he has a particular management technique you might want to take note of: he phones me and says “I have a problem with this.” If he’s making a big decision that affects me, he calls and tells me. That’s called “managing people.” It isn’t rocket science. The Independent isn’t
Rant & Reason IVAN MORGAN successful enough yet for him to have “people,” but if and when it is, Cleary won’t get his “people” to call me. Why? Because he knows that would really, really piss me off. In fact, he would only do that if he wanted to piss me off. Being an effective (dare I say competent?) manager, he knows that sort of behaviour would piss me off. Beth Marshall has recently taken a lot of time and trouble to lead us all to believe that you don’t have this oh-so-necessary skill. Not very nice, is it? Why did it happen? Where did you learn this management style? I don’t know how you treated the people that helped you bring us the miracle that is cable TV, but I bet Marshall expected to be treated as an equal. That might have been a good idea, in retrospect. The problem with disasters like the one you’re currently weathering is that people see what they want to see. Optics is everything in politics. A few short months ago, a lot of people saw you as a saviour. Now some people think you have a dictatorial management style. Now some people think you have a problem with powerful women who can think for themselves. Now some people think you have micromanagement issues. Now some people think you like to surround yourself with toadies and yes people. It doesn’t matter if it’s true — it’s what they see. And it doesn’t stop there. If Marshall is a highly competent and capable woman, and she quits
in a snit over your “management style,” what does that say about all the other — frankly — less “stellar” members of team Williams? A number of them were falling over each other in their rush to get to the cameras and tell everyone how much they supported you and how great you were. One day after her resignation, and all you could see was the tips of their loafers, if you get my drift. That didn’t need to happen. Marshall seems to be gone because you can’t play well with others. You know what I would have done if I was lucky enough to have the likes of Marshall working for me? I would have had the sense to let her do the job I gave her. It’s team members like Marshall who would ensure that I slept peacefully at night. It’s easy to criticize (one of the reasons I love this job). Here’s some advice: show us the human Danny. Win her back. Here’s a hint — not with a dozen roses and a cruise. Marshall has always struck me as a professional. Let her sit in the backbenches for a while, then tell her you were wrong. Apologize. Eat a little public crow, say a few words about “new to the job” and “Gee Whiz, this was tougher than I thought it would be” and give her another portfolio. Maybe she still wants to play ball. You are the one who hollered about the mess we’re all in. Aren’t we going to need competent people to fix it? Take a hard look at what’s left in your caucus. Not much of a talent pool to pick from. Looks to me like you really couldn’t afford to lose her. More to the point, neither could we. Ivan Morgan can be reached at imorgan@elvis.com
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NEWS
The Independent, October 3, 2004
Mirror mirror on the valley wall
y people come from the Ottawa Valley — a still hearty, but wavering farming region. The valley is now a commuter community for the big city of Ottawa and farming just isn’t that romantic anymore, not that farming ever was. Dad was from a little town in the heart of the valley called Renfrew, or as the locals call it, the Frew. As the Great Depression began to take hold of the simple farmers and storekeepers of the Frew, life turned from what was always a struggle into a downright, all-out battle for survival. Farms went bankrupt and shops closed at an alarming rate. My grandfather, Claude, owned a grocery store and my grandmother, Marie, owned a hair salon. The hair salon was amongst the first shops to close its doors. Hairstyling was a luxury that people simply couldn’t justify anymore. Part of the Ducharme financial empire was gone — well, as much as anything can be called an empire in the Ottawa Valley. But the grocery store remained open. Grandfather wasn’t going to allow a minor inconvenience like the Great Depression rob his family of their livelihood — a livelihood he had spent most of his life toiling to create. As the Depression began to tear apart lives and families, keeping the doors open to the grocery store became an almost impossible task. Grandfather continued to run tabs for people and accept payment in the form of various livestock. Grandfather knew his chances of ever getting paid real money were slight, but he wasn’t about to let people starve. The store, after all, was just four walls and these people were his friends and neigh-
Opinions Are Like... JEFF DUCHARME bours. Parents would send their children into the store and they would say “Please Mr. Ducharme, could we have a loaf of bread or a quart of milk?” (And no, I didn’t just read Oliver Twist.) Years later grandfather would say, “How could you say no to those angelic faces?” The parents of those angelic faces sent them to see grandfather — instead of going themselves — for just that reason. The livestock some offered in payment fed his family, but grandfather’s creditors just didn’t seem to like taking chickens or goats as payment. Eventually, suppliers demanded payment and cut off grandfather’s credit, leaving the grocery store shelves bare and the family store with nothing to sell. What had taken decades to build crumbled in a matter of months. My father says the one sight he’ll never forget is walking into his grandmother’s shed and seeing a binder crammed full of carbon copies of unpaid bills — bills that, for the most part, remain unpaid to this day. One would think that the Ducharme name would have been held in high esteem in Renfrew, but such was not the case. For many years to come, we rarely returned home and if we did it was only to take in the Renfrew fall fair — a purposely low-key tradition.
People had a hard time looking us in the eye when they found out you were a Ducharme. When my brother took a job at a radio station in Renfrew, he changed his last name to that of my mother’s maiden name just to be on the safe side. If they stopped listening to the radio station because he sucked at spinning disks — that was one thing. But he didn’t want to be pushing a boulder up a hill simply because of a last name and people’s misguided guilt. With six children to feed, Grandfather Claude even took to bootlegging. My father doesn’t like to speak about it, saying sim-
ply “it’s not something you’re very proud about, but I guess when you have six mouths to feed …” Claude wasn’t a legendary bootlegger to the extent of an Al Capone and you won’t find any trace of him on the islands of StPierre-Miquelon, but he did sell bootleg booze to put food on the table. Too bad, because I’ve always wanted to have that type of infamy running in my family. It makes for great conversations at the local pub. Grandfather took the fall of his little financial empire in stride. He moved the family to Ottawa where they lived on the wrong side of the
tracks while he joined the army as a cook. But grandmother had a harder time with the family’s downfall and she never really forgave the people of the Frew. “When you lose your money, you’ll know who all your friends are,” she would always lament. Sometimes, it’s not about friends or riches. It’s about being able to look at yourself in the mirror. Grandfather never had a problem looking at the reflection he found starring back at him. Jeff Ducharme is The Independent’s senior writer. jeff.ducharme@theindependent.ca
MPs aren’t sure exactly how salary increases should be decided By Jeff Ducharme The Independent
F
our of Newfoundland and Labrador’s seven MPs not only agree that a proposed 10 per cent raise was out of line, some even question the system that ties their salary increases to that of federal judges. Prime Minister Paul Martin has already rejected the 10 per cent raise, sending politicians back to the drawing board searching for a new process to decide pay raises. Former prime minister Jean Chretien tied increases for MPs and judges together in 2001 after a public furor erupted over MPs voting themselves a 20 per cent raise. Under the old system, pundits saw the process as the foxes watching the hen house. “It would end up in a big fiasco in the House and between the public embarrassment and greed and a
whole lot of factors, there’d be nothing but a war, and it was unfair entirely,” St. John’s South Conservative MP Loyola Hearn tells The Independent. The 10 per cent raise recommended by the Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission would have meant a $14,000 increase to an MP’s base salary of $141,000. That increase alone would have been almost half of the average wage in the province. According to Martin, MP salaries will now be linked to that of the “average Canadian,” but he has yet to release details on the new scheme. “I mean whether it’s tied in with the public service or with judges, the bottom line is I don’t think there should be an unreasonable increase at any point in time no matter what the scheme,” says Lawrence O’Brien, Liberal MP for Labrador.
O’Brien says the 10 per cent hike for judges should also be taken off the table and a new system of determining salary raises put in place. Bonavista-Exploits Liberal MP Scott Simms calls even the thought of an increase “very insensitive. “… the labour strife and the situation that PSAC (Public Service Alliance of Canada) is in and I mean we have to be sensitive about this,” he says. The federal Treasury Board has offered PSAC members a 5.75 per cent increase over three years — a far cry from the 10 per cent recommended for MPs. More than 120,000 civil servants could take to the picket lines on Oct. 6 and all but bring the federal government to its knees. Conservative MP Norm Doyle, who represents St. John’s North, calls the issue of how to determine raises for MPs a classic case of
“hung if you do, and hung if you don’t. “I really don’t know what the solution is to it,” says Doyle. While the topic has once again raised the ire of the Canadian public, he says an issue like this would never bring down Martin’s minority government. That said, the Tories and their leader, Stephen Harper, say the Oct. 5 Speech from the Throne could bring Martin’s minority government tumbling down.
“This (raise) is a sidebar issue kind of thing, but one that’s important and should be dealt with.” The Independent made repeated attempts to contact Natural Resources Minister John Efford, Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte MP Gerry Byrne and Burin-St. George’s MP Bill Matthews about the salary issue, but calls weren’t returned. Efford’s staff said the province’s regional minister was travelling and unavailable to the media.
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The Independent, October 3, 2004
NEWS
Page 7
A grave matter More and more cemeteries in the province fading away; efforts ongoing to maintain records By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
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ith the resettlement of as many as 300 small communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador between 1954 and 1975, more than just buildings were left behind and forgotten. At least 600 crumbling cemeteries are gradually disappearing into the earth, destined to either vanish forever or be dug up by developers building resorts. “There’s no organization that actually preserves these things,” says Gerald Pocius, a folklorist with Memorial University. “They’re being trashed all the time and lost.” Pocius says there’s also no provincial organization for keeping track of cemeteries — whether in current use or not — and, he says, churches rarely have good records. So much history is sinking away that in 2000, a visiting American researching his family genealogy, decided to do something about “the alarming deterioration.” With a group of friends he embarked on a mission to photograph and transcribe every single headstone in the province. The information gathered on his website — stonepics.com — makes Newfoundland the first in North America to have a comprehensive database for finding cemeteries and headstones, and although they have yet to reach Labrador, they’re scheduled to begin work there by 2006. StonePics has visited 1,730 cemeteries in Newfoundland and estimate that number to represent 99 per cent of those still in exis-
tence. The oldest legible graves photographed were from 1709: one from St. Luke’s Anglican churchyard in Placentia, and another in Port Kirwan, a small outport community on the Southern Shore. Although abandoned cemetery land still technically belongs to the organization (usually a church) that established it, William Power, business manager for the catholic archdiocese on the island’s east coast, says upkeep is rarely maintained, especially in the case of resettled communities. “There’s very little done with them unfortunately,” he says. “Once the community moves … there moves all the people that would normally help the church out with maintenance and so on. So basically they do become abandoned now. “In some particular cases former residents have established groups that go in every summer and cut the grass and clean up and so on as something voluntary to do, but the church per se doesn’t have a maintenance crew that it sends out to all the islands in Placentia Bay.” Martha Drake is the provincial archeologist called in to supervise the recent accidental discovery of an old cemetery in Portugal CoveSt. Philips, which was unearthed as a result of development. The building project was subsequently put on hold. “It was abandoned and no community or church or group were caring for it,” she says. “Under those circumstances human remains are protected under the historic resources act.” Drake says no active excavation has been carried out and although
Paul Daly/The Independent
they have five individual graves open, outlines in the soil indicate at least 20 more. She estimates the cemetery is probably well over 100 years old. Because the development doesn’t need to branch out as far as the
perimeters of the cemetery site, Drake says the bodies will simply be returned after tests are conducted, and the remaining graves will be left untouched. She says human remains can be removed under the Exhumation Act, however, and anyone interested in doing so would need to apply to the Justice Department, giving reasons and presumably consulting the council and church in the community. “In most cases people will try to avoid it,” she says, “especially in
Newfoundland and Labrador where there’s so much open space … although sometimes you come across a burial and you’ve got your major project on the go and it must be removed. That’s an accidental discovery yet again and under our legislation, under those circumstances, we have the grave professionally excavated and then returned for reburial.” She says it’s unlikely the province would allow a development to override a clearly existing cemetery — even a small, dilapidated site in resettled community. “It would be protected under our legislation,” says Drake, “and one would have to assume that even ethically, people would not want to knowingly interfere with a cemetery if it could be avoided.” She says that in this day and age, cemeteries are moving further and further out of towns as old sites become full. Power says establishing a new cemetery is just like beginning any business development, involving an application to the relevant municipal authority and a subsequent environmental health check. Potentially anyone could establish their own private cemetery, regardless of any church affiliation. “It would be just a straight business development application,” says Power, “because a private cemetery would be run as a business where they would charge fees and pay taxes.” Peter Howe, manager of Crown lands administration with the province’s Government, Services and Lands Department, says there may well be plots of land in Newfoundland with private family cemeteries attached. “I’m sure there are probably incidents where someone has been buried on their own private property,” he says. “I’m sure it probably does exist somewhere in the province, it’s just we’re not aware of it.”
