William’s Harbour ready to relocate: chairman
No formal vote taken, but new policy attractive
When the province upped the ante on relocation funds in this year’s budget, many ears in the tiny community of William’s Harbour on the south coast of Labrador perked up, according to the local service district’s chairman.
Phones started to buzz, said George Russell. By Thursday, he told The Telegram just about everyone was onside to resettle.
In 2009, the community couldn’t reach what was then a 100 per cent majority requirement, Russell said.
“Last time there wasn’t enough to move,” he said, adding the big difference this time is the payout people could get for their homes to entice a move.
In Budget 2013, announced this week, the province increased the maximum payout under the province’s voluntary relocation policy to $250,000 from $100,000. Communities and towns fitting the criteria must have 90 per cent of the residents vote in favour.
Not everyone is up for the move in William’s Harbour, however.
Rosalind Russell, who operates the only store in the community, said she’s not really in favour, but did not explain why in a brief phone conversation.
“I just don’t want to talk about it,” she said.
According to George Russell, only about 17 people live in the community, which is 25 kilometres away from Port Hope Simpson, but is only accessible by plane, or by snowmobile in winter and boat and ferry in summer.
But climate change in the last number of years has made it difficult to get out by snowmobile because of ice melt, Russell said, causing even more isolation.
There are sometimes as many as 18 days or more when people are stranded in the community because flights can’t go ahead due to weather. While the community has an airstrip, the seven-minute flight to Port Hope Simpson is $200 each way, Russell said.
Residents must travel out for all services, including medical, though prescriptions are periodically brought in, he said.
Only a handful of people have employment there — either with the airstrip or Hydro. The school is no longer open. Russell said the community will go through the relocation process with Municipal Affairs and hopes the formal vote can be taken in the next month or so.
When Russell, now in his 60s, was a boy going to school there were as many as 38 in the school.
Now only eight families remain, the youngest person is 20 and the average age is 65, he said.
“There’s more empty homes than occupied,” Russell said.
He isn’t sure where he and his wife Louise will resettle, but it will likely be somewhere in Labrador. Their four children moved on years ago.
“We’ll find a spot somewhere,” he said, adding moving to the metro area is definitely out.
“I have no intentions of moving to Dannyville. There’s not enough money to buy a house in there.”
He said the new policy, while not forcing resettlement, is urging it. That along with making it harder to get infrastructure funding for rural Newfoundland.
The community has problems with its water system, but couldn’t get funding to fix it, he said.
“The smaller communities, (government) don’t want to put infrastructure into them,” he said.
“To get anything now, it’s 90-10 ( funding). There’s no way we can come up with 10 per cent.”
Residents pay $20 a year in water fees and that’s the only revenue, he said.