Saturday, June 23, 2007


Schools out for the summer....and longer.

An isolated community on our South Coast will take one step closer to oblivion. The tiny community of Grand Bruit will see the end of their school when Nicole Billard and Andrew Billard leave to continue their education in other communities. The word resettlement will once again be heard and i no doubt suspect within five years it'll happen. I watched here in my community of Cape Ray when the school closed and kids where bused to nearby Port Aux Basques how it took a toll on our population. I can only imagine how those that live there at this time feel. Some might think me crazy for wondering but i doubt those two school kids will ever experience the family or friendship of another place such as the one they left. I wish them both well and hope to hear about them sometime in the future.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

sign of the times but still tragic.

Anonymous said...

what makes you think it's a step closer to oblivion?

Table Mountains said...

no births in an isolated community.no young people left.population just a few dozen.you do the math.

Anonymous said...

why would someone choose to live in isolation in the first place? they knew from the beginning things would be hard.

Table Mountains said...

when grand bruit was settled (maybe in the early 1800's) everyone was isolated. like most of newfoundland at the time the people earned a living from the sea. i doubt if the word isolation was part of their vocabulary.today if you can't drive to a community here we immediately refer to it as isolated.

Anonymous said...

well, nicole billard (the young girl that had to move) is a good friend of mine. She loves grand bruit but at the same time she is happy living where she does now.

Table Mountains said...

it would bee great if a few years down the road they could interview the ones who moved and get their reactions on the whole topic.