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NEWS
The Independent, October 3, 2004
Maximum benefits
Lower Churchill wish list released by Labrador’s combined councils Happy Valley-Goose Bay By Bert Pomeroy The Independent
L
ake Melville MHA John Hickey says he’s not interested in seeing any Lower Churchill project that doesn’t provide maximum benefits to the people of Labrador. “The Lower Churchill has to provide opportunities for industrial development, for training, and create employment for Labradorians first and foremost,” says Hickey, Labrador’s lone Tory MHA. “It’s important that we ensure we get the most we can from this development.” Premier Danny Williams announced last month the provincial government plans to call for expressions of interest in an attempt to further develop the hydro potential of the lower Churchill River. The process will be directed at companies, consortia or other parties with the technical and financial capacity to enter into negotiations with the government on the development of the hydro project. The premier also made public the proposed deal hammered out with Quebec
by the former Liberal administration in the fall of 2002. As mayor of Happy ValleyGoose Bay, Hickey says he opposed the proposed 2002 deal because it failed to ensure maximum benefits for the region. “There were many things about that deal that was not acceptable,” he tells The Independent. “This is a very important project for Labrador and the province as a whole, and we have to make sure we do it right.” Hickey says he would like to see at least 500 megawatts of power set aside for industrial growth in Labrador. That would represent roughly one-quarter of the power expected from Gull Island, one of two proposed generating stations on the river — the other 800-megawatt project would be located downstream at Muskrat Falls. “We need to have a block of power for recall, that’s available when we need it … (not) years down the road as would have been the case under the Grimes deal,” he says. “We need more power for 5 Wing Goose Bay, and we’re going to need more power if Labrador is chosen as a site for
(U.S.) missile defence.” A deal needs to ensure procurement and construction of key components is done in the province, by provincial companies that are capable of carrying out such work, Hickey adds, noting it’s also imperative the region’s three aboriginal groups play an active role in any development.
“This is an important project for Labrador and the province as a whole, and we have to make sure we do it right.” — John Hickey, Labrador MHA “Our aboriginal groups need to be consulted in all aspects of the project.” The Combined Councils of Labrador, the umbrella organization that represents Labrador’s communities, has also entered the
Tuition talk
Memorial mulls over finances, considers a hike in student fees By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
A
xel Meisen, president of Memorial University, makes no apologies for the board of regents’ recent decision to lobby government to lift the tuition freeze for under-graduate students. In a July meeting, the board concluded the freeze — which has been in place since the late 1990s — could not realistically continue without increased government assistance, especially in the wake of this year’s $2-million cut to the university’s operating budget. “The university sets the tuition fees in the context of the government grant,” Meisen tells The Independent, “because our two principle incomes are the government grant and the revenue that comes from tuition fees.” Meisen says Memorial is waiting to see what government decides. “So we don’t know what the government’s approach will be to funding in the future, other than we know that the government is very interested to make sure that we have a good, high-quality university,” he says. Budget discussions usually start in November, continuing January or February in time for the
province to announce the results by its annual March budget. Should the government choose to reduce the current $150-million dollar grant, Meisen says the university would almost certainly have to raise fees. He mentions building maintenance and upkeep as just one area needing immediate financial consideration. “For example, we do have significant problems with aging buildings. They can only be let go for so long,” he says. “Right now we have a deferred maintenance program under way that the government is funding. Were it to stop, we still would have to attend to the buildings and that money would need to be raised.” MEMORIAL CRITICIZED Memorial has been subject to criticism as a result of the board’s decision, most notably through a news release submitted by the Canadian Federation of Students, which suggested the fees would be rising by as much as 76 per cent. The release also claimed the university intended to lobby for an actual decrease in its government grant as a means of justification for fee increases. The claims were instantly refuted by the university. The minutes from the July meeting outline the 76 per cent figure solely as an example of the difference between
Memorial University’s rates and those of the University of New Brunswick. Meisen says the suggestion the board is considering lobbying for a reduction to the university’s government grant makes no sense. “At no time has the board made such a request or recommendation,” he says. The minutes stated that increased fees would “be offset by a financial assistance scheme for needy students” and “tuition increases would also have to be phased in over a number of years.” Memorial’s finances have been a concern in the past in that the province’s auditor general wasn’t allowed access to the university’s books under the grounds an investigation would challenge MUN’s academic freedom. The matter was taken to court and resolved by the House of Assembly, which, in turn, made an amendment to the University Act, ruling that the auditor general could have access. An official audit has never been carried out, however. Meisen says under the revised act, the auditor can get direct and detailed access to the university’s finances at any point in time, provided he has reasonable cause to do so.
debate, releasing a position paper recently outlining several key demands it says must be met before it gives its stamp of approval on any Lower Churchill development. “If we don’t get a fair deal, then it’s not going to be developed,” says Art Williams, the councils’ central vice-president and mayor of North West River. “There’s still a very sour taste in people’s mouths from the Upper Churchill, and I don’t think the people of Labrador will accept a Lower Churchill deal unless it provides (maximum) benefits to the region.” The combined councils’ conditions for any further development of the (Grand) Churchill River include adjacency legislation, giving Labradorians first priority on all employment and procurement opportunities; a designated heritage fund specifically for the development of Labrador; access to power for Labrador communities; an energy plan for the region; and a transportation fund to upgrade the Trans-Labrador Highway. The mayor of North West River says the demands of the combined
councils are not unreasonable. “Not one of the demands is unrealistic,” Williams says. “We’re seeing all of our resources going out, and there’s not much coming back. If they can’t develop it and meet our needs, then the water should continue to flow over the rocks.” He points to the fact that many communities in Labrador still don’t have paved roads or suitable drinking water. “We may not get everything we ask for,” he says, “but we should get our fair share.” Still, Williams says he’s encouraged by the latest attempt to develop the project. “It’s very positive and we’re quite impressed with the premier and the position he’s taken.” Meanwhile, Hickey says he supports many of the demands being put forward by the combined councils. “I would be willing to enter into any agreement that ensures jobs, training and power for industrial development,” he says, adding that he’s excited with the approach being taken by the premier. “I think we’re going to have success.”
Large volume of false alarms From page 1 alarms, well meaning, but never consulted the police. What they said is ‘Don’t worry the RNC will respond right away,’ but no one ever came and talked to us,” says Deering, adding the Constabulary has no idea how many alarm systems are out there. He says it is cause for public concern. “It has a cumulative affect in that priority two and priority three calls don’t get investigated or don’t get the attention that they need and we don’t get the time to do the pro-active things that we need to do,” Deering says. Buckle says there’s such a large volume of false alarms that legitimate ones are not answered.
Paul Daly/The Independent
RNC Const. Tim Buckle
At the end of the day, the alarm systems do more harm than good. “And the reality is, over the last two decades the police budget has been cut… we just don’t have the staffing levels available to respond to those types of calls on a daily basis.”
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The Independent, October 3, 2004
NEWS
Page 9
Job satisfaction
Paul Daly/The Independent
Premier Danny Williams carried out a mini cabinet shuffle Oct. 1 to fill a vacancy left by Elizabeth Marshall, who quit her post earlier in the week. John Ottenheimer (left) moved from education to health, while backbencher Tom Hedderson took over the education portfolio.
Millionaire row
Ranks of province’s lotto winners 19 deep since 1994 By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
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ewfoundland and Labrador isn’t exactly known for its millionaires, but there have been 19 milliondollar lotto winners in the province over the past 10 years. The latest additions to the ranks are Dean and Judy Park of Corner Brook, who, in late September, won $17.7 million on Lotto 6/49 The west coast has had more than its share of winners in recent years, including 10 employees of the College of the North Atlantic who split $10 million. Karen MacDonald, from Corner Brook, won $2 million in April, and Carla and Brad DiCeaser won $1 million in August.
Former politician Chuck Furey won the lottery in the spring of 1996. He laughs at the memory of it, saying he wishes he still had his half of the $2.5 million jackpot. Furey tells The Independent he was bewildered, as anyone would be, when he was told he had won the lottery. “It’s a great thrill to win,” says Furey, who was a provincial cabinet minister at the time of his win. He says everyone expected him to retire. Lotteries began in Canada in 1969 and the Atlantic Lotto Corporation, owned by the four Atlantic provinces, has, to date this year, made $586 million from the sale of tickets — not including the $464 million pumped into video lottery terminals.
In 2003-2004, the corporation gave away $331 million. Furey was touring the Northern Peninsula for a series of meetings when he learned of his win. In fact, he was staying at the home of a religious family in Port au Choix. After shouting some expletives — which may have included the Lord’s name (Furey says he can’t remember) — he had plenty of apologizing to do. “I had to humble myself to explain why I swore.” Furey says he spent the next few days in “agony” and “torture” as he had to complete the series of meetings before collecting his winnings. “On the last night I poured myself a glass of rum and coke …
and fell asleep, but not really sleep,” he says. Approximately 75 per cent of adults in Atlantic Canada play the lottery, pick up a scratch card or pump cash into a video lottery terminal at least once a year. Surveys done by the lottery corporation show that 78 per cent of lotto winners bank their money, 60 per cent pay off debts and 57 per cent share with friends and family. Many spend it on themselves, buying cars, appliances, furniture and renovating their homes. Furey says he spent the money on family and donated to charities. He even lost a little in the stock market, although he won’t say how much. “The stock market is almost like
the lottery,” he says of the crash that took a chunk of his winnings. According to the surveys, 15 per cent of winners invest in the stock market. Furey says there were no shortage of letters, phone calls and inquiries for some of his cash to pay for mortgage payments and wheelchairs. “If you tried to fill them all you’d have to win 50 lotteries.” Furey says he doesn’t play the lottery anymore, before quickly adding, “It wouldn’t be fair for me to win again — I’m just kidding, I play from time to time.” Does Furey have any advice for the province’s most recent millionaires? “If you’ve got a good bit of fortune you’ve got to share.”
Where exactly does premier’s salary go? Norm Doyle puts it in his glossy brochure By Jeff Ducharme The Independent
T
he practice of politicians setting up charitable foundations is becoming more fashionable, but some are more open than others when it comes to laying out where the money goes. St. John’s North federal Conservative MP Norm Doyle has been donating his provincial MHA pension for almost seven years, handing out almost $170,000 to various organizations. He regularly publishes the names of the charities and the amounts donated. Premier Danny Williams, on the other hand, is tight-lipped, directing all inquiries to Don Johnson, executive director of the Williams
Foundation. Johnson, however, refuses to tell The Independent which charities and organizations have received donations or even how many directors (the people who decide where the money goes) are on the foundation’s board. “All I know is that he gives me the money and minds his own business,” Johnson says of his dealings with the premier. Williams, a multi-millionaire who made his fortune in the cable TV business, does not collect a salary as premier, choosing instead to donate the money to charity. Williams earns about $95,000 a year as an MHA and an additional $66,800 as premier. He’s also entitled to another $20,000 for home
expenses, although he doesn’t claim the amount. Liberal Opposition leader Roger Grimes has been fighting an ongoing battle with Williams, accusing him of using the foundation to curry favour with voters. It’s a refrain that Doyle has heard before. “It was criticized during the (federal) election campaign that we made (the donations) public,” says Doyle. “But I mean it was a commitment we made that it was to be made public to people.” Johnson won’t give any specifics. “The truth of the matter is I like Roger Grimes,” says Johnson. “I’m a hockey man. He’s a hockey man. I mean he doesn’t mean any harm.”
But Johnson does admit the accusations Grimes has levelled at Williams are “unfair” considering the good the foundation does. Doyle says he prefers to make donations to organizations such as food banks, but a partial listing includes a wide cross-section of charities and organizations, including the AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador, Arthritis Society, Association for New Canadians, Girl Guides and Children’s Wish Foundation. Three directors make the decision on where Doyle’s money goes. Unlike the Williams’ Foundation, Doyle hasn’t registered as a charity. Since his pension is still part of his salary, he says he only donates to registered charities.
“I have to have at least that benefit to it,” says Doyle. According to government documents, the premier’s foundation has three directors that include Johnson and the premier’s wife, Maureen. Johnson says they’ve given money to send parents of sick children to the mainland to be by their side during serious operations, as well as saved Christmas for underprivileged families. The work, while rewarding, can be heart breaking at times. “Most of the time I just can’t help but admire the parents the way they love these children and the way they’re there for them,” says Johnson. “They just give up everything for them.”
