A century ago, believe it or not, reindeer lived on the island of Newfoundland. In the early 1900s, Sir Wilfred Grenfell imported 300 reindeer from Norway with dreams of the population flourishing on the island, providing a new source of food and fur – and a handy draft animal – for Newfoundlanders.
But despite his best intentions, the good doctor had unknowingly set in motion a chain of events that are still felt in Newfoundland today – long after the reindeer have gone.
In the winter of 1908, the reindeer, accompanied by Lapland herding families, arrived. Fifty were trotted to Millertown (for use by the AND Company), while the remaining 250 stayed in St. Anthony.
During the first several years, just as Grenfell had hoped, the reindeer flourished. Eventually, they grew to a population more than 1,000 strong. But a variety of factors – including poaching – caused the herd’s numbers to dwindle. By 1918, what was left of the reindeer were shipped to Canada.
Unfortunately, they left something behind.
Grenfell’s reindeer carried brainworm (the parasite Elaphostrongylus rangiferi), which, while harmless to humans, has deadly consequences for caribou and reindeer. The parasite causes Cerebrospinal Elaphostrongylosis (CSE), a severe neurological disorder. During the reindeer’s decade-long stay in Newfoundland the island’s native caribou became infected with the parasite. The disorder was first detected in Newfoundland’s caribou in the 1970s and has since been found in herds island wide.
With caribou herds all over the province dwindling for a variety of reasons in recent years, the deadly seed Grenfell planted a century ago is yet another odd stacked against them.
For more information on the caribou’s decline – and the measures being taken to bring them back – see the February 2012 issue of Downhome.
You could say Robert Carter’s life turned out to be one long round-trip adventure. Born and raised in Gander, Newfoundland, Robert went to work in the airline business. Over the next 36 years, his career took him to Nova Scotia and Calgary. He is now back in Newfoundland, enjoying retirement in Conception Bay South and pursuing photography with a hobbyist’s passion.
Robert is a relatively new regular submitter to DownhomeLife.com; readers and visitors to the website will have no doubt taken notice of his outstanding scenic photos. But he has been interested in photography for many years, inspired a long time ago by the work of famous Canadian writer and photographer Freeman Patterson of New Brunswick. Now that he is retired and back in Newfoundland and Labrador, Robert has been able to leisurely develop his talents and expand his portfolio.
“I am self-trained, and now in my retirement years I spend a lot of time photographing all areas of Newfoundland, especially the very isolated communities,” Robert says. He is particularly drawn to Change Islands, Fogo, Francois, McCallum, Rencontre East, Southeast Bight, Petit Forte and Isle Valen.
“My favourite photo was taken many years ago of my two sons on a fishing wharf jiggin’ tom cods, or conners, at Isle Valen, Placentia Bay,” Robert says. That photo won first prize in a Canadian Geographic photography contest and third place in an Air Canada photo competition in Frankfurt, Germany. It has also been painted by an artist in Calgary, Alberta and by another in Avondale, Newfoundland. “I still love this picture,” he adds, “especially the facial expressions.”
Typically, Robert carries a Nikon D200 with many lenses. “My favourites are my AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm and AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm lenses,” he says. And he’s recently purchased a Nikon D7000 camera. With these, he shoots in all types of weather and captures the beauty in a variety of subjects including people, fishing villages, boats, wildlife, and other symbols of rural living.
Robert enjoys going out of his way, off the beaten path, to get his photos, and often this approach has its rewards. Once, near Banff National Park, Alberta, he waited for hours to get the perfect shot of a train winding through the snow-capped mountains. “I eventually captured the picture that I wanted and it later won in a photo contest,” Robert says. Proof positive that persistence pays off.
To see a beautiful spread of Robert's photos, see the February 2012 issue of Downhome. For more photos from Robert's collection, click the slideshow below.
Are you an amateur photographer with a great portfolio? Would you like to be featured in an edition of Sure Shots? Tell us a bit about yourself and send us a few sample photos by emailing editorial@downhomelife.com (subject: sure shots).
In today's consumption-driven society, more and more people are resorting back to bartering goods and services both in their communities and online as a way to lessen the amount of waste created and to heighten one's economical lifestyle. What's one way of achieving this? Instead of heading to the nearest retail outlet to breathe some new life into your closet, host a clothing swap with friends and acquaintances. Here's how:
• Invite your friends and ask your friends to invite their friends (about 10 to 15 people is the goal - aim for all shapes and sizes).
• If you are hosting the swap at your house, make sure you have at least two full-length mirrors available.
• To ensure everyone is comfortable, make sure there are other rooms available to dress and undress. If this isn't possible, remind people they can wear a body suit or bathing suit underneath their clothing if they wish.
• Clothes swaps can be seasonal, but they don't have to be. The best clothes swaps have all seasons clothing.
• If two people want the same item, you can have fun with this by either a coin toss, or having each person model the item of clothing and have a vote (do this only if you're sure there won't be hard feelings).
• If you have second thoughts about an item you have up for grabs - speak up quickly. A simple "Hmm, I'm not so sure I'm ready to give that up yet," should suffice, before someone else gets too attached to the item.