Page 10
NEWS
The Independent, October 3, 2004
Of rebellious husbands and cabinet ministers
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oor Dean Park. Now, you might find it funny that I describe a multi-millionaire as poor. But there is nothing funny about what lies in store for Mr. Park: a lifetime of “I told you so.” For those who aren’t familiar with Mr. Park, he and his wife, Judy, are the Corner Brook couple who won $17.8 million on Lotto 6/49. Actually, it was Mrs. Park who won the lottery. You see, Dean bought an Atlantic 49 ticket on the way home from moose hunting on Saturday — not a Lotto 6/49 like he was supposed to. When he arrived home without the Lotto 6/49 ticket, the missus was not impressed. So, she stormed over to Vi’s Confectionary to buy what turned out to be the winning ticket. Now I’ve only been married four years, but it’s been long enough for me to know that the wife is always right. I don’t know how long the Parks have been married, but it’s been long enough for them to have a 17-year-old daughter. Apparently, Dean’s a slow learner. Maybe this’ll learn him. Wow, talk about your mother of
West Words FRANK CARROLL all I-told-you-sos. It sends a cold shiver right through me to think about it. If Dean Park thinks that $17.8 million can buy peace of mind, he’s got another thing coming. But I suppose there’s another way of looking at it. If Dean had not so brazenly defied his wife’s wishes, he would have bought a losing 6/49 ticket and Judy would not have ventured into Vi’s at such an opportune time. Hmm, wait a minute. Now that I think about it, Dean is actually the hero of this story, an icon to all husbands who can’t seem to follow instructions. He gives solace to the rest of us. Of course, that’s just a man’s perspective. I might be wrong. ••• You would think Elizabeth Marshall would be happy. After all, her government recent-
ly announced a new pilot project for palliative care in Corner Brook and, in so doing, ended the eightweek-old strike at the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON). The pilot project, which will be
Marshall criticized Williams’ “management style” and said this was not the first time he had gone over her head. I guess it might be grating to have a boss who makes decisions about your department without talking to you directly.
administered by the VON, gave the not-for-profit agency the money it needed to give its workers a much deserved 50-cent per
hour raise and an extra three days sick leave. Premier Danny Williams was able to broker the deal thanks to new health-care money arising from the recent deal struck between the federal government and the provinces. The new program will hopefully ease the suffering of people who are dying. Equally as important, it will allow the VON to resume its good work in offering home care, respite care, and senior’s day programs on the west coast. Yet, Marshall was unhappy. Not so much with the resolution as with the fact that Williams did not personally inform her of the solution while she was out of the province, even though he did apparently inform her officials. She was so unhappy she resigned. Marshall criticized Williams’ “management style” and said this was not the first time he had gone over her head. I guess it might be grating to have a boss who makes decisions about your department without talking to you directly. But you know what? The public
doesn’t care as long as the job gets done. In this case, Williams got the job done. Much along the lines of a Frank McKenna, he’s a very hands-on premier. He saw an opportunity to address a problem and he seized it. Marshall’s timing was not so great. She resigned at a time of great upheaval and great opportunity in the health-care system. The government is currently in the process of merging health boards. With an influx of new health-care dollars, it has an opportunity to reduce waiting times for MRI tests and cancer treatment. The government is also awaiting a report from a consulting company that may well determine the fate of community clinics, obstetrics wards and surgical units in rural western Newfoundland. I hope the new minister, John Ottenheimer, understands something. It’s not about you. Frank Carroll is a journalism instructor at the Stephenville-campus of the College of the North Atlantic.
The Shipping News
Photo by Paul Daly/The Independent
Japanese fishing vessel, Shoshin Maru #60, tied up in St. John’s harbour.
K A LITTLE OF YOUR TIME IS ALL WE ASK. CONQUERING THE UNIVERSE IS OPTIONAL. Think it requires heroic efforts to be a Big Brother or Big Sister? Think again. It simply means sharing a few moments with a child. Play catch. Build a doghouse. Or help take on mutant invaders from the planet Krang. That’s all it takes to transform a mere mortal like yourself into a super hero who can make a world of difference in a child’s life. For more information...
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Newfoundland 1-877-513KIDS (5437) www.helpingkids.ca
eeping an eye on the comings and goings of the ships in St. John’s Harbour. Information provided by the Coast Guard Traffic Centre.
MONDAY, SEPT. 27 No report TUESDAY, SEPT. 28 Vessels departed: ASL Sanderling, Canada, to Corner Brook. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 29
Vessels arrived: Lykes Hunter, Bahamas, from Cape Town, South Africa; Maersk Chignecto, Canada, from White Rose oil field; Cape Fortune, Canada, from Arnold’s Cove. Vessels departed: Maersk Nascopie, Canada, to Terra Nova oil field; Lykes Hunter, Bahamas, to Montreal; Maersk Chignecto, Canada, to White Rose. THURSDAY, SEPT. 30 Vessels arrived: Cicero,
Canada, from Montreal; Maersk Chancellor, Canada, from Terra Nova; Shoshin Maru #60, Japan, from sea. Vessels departed: Cicero, Canada, to Montreal. FRIDAY, OCT. 1 Vessels arrived: Sauniere, Canada from Magdalene Islands; Maersk Nascopie, Canada, from Hibernia; Emma, Norway, from sea. Vessels departed: Shoshin Maru #60, Japan, to sea.
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October 3, 2004
Page 11
‘One smile and it’s all good’ When Johnny was born, Colleen Fitzpatrick was told her son had a week to live. Today, 16 years later, she’s been through joy and pain — and wouldn’t change a thing.
By Stephanie Porter The Independent
C
olleen Fitzpatrick says “the last big scare” came exactly a year ago last week. That night, her son, Johnny, had a cluster of 50 seizures within three hours. She was at the hospital through the wee hours of the morning, watching her child knock on death’s door yet again. Johnny was born with a severe case of a rare syndrome called Trisomy 18. Simply put, every cell in his body has an extra chromosome. After he was born, he was given a week to 10 days to live. Every day longer than that would be beating the odds. This February, Johnny turns 16. Very few children with Trisomy 18 like Johnny’s survive past infancy — there is virtually no medical information available past the first year. As far as Fitzpatrick knows, Johnny is one of two boys — the other is in Italy — to survive those early years. At 37 pounds, Johnny is currently little more than an armful. He can’t walk or talk; for the past year he’s had to be fed through a tube, directly into his stomach. He’s got dark, shiny hair and eyes to match. “The doctors told me he’d never have teeth, now I think he’s on his third set,” says Fitzpatrick with a laugh. “They said he’d never smile — but his smile is his trademark. “Now the doctors just look at me and smile and shake their heads when they see him. There’s an exception to everything.” The 16 years of Johnny’s life have been far from easy, but they have been rewarding. “There’s always the risk of him aspirating … he could seizure and die. So, no I don’t really sleep, ever. But one smile and it’s all good.” Fitzpatrick says she’s found her life’s purpose as an advocate for the rights of disabled children, and as one of the leaders in an on-going fight to save the developmental units in two St. John’sarea elementary schools — special classrooms designed for severely mentally and physically challenged children. Fitzpatrick has two children: Johnny, and 19-year-old Krystal, an English student at Memorial. “Krystal has always been my courage and strength,” she says. “I’ve always said I don’t know if I would have gotten through having Johnny if I hadn’t had her first. “She’s my courage and strength and he’s my fighter and hero.” Weekdays begin for Johnny at 7 a.m., when Fitzpatrick, already dressed and ready for work, wakes him. The family had to move recently into a wheelchair accessible house — though Johnny is certainly small for his age, the active
boy wears on his mother’s back. His bedroom is painted ocean blue, with fish decals on the walls, and a bed raised about four feet off the floor — again, to make moving him about easier. “Johnny loves his bedroom,” says Fitzpatrick, and it’s easy to believe. Dressed in cozy pajamas, Johnny welcomes early morning visitors with a smile that reaches his eyes. He likes to cuddle; when there’s not a human hand to cling to, he curls around his blanket. The youngster also enjoys the family pets, especially Lexie, a small, protec-
tive dog. Fitzpatrick undresses her son and brings him to the adjoining bathroom, where a warm bubble bath is waiting. He sits quietly in a specially fitted chair while his mother uses a facecloth to give him a wash. After a quick towel-dry, the pair moves to the bed. Fitzpatrick fits him with a clean diaper, and gets ready to feed Johnny a liquid breakfast. She admits the time since Johnny’s birth has been one long learning curve for her, particularly when it comes to meeting
Photos by by Paul Daly / Story by Stephanie Porter
her son’s medical needs. “This is what his life is — his life is being tube fed, his life is being given seizure medication, life is having a shot of Valium put up his little bum if he goes in a seizure that doesn’t stop,” she says. “His life is me giving him enemas two or three times a week because he can’t use the bathroom. And to fight like the dog sometimes to get things done.” On most mornings, Johnny goes to his caregiver’s house by 8 a.m., where Continued on page 12
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‘It’s a battle we shouldn’t have to fight’ From page 11 he’s picked up by a mini school bus and taken to school. Johnny is in class at St. Matthew’s elementary from about 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. There are two classrooms in the developmental unit; each currently has three students, one teacher, and one assistant. For Fitzpatrick — and she says she speaks for the other parents of the children in the classes — the unit has been a blessing. “Johnny does not belong in a mainstream classroom, they don’t have the resources to care for him there,” she says. “I have a child who went through the mainstream, I know what it’s about.” She points out that Johnny has had the same teachers for a decade; people she trusts and who have learned to care for and read Johnny’s ups and downs and warning signs — knowledge that could save his life. There used to be more students in the developmental unit. But the Education Department has decided these specialized classrooms are on the way out — perhaps because they’re expensive, perhaps because of the belief that all children, no matter their abilities, belong in so-called regular classes. At the moment, provincial policy states that no more children are admitted to the classes; those currently there are permitted to stay until they “graduate” at age 21. Fitzpatrick smiles as she reports the unit succeeded in taking in a new student last winter for the first time in five years. It was a battle, she admits, but it’s a good sign that the policy may someday change for good. “It’s a battle we shouldn’t have to fight every year but there’s children that should be in the mainstream and there’s children that shouldn’t … we’ve had children die in the classroom. “In the mainstream, there’s only a part-time teacher and a different student assistant every time you turn around, they’re not going to know the kids.” Fitzpatrick says she had a positive meeting with then-education minister John Ottenheimer last June. But “it means nothing to me unless the policy is officially changed on paper that new children are accepted. Because as it stands, until that policy is changed school board officials are not allowed to recommend the developmental unit to anybody.” According to Nora Daly, a communications specialist with the Education Department, there is nothing currently on the books to change the situation for St. Matthew’s: current students can continue; no new ones are to be admitted. Fitzpatrick sighs. “The people on the Hill, making the decisions, have no idea what it’s like. I would really like for that to be settled and for this to be changed so I can focus on the next battle.” That will include finding resources for Johnny — and others — once they reach age 21 and are no longer permitted to be part of the school system. These days, after school, Johnny is taken by bus back to his caregiver’s home. After work, Fitzpatrick returns to pick him up. The evening involves another meal, some television — Johnny loves TV, his mother insists — and then to bed around 7 p.m. Fitzpatrick, who just returned to work last year after years as a full-time caregiver and mother, says she feels alive these days. “I’m totally different when I’m working. But if Johnny had a crisis tomorrow I’d quit. It’s very hard because there’s more to life than being home taking care of a child. I wouldn’t change it for the world; I wouldn’t allow anybody else to do it. But you need that part where you get away from it too.” Fitzpatrick has example after example of times when Johnny has brought smiles to the faces he encounters; he gets more recognition, she says, than anyone else when he’s in public places like the mall. She threw him a big birthday party a few years ago and more than 100 friends showed up. “You know, everybody should have one. If everybody had (a child like Johnny) it would be a much nicer world. What I’ve learned and what Johnny has helped mold me into, how could I want it any different? “Before Johnny I had no patience — he’s taught me empathy and he’s taught me that people handle things in different ways. It doesn’t mean you’re weak if you can’t handle something the same way as another person.” But for all the joy, there is also heartache — the illnesses, the surgeries, the uncertainty. “Every single day of his life I wonder if it’s his last,” she says. “I don’t know if you can be prepared for that … I have Johnny’s funeral planned in my mind, I have all the songs, all the readings … at one point I would freak out thinking about these things, wondering if that meant I wanted him to die. But I know now it’s normal, I would want it all to be perfect. “I mean, I’m a very strong person but I could crack up. Or I could fall down and thank God for the years He gave me with him.”
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The Independent, October 3, 2004
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The Independent, October 3, 2004
Gallery Ran Andrews Visual Artist
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lthough Ran Andrews has deep roots in Newfoundland, and he’s lived here full-time the past three years, he says his work isn’t accepted as “Newfoundland art.” It might be because he was born in Ontario, or still has an American accent from his years living and working there. Or because, as he says, he doesn’t “produce the same kind of work others do.” Andrews says his work has been dubbed “expressionist” because of the bright colours he sometimes uses, the abstract images, or the compositions he chooses. It’s difficult, though, to find a label that accurately encompasses his recent work, currently on display at Christian’s Pub on George Street, St. John’s. If there’s anything tying the paintings together, it’s a tendency towards lowlight images — a challenge he’s chosen to tackle in recent months. “My stuff … really one doesn’t look like the other. I try to keep each as complete pieces, a lot of people try to tie them together, but I don’t generally do the theme thing. Paintings for me are more like songs, they have a beginning, middle and end, a story and a point.” Andrews has spent much of his life working with computers and graphic design, working on books, advertising contracts and other projects (including for Troma Entertainment, a New Yorkbased company known for its over-thetop, low-budget horror films). “I’ve been painting pretty much all my life. I started way back when I was young,” he says. “I found (computer work) really cold, I would paint for balance. I made most of my living from computer stuff … but as I got back into painting I realized how much I loved it.” These days, Andrews is painting (and selling) full time. He says it’s impossible to survive from the local art market. He’s had representation in New York City and here, but is currently going it alone — with a lot of help from the Internet, “the thing that has allowed me to exist.” Andrews says he’s trying to “move
from the underground to the mainstream in a businesslike fashion.” His way of doing that is to hit the road, living parttime in St. John’s, spending the rest of the time — at least half the year, he hopes — visiting art shows and markets around the world. He’s written his first arts grant applications, ever, in the hopes of covering some of his costs. “I’ve come to the realization if I’m going to play again in the art circles I’m going to need that,” he says. “ Shipping paintings alone is expensive — over $2,000 to get two to New York safely. In the near future, Andrews will be showing pieces in New York City, Dubai and Florence, Italy. “I want to get in the game and play it. It is business, but there is a game … I’m lucky, my thing, expressionism or whatever my style, is coming back into fashion. I’ve been getting invitations from a lot of places into this kind of art.” www.freewebs.com/ranandrews/ — Stephanie Porter
Paul Daly/The Independent
The Gallery is a regular feature in The Independent. For further information, or to submit proposals, please call (709) 726-4639, or e-mail editorial@theindependent.ca
BUSINESS & COMMERCE
October 3, 2004
Paul Daly/The Independent
Assistant site manager Sheldon Goudie with a colleague at the Avalon Mall.
‘Security isn’t a uniform … it’s a strategy’ There are more security guards manning grocery stores and malls these days to combat escalating crime By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
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here hasn’t been a marked increase in the number of licenced security guards working in the province in recent years, but more and more businesses — and even homes — are using private security to protect themselves. Rick Fifield, owner of Spectrum Security and Private Investigations, says his business is growing. When his firm first opened in 1996, he employed one person — today, he employs more than 100. He says his employees respond to household alarms, install security systems, help business owners combat internal theft and even make arrests — though they have to wait for a police officer to respond to the scene before searching a potential shoplifter. “Shoplifting is a huge problem — internal theft is worse,” Fifield tells The Independent. Internal theft is most common amongst low-paid employees, with the higher-ups stealing larger amounts. “Sweet-hearting,” when an employee gives free items or charges less than the purchase price for an item, is a common practice. “Lower-paid employees, that’s their way of thinking … ‘I don’t want to work here anyway,’ they
don’t care if they get fired,” Organized shoplifting is the Fifield says. Management, mean- most pressing issue for private time, have keys and cash at their security and the province’s police disposal. “This is where the worst forces. damage occurs, people with Fifield says he’s seen cases power and knowledge.” where $10,000 worth of merchanSue Freake, general manager of dise has been ripped off in less the Avalon Mall, says the shop- than an hour. ping centre has security guards to One shocking statistic, Fifield maintain peace and order. says, is that St. John’s has the “To ensure that there’s a pleas- highest number of organized ant shopping environment for our shoplifters in the country. customers, I guess. Another reaHe says the same people comson we have mit the same security is to crimes over obviously secure and over, get“We followed one our property after ting light hours. Also, to penalties when individual, who we deter from any they get believed had a kit criminal activity caught — but bag full of health and such as vandalmostly getting ism and to offer away scot free. beauty supplies. He … assistance to What’s most went to a beauty shop our customers.” startling, and came out with Freake says Fifield says, is stores in the mall that police the kit bag empty.” have seen an know many of — Spectrum Security increase in these individuowner, Rick Fifield shoplifting over als by name or the past year. At to see them. the same time, Security shoplifting inside guards are of a store isn’t the responsibility licenced with the provincial govof mall security. ernment. There are currently 25 She says many stores have their private security companies and own security, although she was 520 security guards licenced in reluctant to talk about it. the province. Those figures are on “You’re writing a story for pub- par with recent years. lic viewing and it’s a security Still, more uniformed guards issue itself.” can been seen these days, espe-
cially at grocery stores. The difference between policing and private security, says Fifield, is that security companies have resources, but no authority — the police have authority, but not enough resources. There’s been a sharp increase recently in drug abuse and associated crime to support the habit. Property crimes, police say, are up 105 per cent. “A lot of the theft that is associated with violence … is caused by people who need something quick,” Fifield says. He says the private security industry is limiting opportunities for organized shoplifting, which is, unfortunately, causing a rise in break and enters. The problem with stolen goods, Fifield says, is there’s a market for everything. “We followed one individual, who we believed had a kit bag full of health and beauty supplies,” he says. “He went to a beauty shop and came out with the kit bag empty.” Fifield is currently spearheading a group trying to bring a new law called “flea market legislation” that would allow suspicious consumers the right to demand to know where goods came from, to see the receipts and vendor’s licence. “Security isn’t a uniform, not a camera, it’s a strategy.”
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BUSINESS
Knock on wood Province’s sawmills importing wood to keep mills going
Paul Daly/The Independent
The final product goes through the rollers at the Abitibi Price mill in Grand Falls-Windsor.
Briefs
Rutter subsidiary to Brazil ST. JOHN’S arine technology firm Rutter Inc. says a subsidiary has won a two-year contract from Petrobras, the Brazilian national oil company, worth at least $1.3 million. Unicontrol International, part of the SEA Systems division, will provide technical services and training, St. John’s-based Rutter says. Initially, the company will provide training to 160 Petrobras employees who will operate the control systems, engineered and installed by SEA/Unicontrol staff, on two Petrobras offshore energy platforms. Systems support services will also be provided for the first two years of operation and perform required modifications and upgrades. “This is another strategic win in the rapidly expanding offshore oil and gas sector in Brazil,” Rutter CEO Donald Clarke said in a release.
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“With oil prices approaching $50 per barrel and Brazil’s stated intent to be self-sufficient in oil by 2008, we are very fortunate to have such a strong position in this market.” — Canadian Press
Second N.B. mill closes MIRAMICHI ew Brunswick’s forestry industry was hit with more bad news last week when a Helsinki-based company announced it would close a pulp-making mill in northeastern New Brunswick, eliminating 400 jobs. The closure is the second involving a New Brunswick pulp mill this month. Two weeks ago, about 400 people lost their jobs when the St. Anne-Nackawic mill closed abruptly. On Wednesday, UPM Kymmene said it will close its Miramichi kraft mill early next year and restructure the rest of its operations in New Brunswick. The company said the changes are needed to secure the operation’s long-term viability.
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The measures include the permanent closure of the 50-year-old kraft mill on Jan. 31, and changes at the paper mill and the company’s woodlands division, which manages and operates Crown forest licences. The mill complex currently employs almost 1,300 employees. Jyrki Ovaska, president of UPM’s magazine paper division, says the kraft mill has outlived its technological lifespan and would require a large investment to continue operating within New Brunswick’s environmental standards. The closure will cost the company $62 million Cdn during the fourth quarter of 2004. It will also result in a write-off of $123 million Cdn within the next two quarters. The company said it wants to focus its attention on its magazine paper operations. UPM Miramichi’s annual paper production capacity is 450,000 tonnes of lightweight coated papers. The kraft mill’s capacity is 240,000 tonnes of kraft pulp. — Canadian Press
The Independent, October 3, 2004
By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
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ewfoundland may be covered in forest but pulp and paper mills in Corner Brook and Stephenville are importing wood to keep their operations going. An estimated 50 per cent of wood processed and turned into paper at the Stephenville mill, owned by Abitibi Price Consolidated, is brought in from “overseas” — off the island, including Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Labrador. Abitibi Price also owns the mill in Grand FallsWindsor but that operation has a secure supply of wood. Officials with Corner Brook Pulp and Paper’s mill in the west coast city say seven per cent of the wood processed there comes from away. Roger Pike, spokesman for Abitibi Price, calls Stephenville’s lack of resources an “Achilles’ heel. “Every year that we operate that mill we do so with a degree of uncertainty,” Pike tells The Independent. “Some years we make money and some years we loose money.”
‘RARE AND EXPENSIVE’ Pike says the practice of importing wood is “rare and expensive. “Most mills have a secure fibre supply — Stephenville, unfortunately, does not — and so it’s an ongoing problem,” he says. “And as offshore wood becomes unavailable or dries up it’s quite expensive to bring wood in from offshore.” The Stephenville mill, originally built in the 1970s as a linerboard operation, was converted into the most modern pulp and paper mill on the island at a cost of $80 million. Finding a reliable wood supply for the mill has been a concern for some time. “We have a task force that’s been working to identify some long-term potential sources of wood for that particular operation,” says Pike, “and how we can work with other stakeholders and other users of the forest resources to maintain a strong, viable, longterm pulp and paper industry in Newfoundland.”
Find it
Small quantities of wood that are taken from Labrador help to produce the 185,000 tonnes of paper made in Stephenville each year. “That mill was designed to operate with wood from Labrador,” says Pike. “We’re working with government to develop action plans and trying to find out what role does the Stephenville mill play in the future of Labrador and where do we go in the future to get that mill the resources that it needs.” ‘NOT IN DIRE STRAITS’ George VanDusen, spokesman for Kruger International, the company that owns Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, says some wood is brought in to help with the production there, but the operation is not in dire straits like the Stephenville mill. The imported wood brought into Corner Brook originates mostly in Nova Scotia, although some also comes from Prince Edward Island. The company also ships in recycled fibre. VanDusen says the TransLabrador Highway, once it’s completed, isn’t expected to have a big impact on the province’s pulp and paper industry. “Whether it would be a bigger proportion of wood (used in the mill) I don’t know,” he says. A single day’s production at the Corner Brook mill could make a roll of paper one metre wide and 20,800 kilometres long — enough to span the moon’s circumference twice. Back in Stephenville, the option of closing the mill has been tossed around for the past few years, but Pike says the town’s economy would likely collapse. “It’s not an option we want to look at because of the 350 highly skilled paying jobs in the newsprint industry in that community, and the economy in western Newfoundland is very dependent on that newsprint mill,” says Pike. “We purchase over $50-million worth of goods and supplies — everything from toilet tissues to light bulbs, oils and lubricants — so you know the spin off effect from that industry is enormous,” he says. “That mill has been a cornerstone of that economy.”
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The Independent, October 3, 2004
BUSINESS
Page 17
Briefs
Tobin hired by law firm TORONTO ormer Newfoundland premier Brian Tobin, who suddenly left his job with the Magna group of companies last month, is rejoining a Toronto corporate law firm he worked for after leaving politics. Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP announced that Tobin will join the law firm as a senior business adviser. Tobin was a senior adviser to Fraser Milner on public-private partnerships and emerging business trends from May 2002 to March 2004, when he left to become chief executive of MI Developments Inc., a real estate company that’s part of the Magna group. In late August, Tobin resigned as CEO of MI Developments and from senior positions with MI’s subsidiary Magna Entertainment Corp., North America’s biggest horse racetrack operator. He gave no explanation for his departure. The companies are all part of the Magna auto parts group controlled by Frank Stronach, one of Canada’s best-known executives and a wealthy horse owner. — Canadian Press
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Less than full planes make WestJet landings bumpy By Jeff Ducharme The Independent
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f passenger numbers don’t climb skyward, WestJet may stop touching down in Gander someday soon. Numbers are at a more comfortable level at the airport in St. John’s. Meantime, further west at Deer Lake airport, officials are welcoming yet another direct flight from across the pond.
THRIVES ON VOLUME WestJet, a low-fair airline, thrives on volume, but passenger numbers flying into and leaving the capital city and Gander have not lived up to expectations. WestJet doesn’t release actual passenger numbers. “We have been looking at the loads and the number of people that are flying on the flights and Moncton and Halifax are very strong,” WestJet spokesperson Siobhan Vinish tells The Independent. “St. John’s is a level that we’re currently comfortable with and Gander is a market that continues to need our effort.” WestJet sent its marketing team on a tour of Atlantic Canada recently to see how they could boost numbers. The team met with Gander and St. John’s Inter-
national Airport Authority officials to drum up a plan. “We’re trying to work with the community (of Gander) in hopes that we can continue to build some load factor on those flights and continue to grow that market for us.” WestJet has become one of the leading airlines in the country by picking and choosing its markets carefully and marketing to specific groups. Slightly more than a year ago, WestJet introduced a flight to Gander from Fort McMurray that was aimed at the estimated 30,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians working there. “What we’ve been trying to do is to look for natural draws in a marketplace,” Vinish says in an interview from Orlando, Fla. WestJet was celebrating its inaugural flight to the city. “You kind of look for those natural synergies wherever you can … those are the best ways to build a route.” But flights designed to bring homesick, oil-rich Newfoundlanders and Labradorians home haven’t really taken off. “It isn’t the success we had hoped it would be, but we are continuing to do things to try and improve it. The community
is certainly 100 per cent supportive of us and have done everything that they can to try to build the loads and continue to work on that business.” Vinish says WestJet is always
“We’re not ready to step away yet, but unfortunately we are an airline that, as most airlines are, has to operate routes that are profitable.” — Siobhan Vinish, WestJet spokesperson tweaking flights and routes in an effort to keep seats full and fares low. “Some markets are more seasonal than others … but what you have to do is find a way to make it consistently strong for 365 days of the year and Gander is more of a challenge from that perspective and I think Newfoundland, for example, is a quite splintered market,” says Vinish referring to airports in St. John’s, Deer Lake, Stephenville and Gander.
Vinish says that as far as WestJet is concerned, they’re not ready to pull the plug on Gander or St. John’s just yet. “We’re not ready to step away yet, but unfortunately we are an airline that, as most airlines are, has to operate routes that are profitable,” she says. “We’re going to do everything that we can to try to build that market … in hopes that it will strengthen and we’ll be able to keep flying there and keep serving those two fabulous communities.” While WestJet may be forced to make some tough decisions, Deer Lake will see increased traffic. Humber Valley Resorts, in conjunction with the U.K.based travel firm Barwell Leisure, has announced a charter flight from Gatwick, England. The first flight is slated to touch down Dec. 22 and will continue weekly service until April 6, 2005. The charter flights will carry passengers that own property at the resort, as well as vacationers. “This regular charter route simplifies the travel to Humber Valley Resort so that clients can get here and start enjoying western Newfoundland,” says Brian Dobbin, the resort’s CEO.
GARY PERRY
Jeb Bush praises Hydro Quebec MONTREAL ov. Jeb Bush praised HydroQuebec crews who went to his state to help out in the wake of hurricanes that battered Florida last month. The 122 workers who left the state Friday were recognized by Bush in Florida as “some of the best crews in all of the effort. They’ve been awesome.’’ He said he appreciated the efforts of the utility crews, who will be back in Quebec Tuesday. The crews, which include linesmen and mechanics, have been in Florida since Sept. 9. Hydro-Quebec also said Friday that six workers will leave for Haiti on Monday to see what help can be offered to that troubled country in the wake of Hurricane Jeanne and a devastating flood. — Canadian Press
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INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
October 3, 2004
Graham Hughes/Photocall Ireland
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Rhetoric and reality Speeches by leaders taking the podium at UN’s General Assembly don’t always reflect honest, responsible governments at home
UNITED NATIONAS, New York
This year’s gathering offered a stark glimpse of the real divide in the hat we say here,” world today. Not the ones portrayed President Alejandro in the headlines, such as the rifts Toledo of Peru was over terrorism policy, or between saying at the United Nations recent- much of the world and President ly, “needs to be connected to the real George Bush. world.” It’s between those who respect Spare a moment’s sympathy for laws — or value legal obligations — Toledo. He won his presidency three and those who don’t. years ago on a platform Bush is easy to criticize that promised an end to — obviously many have — Peru’s endemic corrupfor a foreign policy doction. Now the corruption trine that runs roughshod allegations swirling over the concepts of multiaround his office — lateralism that underpin the though fiercely denied — U.N. and its efforts to break have got some pundits new ground in internationSTEPHEN calling him “Latin al law. America’s least popular HANDELMAN We’re not talking about president.” Iraq here, but about, for But he seemed oblivious to that instance, the International Criminal as he joined the annual fall parade of Court or improving the Biological leaders addressing the U.N. General Weapons Convention — both of Assembly. On the theory that the which Washington has opposed. best defence is a good offence, he OK, but what about those other used a press conference to appeal for leaders who also used the podium to international support for Peru’s lecture the world on righteousness, efforts to extradite his predecessor while ignoring their domestic sins? Alberto Fujimori from Japan to face Best example of that in recent corruption charges at home. days was Robert Mugabe, ZimbabAnd that’s when he made his we’s president, whose regime is conintriguing point that national leaders demned around the world for harasswho are given the privilege of the ing opposition parties, intimidating extraordinary U.N. podium need to the free press, and using violence to set an example to the world in their undermine democracy. own conduct. Did Mugabe bother to acknowlIf only we could believe they were edge that? Not a chance. Instead, he listening. got a smattering of unparliamentary
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applause for his tirade against Washington and its allies for pursuing a “new political-cum-religious doctrine in which there is but one political god, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair is his prophet.” Great line, but no one laughed at the next one, in which he called the U.N. Charter “the most sacred document and proponent of relations of our nations.” That’s the same document whose preamble commits member states “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.” U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan tried to bring the debate down to reality. He was widely quoted for his apparent criticism of the U.S. venture in Iraq, noting “every nation that proclaims the rule of law at home must respect it abroad.” Less widely noted was his second line: “and every nation that insists on it abroad must enforce it at home.” The General Assembly debates are a yearly ritual of international diplomacy. And the ritual requires everyone to listen politely — if they listen at all. These speeches, after all, are largely aimed at impressing an audience at home with the leader’s ability to rub shoulders with powerful states and, if necessary, tell them off.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva railed against the “powerful and all-encompassing cogwheel” that runs the world system. Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez condemned the “unjust, exploitative and unsustainable world economic order.” But it would be nice if leaders understood — as Toledo said — that even the most stirring rhetoric has to be measured against actions. South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki put his finger on the problem. “Every year many of us … make an annual pilgrimage to this great and vibrant city to plead the cause of the poor of the world, hopeful that this time our voices will be heard,” he said in his address. “Every year, after a few days, we pick up our bags to return to the reality of our societies, whose squalor stands out in sharp contrast to the splendour of New York.” He’s right, but the solution to the growing global gap between rhetoric and “reality” doesn’t always lie in concentrating on the world’s dark geopolitical forces. It has a lot to do with setting an example of good, responsible, and honest government at home. Stephen Handelman is a senior columnist for TIME CANADA. He can be reached at shandel@ix.netcom.com. His next column for The Independent will appear Oct. 17.
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The Independent, October 3, 2004
INTERNATIONAL
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‘A complete turnaround’ From a shy girl in Carbonear to director of an English-language school, Lucy Fitzpatrick has made a life for herself in Vietnam Voice from away Lucy Fitzpatrick In Vietnam By Stephanie Porter The Independent
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n a few short years, Lucy Fitzpatrick has gone from a “shy student” at an all-girl Catholic school, to the director of an English-language school in Ho Chi Minh, the largest city in Vietnam (formerly known as Saigon). “I’ve done a complete turnaround,” she tells The Independent. “It’s changed, my way of thinking has changed. I’ve had to accept certain things; I’ve chosen not to accept certain things.” And after so much time away, Fitzpatrick says she feels like more of a foreigner when she returns to Canada than she does in Asia. After graduating from high school in Carbonear, Fitzpatrick attended Memorial University, majoring in German. As part of her language studies, her professor got the students to re-learn English grammar. Soon after, Fitzpatrick began to volunteer tutoring international students at Memorial — improving her own skills along the way. That got her thinking about going overseas. “I went to university for two years and quit,” she says. “I went to university, dropped out, went home, worked for a family looking after their children and I realized I
Paul Daly/The Independent
Life on the streets of Danang, Vietnam.
didn’t want that kind of life. I wanted to be independent. “And I’ve become very independent living overseas.” In 1997, Fitzpatrick moved to South Korea, with the plan to stay for one year and make some
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money. She stayed for six. “I felt at home in Korea, which some people think is strange. But family is very important in Korea and that’s the same in Newfoundland. There are actually many similarities, I’m used to having people around me — like Newfoundland extended families — but there I was used to being surrounded by a lot of Canadians and other people as well.” The last two years she was in South Korea, Fitzpatrick worked for the Canadian Education Centre Cultural and Language Institute (CEC) in Seoul as an English instructor, program co-ordinator, and, for six months, as acting director. When CEC decided they would open a language centre in Vietnam, they offered Fitzpatrick the position of director. She accepted, and moved to Vietnam, leaving her colleagues and acquaintances behind. “When I came to Vietnam it was just me. I came here, to an empty building and had to turn it into a school. It was a challenge,” she says. “I found Vietnam very difficult at first. In fact, if I hadn’t gone to Korea first — the first city I lived there was fairly quiet — I don’t think I would have been able to survive.” Fitzpatrick located and contacted another Newfoundlander in Vietnam through the newfondlandersabroad.com website. When she met up with the woman, she says she “just wanted to cry” — she was so relieved and delighted
to be able to talk about things and people they had in common. Fitzpatrick has been in Vietnam for a year now. “On my first day, I was amazed,” she says. “The traffic in Ho Chi Minh City was absolutely crazy. Everyone was driving a motorbike and there appeared to be no traffic rules. I thought that I was going to die, get run over trying to cross the street. So for the first week or so I didn’t go outside, I was too afraid. “I have been living in and travelling around Asia the past seven years, but I was still amazed at the craziness of life here in Ho Chi Minh City. I was living and working in the same building for the first three weeks. At lunch time the staff would go home and return two hours later, I wondered why such a long lunch hour … then I was told that it’s normal to take a two-hour lunch break: one hour to eat and one hour to rest. “God, what a concept. But the weather is so hot here, that you tend to get very tired around noon.” Fitzpatrick has adjusted since then, in many ways. She’s met plenty of people, Canadian and otherwise. Used to eating meat and potatoes, she now craves vegetables and rice. She’s also gotten accustomed to a different way of doing business. “When I want things done, I expect them done immediately, but it’s not always possible — you have to wait,” she says. “For example, I ordered furniture for
the school, I was told two weeks, it was about three months later it showed up. “And waiting for the license for the school. They rushed me here in August, but we never actually received (the paperwork) until the end of October, so that was frustrating to me. I learned that’s the way it is, so accept it.” The school officially opened in January, and the number of students has been steadily increasing. There are Vietnamese students, Korean, Italian, Japanese — Ho Chi Minh is a very international city (Fitzpatrick enjoys that all varieties of food seem to be available — even poutine). Fitzpatrick has just returned from a vacation in Canada, when she spent a week in Newfoundland. “I felt strange being home,” she says. “When I went back it was as if nothing changed, except me.” Although she’s gearing up for the annual Terry Fox Run in Ho Chi Minh, and looking forward to celebrating Canadian events at the Consulate — including a monthly happy hour — Fitzpatrick says she feels more at home in Asia than she does in Canada. She’s got no plans to return to her home country for work. “I’ve always been proud to be a Newfoundlander, and I’m more proud now to be a Canadian,” she says. “I’ve been promoting Canada, but people think of Canada as Vancouver and Toronto, so I try to promote Newfoundland as much as possible. “But to move back to Newfoundland? I don’t know.” Wherever people choose to settle, Fitzpatrick has one piece of advice: “I would recommend teaching overseas. Everyone, when they graduate, I recommend people travel at least. “There’s such a big world and we’re very lucky because we speak English. Take advantage of it.” Do you know a Newfoundlander or Labradorian living away? Email editorial@theindependent.ca
LIFE &TIMES
October 3, 2004
Page 20
Clare-Marie Gosse/The Independent
Two kayaks rest on a wharf by the Exploits River in central Newfoundland.
Up the river Paul and Joy Rose and their two huskies are living an adventure-tourism dream By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
H
usband and wife team Paul and Joy Rose are living lives any outdoor enthusiast would kill for. Their mid-sized wooden house sits among natural, spacious grounds and their backyard slopes down to the Exploits River in central Newfoundland. Two horses and two huskies roam freely around the property, and a rack of kayaks and canoes — not to mention a couple of large inflatable rafts – sit, waiting for action. This is the home of Red Indian Adventures, an apt name for an adventure tourism business set in an area of the province so rich in Beothuk history. Paul tells The Independent how the Exploits, once one of the most densely populated areas of the province, was the main corridor for the natives’ migration inland to hunt caribou in the winter. “There are (Beothuk) campsites along this river where you can still see the tent rings where their houses have been,” he says, adding there are still pieces of coal and bone left behind in the ancient fire pits. “I’ve never shown them to anyone on a tour. It’s kind of a sacred place and I don’t want them to be excavated.” Growing up in nearby Grand Falls, and living and working in the Exploits valley,
has made Joy and Paul experts on their sur- and married on the Exploits. roundings. Red Indian Adventures has been “We intended to leave 12 o’clock or so operating for eight years. It’s still the only that evening,” Paul says, remembering their company in Newfoundland to offer river wedding day reception. “We had arranged and whitewater rafting and kayaking, pro- for a ride up to the top of the river and we viding daily tours and overnight camping were going to paddle down that night in the expeditions. dark and then camp. But The company is a small we ended up getting way one — Joy and Paul are “We get a lot of people, too intoxicated and we the only employees — but go anywhere and from beginners to some couldn’t the couple is constantly ended up crashing there that raft all over the busy over the summer where we were. We woke months. world. They come here, up in the rain.” “Mostly our business is they want to do rafting Now they have an 11a lot of people from the and-a-half month-old and they don’t care Avalon, St. John’s area,” daughter named Heidi, says Joy. “We’ve gotten a where it is really. You who’s already ventured lot more locals this year out onto the river and get to meet so many than in the past.” Although seems destined to follow nice people and so advertising attracts most in her parent’s footsteps. people, she says word of many interesting people, “I was rafting right up mouth plays a big part. until the end of August you know?” “We get a lot of people, (2003) and I had her on — Joy Rose from beginners to some Oct. 9,” says Joy. “And that raft all over the world. then I was back to work They come here, they again in June.” Joy wasn’t the first family member to want to do rafting and they don’t care where it is really. You get to meet so many nice give birth. Two years ago their husky people and so many interesting people, you Nakeah produced eight pups. In keeping with her outdoorsy upbringknow?” Joy and Paul have a passion for what they ing, Nakeah ignored the comfortable, insudo, and it really has become their lives. The lated doghouse the Roses provided for the couple even met through river canoeing birth, and disappeared after going into
labour. She turned up two days later and proudly showed off her litter, safe and warm in a self-dug den just 100 yards from the house. “We didn’t have to do any cleaning, didn’t have to do any feeding or anything,” says Paul. Nakeah would even lead her litter down to the Exploits when they needed a drink. The Roses kept one of the pups — Nanook — and Nakeah herself trained the pup to follow the house rules and the human commands. Paul admits their lifestyle is unusual given that no one else in either his or Joy’s family shares their enthusiasm for outdoor pursuits to the same degree. They say nothing could persuade them to move away from their home, even though they say, in terms of funding, the province often ignores the tourism potential in parts of central Newfoundland. Just over a week ago, the couple returned from kayaking in the United States and Ontario. Among other activities, Paul jumped a 60-foot waterfall. But that wasn’t his most memorable adventure to date. “I guided a raft down the Grand Canyon last year on a 19-day trip (down the Colorado River),” he says. Was it fun? “Oh yeah. A mile deep in the earth for 19 days? It was actually wonderful.”
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The Independent, October 3, 2004
LIFE & TIMES
Page 21
Sandor Fizli/PDI Photos
Rick Mercer donates his Governor General Award money to the LSPU Hall in St. John’s
Charity begins at home A
big deal needs to be made of Rick Mercer’s magnanimous gesture. Last week the St. John’s actor was conferred one of eight prestigious Governor General’s Awards for the Performing Arts. He now occupies a pantheon shared by seven other 2004 winners, including rowdyman Gordon Pinsent and dancer Veronica Tenant. Past honourees include Donald Sutherland and Cirque du Soleil. Given the distinguished nature of the acknowledgement, the $15,000 Cdn award money is not all that exciting, but we all know that the real capital of the prize lies in the enhanced reputation attending to the recognition. Donald Sutherland undoubtedly loved the attention but he probably spent his own modest coin flying to an Expos game one weekend (may they rest in peace). That said, $15,000 is still a lot of money to grassroots arts organizations, and so when Mercer announced he was donating the sum wholly to the Resource Centre for the Arts at the LSPU Hall a lot of people went nuts. There is something at once so obvious and so rare about such a gesture. Your first guilty thought might be, well, Mercer must be making a lot of media money to be able to hand over $15,000 without so much as a wince. But surely that grudging if human reflex quickly yields to a warm surge of appreciation. Every now and then you read about someone on the mainland leaving a few million dollars to a university or a museum, and you can’t help but wonder — why not me or why not here? It just doesn’t happen. It’s always been a bit of a mystery why the local rich don’t share more of their holdings with struggling sites like the Hall, or with causes that cry out for but are never able to receive enough public funds. Perhaps it takes someone who feels he owes his career to the place, like Mercer, to make a personal contribution. And
Standing Room Only NOREEN GOLFMAN he’s not even dead yet. If he spent that money on good wine surely we’d all understand. Elsewhere, however, the rich give their money away all the time. You can’t help wonder if the announcement of Mercer’s gift generated at least a twinge of guilt in some of the crowd now tooling around town in Jaguars and BMWs. To be fair, it is possible they don’t experience normal feelings of social responsibility like the rest of us. The most notable exception to the tight-fisted merchants and idle rich is surely Paul Johnson and his Johnson Family Foundation which has made so many contributions to Newfoundland history and culture over the years they deserve a monument. The stunning showcase that is the GEO Centre is by itself testimony of Johnson’s understanding of the term benevolence. Oddly, Johnson and his family constantly set examples no one else seems inclined to follow. Don’t the rich want to get into heaven like the rest of us? It was easy to think of charitable acts the other night over at the Masonic Temple, where several hundred people gathered first to hear a panel about, and then to show solidarity with, the several hundred Sudanese refugees who have fortuitously — for us and for them — landed on our shores. The event was called Darfur After Dark and it was part of a Canada-wide effort to raise awareness of the political and humanitarian crisis in the region and to shame the federal government into taking a more active role of protest on the international stage. In cities across the country writers
and musicians not only gathered together to perform their works, but they actually staged the event in the first place. In Toronto it was Michael Ondaatje, Dionne Brand, and others who made things happen. Here it was writer Lisa Moore and friends, with the full assistance of Oxfam. Actor/writer Mary Walsh — who has quietly donated money to the LSPU Hall and, no doubt, many other organizations in the past, hosted the lively event, giving freely of her time and talent. Tables were lined with donations from artists who had also offered their works for silent auction. Oxfam is to distribute the earnings where they are most needed.
You can’t help wonder if the announcement of Mercer’s gift generated at least a twinge of guilt in some of the crowd now tooling around town in Jaguars and BMWs. To be fair, it is possible they don’t experience normal feelings of social responsibility like the rest of us. Hundreds of people crowded the Masonic Temple hall but, interestingly, almost none of the big-ticket items, such as beautiful prints, framed and ready for hanging, saw any serious bids. This had something to do with the fact that most of the assembled crowd do not carry the kind of pocket money it takes to plunk down several hundred dollars just like that. The paradox seemed so obvious:
writers and artists had helped bring the event together, but this isn’t the group who can or ought to be making large financial gifts. Maybe the local rich are quietly donating large sums to various philanthropic causes and don’t want the attention, but then you don’t see them organizing fundraising events for refugees or, for that matter, calling publicly on their fellow wealthy dinner partners or clients to throw money at cultural sites. And so why do the writers and artists usually end up being the ones to donate time and money they don’t really have to the hurricane relief benefits, the flood fundraisers, the refugee relief measures? It is no surprise to anyone who follows these trends, but it is worth repeating that the Newfoundlanders (and Quebeckers) are the least philanthropic people in Canada, according to the annual Private Charitable Generosity Index. Manitoba, not exactly a have province, ranks highest. The Generosity Index measures three variables: the proportion of taxpayers who donate to registered charities, the percentage of after-tax income donated to charity, and the number of per-capita hours of volunteer time donated to charities. There are probably some good historical and social reasons why Newfoundlanders rank so low on the index, confounding the myth of being a generous and giving and big-hearted people, but the statistics are humbling. Even Paul Johnson’s continuing generosity can’t offset the pitiful contributions Newfoundlanders make to the not-for-profit sector. And Rick Mercer’s $15,000 to the charity that is the LSPU Hall certainly won’t make a centimetre difference to the scales of giving. Still, Mercer is owed a big hug, at least. Let’s hope he inspires others to similar gestures. Noreen Golfman is a professor of literature and women’s studies at Memorial. Her next column appears Oct. 17.
Page 22
LIFE & TIMES
The Independent, October 3, 2004
What’s in a name? Where a Name Would Be By Anna Swanson Rubber Boot Rodeo, 2004. 28pp
On The Shelf
I
n her second chapbook of poetry, Vancouver-born poet — and until just recently, resident of St. John’s — Anna Swanson writes on the nature of sickness and the self, through the lens of her own experience with debilitating illness. Though this illness is never named, the symptoms detailed throughout the collection (uncharacteristic exhaustion following physical activity, difficulty in concentrating, memory loss) seem to point toward Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Swanson’s experience of her illness, bereft of the poetry she makes of it, is only one unfortunate serf in the wide realm of human suffering. After all, we turn to literature not for consolation (leave that to books of the Chicken, Beef or Tofu Soup for the Soul variety) but for enlightenment. It is propitious, then, to discover that Swanson has poetic technique in spades. “Because I was afraid I might never sleep again / Because I thought I might sleep for the rest of my life” the opening poem, An Argument for Remembering, begins: Because I lost my short term memory during exams Because I couldn’t remember a question long enough to find an answer Because I dropped all my courses but one so I’d have something to say when people asked me what I did Because people told me to try getting more exercise
MARK CALLANAN The poem continues in a similarly structured list of reasons until the crucial last line: “Because I never realized that when people ask us who we/are, we answer with what we do.” Obviously, the nature of identity is a central concern of the collection. And nowhere is this thematic occupation more obvious than in Swanson’s Sestina for my Name.
Swanson’s experience of her illness, bereft of the poetry she makes of it, is only one unfortunate serf in the wide realm of human suffering. After all, we turn to literature not for consolation (leave that to books of the Chicken, Beef or Tofu Soup for the Soul variety) but for enlightenment. The English sestina, derived from its French ancestor, is a form poem based around a selection of six key words. These words are used at the end of each of 36 lines grouped into stanzas of six. The six words are intro-
INDEPENDENT CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Her lover was a swan 5 Related 9 Steps down to the Ganges 13 Seize 17 Terrible tsar 18 Albacore ___ 19 Shower 20 Nearly extinct 21 Flashy July 1 show 23 Decree 25 Neon or silver, e.g. 26 Home 28 Awry 29 Impersonal pronoun 30 “Don’t ___ the door!” 31 Acapulco aunt 32 Beach on L. Winnipeg (one of the world’s top 10 freshwater beaches) 35 Angler 38 Treat with a Taser 41 “When I fall in ___ ...” 42 Milieu of erns and terns 43 Catch 44 Soft drink 45 Foofaraw 46 Movement for religious understanding 50 Actor Paul (“Men With Brooms”) 51 Winter mo. 52 Add volume 53 Boy 54 Opportunely 56 Not up 58 The Song Beneath the ___ (Joe Fiorito)
duced in the first sestet and then recur in varying end-positions over the course of the next five stanzas. There is a formula to the order of appearance of these end words (123456 in the first stanza, 615243 in the second…) that I won’t get into here. Furthermore, a closing three-line stanza follows the sestets with the endwords now appearing two per line. Suffice it to say that in the sestina, technique is everything. With such constraints, such compulsive repetition, it would appear exceedingly difficult for any writing to break free of mere language experiment and blossom into actual poetry. Yet in Sestina for my Name, form and sense are perfectly married. The poem becomes dreamily obsessed by its author’s six end words: “asparagus”, “student”, “name”, “introduce”, “forget” and “Anna.” In Swanson’s capable hands, a painfully self-conscious and difficult form is the perfect vehicle for meditation on the nature of identity: … A theatre student amused us with memory games, told us the reason we forget names is that we don’t listen when other people are introduced. We don’t pay attention, she said, because we’re scared we’ll forget our own names. Instead of listening – Hi, I’m Anna. Anna. – we practice in our heads. Nice to meet you, I’m Anna. “(T)here was something underneath even Anna,” the poem later asserts. That something is the notion of the self, the template we envision as being our Being. It is
this self and its necessary revision after the experience of sickness and, later, healing, with which Swanson struggles throughout the collection. While there are a scant few passages in Where a Name Would Be that are of more clinical than poetic interest, of more use to a fellow sufferer than a reader of poetry, largely, its pieces evidence a strong and varied style. Swanson can sing in many registers. My hope is that this small chap-
book of poems will soon find its way into a collection that is long enough to fully showcase its author’s talent. Where a Name Would Be is available at Bennington Gate Bookstore or by contacting the author:anna_bugg@hotmail.com Mark Callanan is a writer currently living in Rocky Harbour. His next column appears Oct. 17. He can be reached at callanan_ _@hotmail.com
Solutions on page 26
59 Apiece 60 Sheila McCarthy, e.g. 63 “Caught ya!” 64 Like a fox 65 Prov. with most smoke or haze 68 Weeps 69 Universally valid values 72 Hudson’s ___ 73 Puss’s plaint 74 Asian leader, once 75 Observe 76 Take your ___ 77 Bard’s time 78 Clambers 82 Easily split rock 83 Sweet potato 84 Not nude 85 Shortened alias 86 Tree with catkins 89 More pleasant 91 Apart (lit.) 95 Flamenco form 97 Having an effect 99 At a distance 100 St. John’s lake: Quidi ___ 101 Put on the payroll 102 Keats’ feats 103 Coop layers 104 Unsigned, in short 105 Coup d’___ 106 Death in Dieppe DOWN 1 Kind of insurance 2 “Hear no ___” 3 Venture 4 Sea creature
5 Make amends 6 Skater Browning 7 What squid squirt 8 Some French vowels 9 First commercial pilot in Canada: Roland ___ 10 Like rock 11 Adjutant 12 Radio & TV network of Arctic Quebec (Nunavik) 13 Blue ___ grass 14 Royal in a sari 15 Curved lines 16 The birds and the ___ 22 ___ one’s way (go) 24 Labrador Inuit community 27 Scrooge’s word 30 Thailand, once 31 Bill 32 Kind of tidings 33 Went by horse 34 Non-career calling 35 Quarrel 36 ER professionals 37 Papa’s mate 38 Fear of animals 39 Too 40 Decline to bid 42 Oodles 44 Swamp menace 46 Fencing item 47 Site of world’s largest non-polar ice field: St. ___ Mountains, Yukon 48 Tortilla chip with toppings 49 Standard of perfection 50 Classic anatomy textbook
55 National Park on L. Erie: Point ___ 57 Make ale 60 Pinnacle 61 Indigenous language 62 German river 64 Some Fr. martyrs 66 Table salt (chem.) 67 Youngster 70 Python cousin 71 Secondhand 74 Letters of 1900
76 “The ___ of the Opera” 78 Performed an aria 79 N.B. frozen food founder 80 French wheat 81 Jean Vanier’s organization 82 Antarctic bird 83 Ten Lost ___, 19291939 (Broadfoot) 85 Valuable quality
86 Asian nanny 87 ___ and sound 88 Scheme 89 No (German) 90 Subcontinental prefix 91 Subtle emanation 92 Carthage’s founder 93 Of all time 94 “Let the ___ of the world ...” 96 Ultraviolet rad. 98 Small river island
The Independent, October 3, 2004
LIFE & TIMES
Page 23
Submitted photo
‘Another Great Big Sea thing …’ They’re certainly no strangers to media coverage, but there may be a few things about Newfoundland’s best-selling band you don’t know
By Clare-Marie Gosse The Independent
P
eople, especially Newfoundlanders, think they know a lot about Great Big Sea. But from obtaining restraining orders for stalkers to getting cozy with a certain Hollywood gladiator, life for Newfoundland’s favourite music celebrities is far from predictable. Band member Bob Hallett, singer and player of multiple instruments — from fiddle to bouzouki — sits down with The Independent for a chat about the band’s current nationwide tour and upcoming extended break. “It’s been one of our busiest (years) ever. I mean we work a lot, but this year we’ve worked stupid amounts,” he says. “We’re definitely taking a long break next year and you know, the last two years in particular have been a pound of work and all kinds of problems. Darrell (Power) left the band, our original bass player, and we had some deaths in our immediate friends and families. “You come home from a tour and you go to the hospital for three hours you know, and then go back on the road thinking about it.
We’re really just tired. Not tired of playing, not tired of performing, we’re tired of the process, you know?” As well as replacing Power with Murray Foster in 2003, the rest of the group — Alan Doyle, Sean McCann and Hallett — brought in Kris MacFarlane on drums. Work has been steady ever since, in studio and out. Close on the heels of their platinum-certified album, Sea Of No Cares, the band released Something Beautiful in February of this year. They recently finished a hectic American tour, are beginning an extensive national tour and have an album of traditional Newfoundland music poised and waiting for release. “We had a big bulk of (pop) songs we’d written and this big pile of traditional music and we were having a really hard time making the two gel,” says Hallett, explaining why the band decided to compile two albums in the space of one year. He calls them “two sides of one coin.” The band also released their Great Big DVD in late 2003, which turned out to be “one of the most successful things” they’ve ever done. “There’s a ton of stuff on it,” says Hallett, describing the com-
pilation of band and concert footage, interviews and 14 music videos. “It’s the best selling music DVD in Canada this year; it’s sold triple platinum for a DVD. That’s not widely known; another Great
“You come home from a tour and you go to the hospital for three hours you know, and then go back on the road thinking about it. We’re really just tired. Not tired of playing, not tired of performing, we’re tired of the process, you know?” — Bob Hallett Big Sea thing that nobody knows about.” Apparently there are a few. Hallett says he’s surprised at how the band’s fan base is often misjudged: people seem to assume their only fans are ex-patriot Newfoundlanders. “Certainly there are a lot of expatriot Newfoundlanders in our audiences,” he says, “(but) we never would have been able to
become anywhere near as widely known, or sold as many records if that was our primary audience. We play massive shows all over the States and certainly, you know, there’s not enough Newfoundlanders in any city in America…” But it seems the band has been responsible for bringing some fans back to the province with them, in the form of Great Big Sea stalkers. “There’s been a few restraining orders,” Hallett says. “You know you project a very open and friendly persona on stage and our message deliberately has a very positive approach. A lot of people find solace in that and then that becomes something else, you know? “And then they move here and camp in front of your house.” Russell Crowe — a less crazed, more high profile fan of the band — could probably give the musicians some tips on dealing with admirers. When asked if rumours that lead singer Alan Doyle will produce a record for Crowe’s b, 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts, Hallett smiles and just says, “Russell Crowe is a friend. “He’s a fan of the band and Alan is certainly a close friend of Russell’s. He’s a very busy man and I’m not sure how serious Russell is about his musical career, his
band is essentially on hiatus right now. “I think he would like to do music again, but whether or not he’ll turn down 50-million dollar movies to go play clubs is a question I’ve never asked him, even though I suspect I know the answer. He’s a long time fan of the band and he’s performed our songs live from time to time.” With the Great Big DVD, the band is getting their own camera time, and Hallett says they’ll be taping another live concert during this Canadian tour. With additional footage from the DVD shoots left over, he says they might put another video package together if they “get bored doing nothing” during their time off. With 27 concerts scheduled and a large expanse of land to cover in two months, the “extended break” should be much needed. “We’re taking a week off in the middle of it but essentially we’ll work most days,” Hallett says, “I mean, we don’t play every night but that’s the nature of driving across Canada. It takes a long time.” Great Big Sea flew to Nanaimo, B.C., last week and they won’t stop pounding the pavement until they reach home for a show Dec. 4 at Mile One Stadium.
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Page 24
LIFE & TIMES
The Independent, October 3, 2004
A mainland view of The Rooms By Alisha Morrissey The Independent
T
he deans from fine arts schools at colleges and universities across Canada met in St. John’s this past weekend and the general consensus was that Newfoundland and Labrador — specifically St. John’s –— has an arts scene, and a healthy one. Some raved about the enthusiasm of local artists, others questioned the one-year delay in the opening of The Rooms. All seemed impressed. All around the Duke of Duckworth pub in downtown St. John’s, where the delegation met for lunch after a tour of the empty Rooms, there was talk of returning to the province for a longer, more vacation-like stay. The delegation complained about the excessive time they had to spend in meetings. Ira Levine, from Toronto’s Ryerson University, says he was surprised by The Rooms and gave it rave reviews. He was more excited, however, about T-shirts sold at a Duckworth
Street shop where local artists’ designs are printed and displayed. Lionel Walsh, from the University of Windsor, says a visitor can’t help but be inspired on the island. Walsh may be a tad biased, however. His parents are from here. “I think this is one of the most vibrant arts communities in North America, but I cheat, I lived here in the ’80s,” Walsh says. The topic on most of the deans’ lips was why the opening of The Rooms was put off. “It’s in boxes … the art that’s there that represents your culture and heritage and it’s closed,” says Marion Brinkley from Dalhousie University. Brinkley was also unimpressed that the provincial archives, used by many tourists to trace genealogy, are locked away in The Rooms. Cecil Houston, with the University of Windsor, says the provincial government needs to pay more attention to the arts. He says a culture’s humanity is judged by its creativity. “There’s something you have to value here and that’s humanity, it’s refreshing and inspiring.” The Rooms
Paul Daly/The Independent
Acadiens — a distinct people like us By Marie-Beth Wright
D
uring my childhood, the federal government research ship, Acadia, did cartographical work out of Valleyfield, Bonavista Bay. The ship’s middle-aged engineer, Aloysius Cyr from Pictou, N.S., spent much of his free time at our family’s general store intriguing my parents with his pronunciation of my name. And that was my first contact with the Acadian culture and the French language, a link that would instill a life-long passion. Until university, my conception of Acadia was of a boat, but that changed with my subsequent visits to Grand Pré and County Clare. I admire the Acadian tenacity, resiliency and co-operation exhibited throughout original colonization, especially after the Grand Derangement of 1755-63. While Henry Wadsworth Longfellow gave a special soul to the Acadian tragedy, the true heroes and heroines have been the millions of Acadian descendants fostering
Acadia, a country of the heart, without frontiers, a virtual land of pride and hope transcending centuries and politics. All subsequent ethnic cleansing campaigns since the 18th century demonstrate revolting cruelty towards its victims, yet Acadians stand apart in their ability for acceptance and renewal. Fast forward to summer 2004 and the third Acadian World Congress at Pointe de l’Église. At such events, Acadiens return from the four corners, reassembling in large numbers to announce to the world that they still exist, a distinct people. I have visited Champlain’s Habitation and a portrait of the Expulsion of the Acadians hangs in my living room, but I am not a true Acadian, only an adoptive one. In 1995, my family had visited Pictou in hopes of finding our Acadian friend, but arrived two years too late. We did, however, reconnect with Acadia, the vessel — moored in all its former glory on the Halifax waterfront — and stood on its deck reliving the past. In this 400th anniversary of
French settlement, I set out on a pilgrimage to the Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick for two weeks of linguistic and cultural events while becoming reacquainted with L’Acadie. In 1864, the late prime minister Wilfred Laurier commenting on EnglishFrench relations, stated: “Unity of the people is the secret of the future.”
In this 400th anniversary of French settlement, I set out on a pilgrimage to the Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick for two weeks of linguistic and cultural events while becoming reacquainted with L’Acadie. The young Wilfred Laurier, sent at the sensitive age of 10 to the English school in New Glasgow, Qué., stayed for three years (apart from a monthly holiday home)
with an Irish Catholic family, perhaps the first planned immersion episode in Canada. I, too, lived “en famille” with, Irène and Gilbert Losier of Shippagan, who have spent many years welcoming students into their home and their culture. The musical and cultural epicentre, Caraquet’s annual festival, offered the benediction of the fleet, carnivals, tri-coloured lighthouses and the Historical Acadian Village, while hundreds of artists interpreted the culture. I was present at Carrefour de la Mer cultural centre for the launching of the signature album, L’Acadie en Chanson, where Sandra Lecouteur sang the emotional hymn Grand Pré and 2,000 spectators rose in ovation. Never will I forget the moment when New Brunswick’s Carole Daigle joined Briand Melanson of Grand Dérangement to present the theme song from the Acadian World Congress. The region also boasts the Baroque festival of Lèmeque established by Dr. Mathieu Duguay in 1976, a festival that
attracts choirs, directors and musicians of the first order. Through the Beliveau and Burke families, Nova Scotia songstress Anne Murray’s maternal side is 100 per cent francophone. Back home, I continue to reflect on the grace, determination and sense of heritage demonstrated by the Acadians who, like us Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, use music and other cultural elements to forage an identity when geographically dispersed. Indeed, the Acadians hold an annual Tintamarre — a big parade with instruments and noisemakers — as they challenge a destiny of division, despair and injustice. They have earned a position of honour in Canada and throughout the world after 250 years of displacement. We, like them, will continue to live and prosper in the face of adversities. Marie-Beth Wright is a St. John’s writer with experience in small business and teaching. She also loves to travel. mbwright@nl.rogers.com
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October 3, 2004
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Matt Stajan/Getty Images
Hockey’s rising star Michael Ryder of Bonavista heads to Sweden in October as a result of the NHL lockout.
‘Escape clause’ Bonavista’s Michael Ryder takes to the ice in Sweden this month, but he’ll be home in a flash if the lockout ends — then it’s only his Canadiens contract to worry about By Darcy MacRae For The Independent
T
he National Hockey League lockout couldn’t have come at a worse time for Michael Ryder. The pride of Bonavista finally saw his boyhood dream of playing in the NHL come true last season when he spent the year playing right wing for the Montreal Canadiens. Ryder used sound positioning, a willingness to battle for the puck in the trenches and a lethal shot from the slot to score 25 goals — first among all Montreal skaters, despite the fact it was his rookie season. His hard-nosed style also helped the team return to the playoffs after a two-year absence from postseason competition and aided in their first-round upset of the Boston Bruins. Although the Canadiens were eventually eliminated by Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay, it was obvious to followers of the game that both Ryder and the Habs were on the road to bigger and better things. When Ryder ponders all he and his teammates accomplished last season, it’s no surprise he’s saddened by the possibility the NHL lockout could wipe out the entire 2004-05 campaign. “It will be disappointing, especially after finishing off on a good note,” Ryder tells The Independent. “We were excited about this season and thought we could go a little further in the playoffs. We would have had pretty much the same team, so if it starts up again we’ll have to pick things up where we left off.”
Ryder’s on-ice intensity and creativWhile he too marvels at the talent of ity were evident last season, when he his teammates, Ryder insists that the either went around or through his oppo- group of up-and-comers is a close-knit nents en route to the net. He used his team. muscled physique to fight through trafWhether it be joking around in the fic and create space for teammates — weight room or talking strategy before qualities that endeared him to both fans practice, the friendships and camaand fellow Canadiens. raderie that existed in Montreal are His strong play also caught the atten- things he fondly discusses from his partion of the rest of the NHL, which ents’ home in Bonavista. resulted in Ryder finishing second in “I can relate to a lot of the guys voting for the Calder Trophy, given because we’re around the same age,” he annually to the league’s top rookie. says. “I played with a few of the guys After spending the in Hamilton (of the three previous seasons AHL) the year before, in the minors, it was which made it possible obvious Ryder was “It was exciting to play to ease into things. The just getting his NHL my rookie year and then guys on the team were career on track, which I was looking forward great, we all got along is another factor in his to playing again. But well.” disappointment over Just when the NHL I can’t affect what’s season will get underthe labour dispute. “It was exciting to way is anybody’s guess. going on. I’ve just play my rookie year The unrest between the got to make sure and then I was looking players and owners forward to playing I’m ready to play when could drag on well into again,” he says. “But I hockey starts again.” the new year, and could can’t affect what’s threaten not only this — Michael Ryder going on. I’ve just got season, but the 2005-06 to make sure I’m ready campaign as well. to play when hockey Ryder realizes that at starts again.” this stage in his career, At just 24 years of age, Ryder fit in sitting out an entire year is simply not perfectly with Montreal’s youth move- an option. ment. Along with fellow youngsters For that reason he has singed a conMichael Komisarek, Jason Ward and tract to play with Leksand of the Mike Ribeiro, Ryder was seen as part of Swedish Allsvenskan League, a pro cirthe next generation of Canadiens’ stars, cuit ranked just below Sweden’s Elite a group whose excitement and energy League. Leksand has brought in proven created a buzz in the hockey-mad city snipers such as Ryder in an attempt to not heard since the early 1990s. get back to the elite league, the level
they have traditionally played at before being relegated to the nation’s secondbest hockey circuit at the end of last season. Like many of his NHL counterparts who have chosen to play in Europe during the work stoppage, Ryder’s contract includes an escape clause that allows him to leave Leksand should the NHL labour dispute come to an end. But regardless of when the NHL starts again, Ryder is still in a state of limbo with Montreal, as he has yet to be signed to a contract and is a restricted free agent. He says with certainty that he expects to be in the Canadiens lineup if the labour dispute is settled, pointing out that contract negotiations rarely get worked out overnight. As he prepares to make his Swedish hockey debut in mid-October, Ryder continues the same training regimen that helped get him to the NHL. He’s on the bike and in the weight room almost every day of the week, where constant chest, back, shoulder, arm and leg exercises help maintain his 6’1, 200-pound frame. He also takes to the ice at least twice a week, all in preparation for what he hopes will eventually be his second NHL season. “It’s tough to say how long the lockout will last. Bob Goodenow and Gary Bettman have different opinions on what’s going to happen,” Ryder says. “They’ve got to find something they can agree on, so I’m not sure how long it’s going to take. I just hope they eventually work something out.” Darcy_8888@hotmail.com
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I
SPORTS
The Independent, October 3, 2004
If Madagascar had a hockey league …
tem: Nearly 200 NHLers have found employment in Europe. When (or should that be if?) the NHL returns, will these players come back? Comment: A majority of these players, who make up roughly 25 per cent of National Hockey League rosters, are European. The leagues they now play in are solid, have been in existence for years and would be operating this season whether they had these players or not. Europe’s economy is much stronger these days, especially in hockeyplaying countries. What’s more, the Euros available to these puckmen are not chump change. In fact, the salaries for some — especially big names like Forsberg (Sweden) and Jagr (Czech Republic) — would rank high on any NHL list. And therein lies a problem: if and when Gary Bettman irons out this North American mess, will NHL dollars be that much better than Euros? What, then, would persuade Europe’s finest to leave for Loonies and American smackers as they have, year after year, for decades?
earning (a likely scenario). With or without Europeans, of course. ••• Item: The Montreal Expos are going, going, gone to Washington. Yeah, I know it’s another Canadian team gobbled up by the south mouth that roars, but do we really care? Comment: This is not really news. We’ve known for some time Les Expos were getting an intentional walk after 35 years at the plate. No one really seemed to balk at this development, though. Sad? Perhaps. It is sad Montrealers never had the chance to celebrate a World Series, something that could have happened if not for Major League Baseball’s last strike of 1994-95. Poised for a serious run with a great young team, the Expos never really recovered from that time of promise-turned-doom. Unlike their northern cousins — the Blue Jays — the Expos never had the luxury of buying a World Series title (make that two). Would the Jays be faced with the same fate if they never won those two championships? It’s hard to say, but if the Montreal Exporience has taught us anything, the folks in Hogtown had best be alert or they might get caught stealing home. ••• Item: Almost a year ago, Toronto GM Glen Grunwald told fans at Mile One the Raptors would return in two years to make up for the wet-floor fiasco of 2003. Can we count on the Raptors heading back to rock the rims on the Rock in 2005? Will Vince Carter, he who badly wants out of Toronto, be with the team? Comment: Well, let’s see. Grunwald is gone, fired after another woeful season where the Raptors played as if they had added a capital C to the beginning of their name.
BOB WHITE
Christine Muschi/REUTERS
Montreal Expos Brian Schneider greets fans as he walks off the field following the team's final home game ever against the Florida Marlins at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Sept. 29. The Expos will play their 2005 season in Washington, D.C. Montreal lost the game, 9-1.
Vince Carter’s words, however, have stung Maple Leaf Sports in the worst way. Yes, injuries have plagued this onetime franchise player, but honouring his trade demand, at this stage, would be a major blow to the Raptors. His value has never been lower and it’s tough enough to attract big-name free agents to Canada as
it is. This won’t help. I lived in Toronto during one of Carter’s, and Toronto’s, best NBA seasons. Back then, the buzz surrounding the team was amazing. To witness the state of the Raptors today is puzzling. Could this be the beginning of the end for Canada’s NBA team? I’m sure folks in Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg and Quebec
City would tell you stranger things have happened. But, hey, that’s OK. We’ll all still be heading to Mile One. Though I’m not quite sure what we’ll be watching. Bob White, a sports writer living in Carbonear, can be reached at whitebobby@yahoo.com
A LITTLE OF YOUR TIME IS ALL WE ASK. CONQUERING THE UNIVERSE IS OPTIONAL.
GREENBACK PASTURES The Raptors, like the St. John’s Maple Leafs, are owned by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. The Baby Leafs are going the way of the Expos, not down south mind you, but off to pastures with more greenback. It is difficult to figure why the Raptors (meaning Maple Leaf Sports) would want to risk another debacle when all they have at stake is, well, nothing. Grunwald, I’m sure, is a man of his word, but his words are meaningless now.
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Solutions from page 22
GRETZKY EXPERIMENT The Great Gretzky experiment proved a couple of things about hockey, hockey players and the world’s top league: money rules and money ruins. Players, like the NHL, will go where they think the money is. If Madagascar had a league and had the dough, you’d see NHLers there by now. After the Gretzky trade to L.A. in 1988 and the proliferation of teams in the U.S. Sun Belt and desert locales, the NHL was poised to climb to the same level as other North American pro sports. But, the heads of hockey forgot something: money rules and pro sports get rich by fat TV contracts. The NHL never got that. It’s been said that the NFL could go through an entire season without one fan showing up to any game in any city, and the league would still make money. All because of TV money. Maybe, just maybe, the NHL will return one day and manifest itself in some form that lies between the Original Six and the NHL circa the early 1980s, when Winnipeg and Quebec, Edmonton, Calgary and New Jersey were new to the scene. I’m sure Canadians, however peeved by this strike, would still tune in even if players were making half of what they have been
The Independent, October 3, 2004
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Page 27
Events OCTOBER 3 • Echoes of Erin concert, D.F. Cook Recital Hall, Memorial Music School, 8 p.m. • Avion Players present Community Idol Finals, Gander Arts and Culture Centre. • Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s CIBC Run for the Cure, St. John’s. For more information or to register, call 579-8777 ext. 229. • Public meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous will be held in conjunction with fall convention, 3 p.m. St. James United Church, Elizabeth Avenue, St. John’s. OCTOBER 4 • Writer’s Alliance monthly reading series, with poet Tom Henihan and short story writer Ramona Deering, LSPU Hall, 8 p.m. • Big Brothers/Big Sisters Variety Show, Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre. • Echoes of Erin concert, D.F. Cook Recital Hall, Memorial Music School, 8 p.m. OCTOBER 5 • Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information Annual General Meeting, 2 p.m., Airport Plaza Hotel St. John’s. • Peter Pan presented by Peter MacDonald Productions, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m., continues until Oct. 9, 7293900. • Crush with guest Nathan Wiley, Gander Arts and Culture Centre, 256-1081. OCTOBER 6 • Folk night with Jean Hewson and Christina Smith at the Ship Pub, St. John’s.
• Crush with guest Nathan Wiley, Labrador West Arts and Culture Centre, • Dave Panting plays Erin’s Pub, Water Street, St. John’s.
Paul Daly/The Independent
The St. John’s Folk Art Council celebrated International Music Day at the Masonic Hall last Friday.
• Scott Goudie plays The Basement, Baird’s Cove, St. John’s. • Andrew and Barry LeDrew play the Fat Cat, George Street, St. John’s. • Crush with guest Nathan Wiley, Grand Falls-Windsor Arts and Culture Centre. • W.E.S.T.: Wendy Woodland, Elaine Clarke, Shirley Montague, Tina Dolter, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, 637-2580. OCTOBER 7 • Chamber music performed by Kristina Szutor, D. F. Cook Recital Hall, Memorial’s music school, 8 p.m., 737-4455. • 3 Dogs Barking, by Frank Barry, opening night at the LSPU Hall, 8
p.m. Continues until Oct. 17. 7534531. • Crush with guest Nathan Wiley, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, 637-2580. • Canadian Society for Education Through Art national conference: Faces of Aboriginality, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, 8966211. Continues until Oct. 9. • MUN Cinema Series presents Before Sunset (USA, 2004) starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, 7 p.m., Avalon Mall Studio 12. OCTOBER 8 • Wayne Hynes plays The Basement, Baird’s Cove, St. John’s. • Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador presents Robert Chafe’s
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Tempting Providence, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, 637-2580. • Dave Panting plays Erin’s Pub, Water Street, St. John’s. • Crush with guest Nathan Wiley, Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre, • ADD Central workshop on nonverbal learning disabilities, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Mount Peyton Hotel, Grand Fall-Windsor, 2925727. OCTOBER 9 • Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador presents Robert Chafe’s Tempting Providence, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, 637-2580.
IN THE GALLERIES: • Near and Far, presented by the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, Discovery Centre, Woody Point. • Water flowing to the sea captured at the speed of light, Blast Hold Pond River, Newfoundland, 2002-2003 by Marlene Creates, Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John’s. • St. Michael’s Printshop Portfolio, featuring work by-Tara Bryan, Boyd Chubbs, Di Dabinett, Scott Goudie, Elayne Greeley, Christine Koch, Will Gill and Anita Singh at the LSPU Hall. • Magdalena: Desert Pilgrimage, Irish photographer, Maeve Hickey, The Leyton Gallery of Fine Art, Baird’s Cove off Water Street. • Present Miss, a look at education in the province, Cupids Museum, Cupids, Until Oct. 15. • Ed Loves Kelly and Other Sad Stories, a solo exhibition by Clem Curtis. Opening reception, Leyton Gallery of Fine Art, 3 to 5 p.m., Oct. 9, 722-7177. • Dusk, new paintings by David Marshak, at James Baird Gallery, Duckworth Street, St. John’s. • The Rhythm of Our Land by Cathy Driedzic, Gander Arts and Culture Centre gallery. • Contemplating Re-Tox, new oils by Ran Andrews, Christian’s Pub, George Street, St. John’s. • Les Terre Neuvas d’Anita Conti photographs by Anita Conti, Newfoundland Museum, Duckworth St., until Jan. 16. • Bridging Sea and Sky, by Linda Swain, Pollyanna Gallery, Duckworth Street, St. John’s.