• Be prepared for a good time. It’s surprising how much fun you'll have with a group of women trying on clothing!
Source: Marcia Passos Duffy, LifeOrganizers.com
Want to learn more about the movement towards swapping instead of shopping? See "The Return of the Barter System" in the February 2012 issue of Downhome.
From international drug smuggler to prime-time star, St. John’s native Brian O’Dea has turned his life around, and is now helping others to do the same.
By Linda Browne
The voice on the other end of the line is gravelly, yet kind (sounding like a man who has smoked too many cigarettes) as it shares wisdom that can only come from being a long-time student at the school of hard knocks. The conversation, peppered with the occasional curse word, is sometimes interrupted with a sigh as he searches for just the right thing to say. Those who have walked the road to redemption know it is not straight and narrow, but a long, winding road with many bumps and bruises along the way. And while there is often light at the end, only a lucky few manage to reach it. One of those people is Brian O’Dea.
Speaking over the phone from his office in Toronto, the St. John’s, Newfoundland native doesn’t shy away from all the nitty-gritty details of his former life. If anyone knows anything about redemption, it is him. And now he’s helping pave the way for others so their journeys may be a little smoother than his.
Living the High Life
Brian grew up on a farm on Cherry Hill Road in a good, prominent family. His father, John, owned the Newfoundland Brewery before entering politics; his mother, Maddy, was a strong, hardworking woman. Brian got along well with his two brothers and two sisters. His idyllic childhood, however, came to a screeching halt when, at 11 years old, he was sexually abused by a Christian Brother on his first day of school at St. Bonaventure’s College.
“When I tell a story I don’t tell it to affix blame, but I try and find the tracks upon which I walked to find myself,” Brian says.
“Had I found the words to tell what was going on, I think it might have been different. But I understand today that I’m as sick as the secrets that I keep, and that was a gigantic secret. And I was a Catholic. I was constantly in fear then of God striking me dead and putting me in hell for all eternity.”
Drugs, he says, became his means to escape. He started off as a small-time dealer in St. John’s in his late teens and, from there, graduated to bigger, more lucrative assignments. After serving a brief prison sentence, he moved to Jamaica, where he coordinated the movement of marijuana and cocaine from Colombia into Canada and the U.S. It was when he moved to California, however, that things really started to spin out of control. At the height of his career, in the early 1980s, he brought marijuana by the boatloads (literally) from Southeast Asia into Washington with the help of two, 100-foot fishing vessels and 120 people from around the world. Eventually, the threat from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proved to be too much, and he walked away from the business in 1986. It was two years after that, Brian says, that his journey to redemption began.
“August 31, 1988, I had a heart attack from a coke overdose. I had recently finished what they call the biggest pot deal in the history of American pot smuggling. We just brought in 75 tonnes of pot, under the noses of the DEA, and pulled it off. And I just ended up with too much money and not enough brains, got myself a big bag of coke and proceeded to push myself into the threshold that I needed to cross to get out of that life,” he says.
“You know, eight days of no sleep and shovelling as much of that garbage into me as I could, I blew up. And so I got sober. My first sober day was my 40th birthday, September 1, 1988.”
About three years later, Brian was working as a counsellor in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in Santa Barbara when the law caught up with him again.
“I was working with people who were getting and trying to get sober, and I had been doing it for no pay for almost three years. And that’s what my life was about when the cops showed up. So I wouldn’t cooperate with them...I said that I would plead guilty and accept responsibility for my own behaviour. But they told me I’d get 30 to life if I didn’t talk. And I didn’t – I got 10. What a relief.”
Seeing the Light
Even though his journey has taken him to the darkest of places, Brian says he never lost the love of his family along the way. One of his biggest supporters is his wife Susannah, a knitwear designer.
“I met her in Santa Barbara before I went to prison. We got married after I got out,” Brian says.
Once he completed his sentence, Brian’s job prospects were looking dim, so in 2001 (with Susannah’s encouragement) he decided to take fate into his own hands.
“She said to me one day, ‘You have got to go get a job.’” Brian asked her who she thought would ever hire him. “And she said, ‘You mean to tell me that you did a quarter of a billion dollar deal in secret that you were one of the principals in, and you don’t have any transferable skills? I can’t believe that...Why don’t you just sit down and write a resume as it relates to that...”
Brian’s “resume” became a classified ad in the National Post titled “Former Marijuana Smuggler,” under which he detailed his extensive business experience “in a successful pot smuggling venture with revenues in excess of US$100 million annually.” Among his references was the U.S. district attorney, who was responsible for his arrest.
In addition to 600 job offers from all over the world, Brian’s ad also garnered international media attention. As a result of his appearance on “The Mike Bullard Show,” he became producer, and later the host, of the series “Creepy Canada.” He also wrote a book, High: Confessions of an International Drug Smuggler (which won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Non-Fiction Crime in 2007), and has spoken to countless young people about his experiences.
“I just got back from Flower’s Cove (on the Northern Peninsula) where the teachers that booked me in there to speak at this youth conference were students the last time I spoke there...it was awesome,” Brian says.
“When I was in school, people would come and tell us what to do and give us advice. Well, I never paid attention to any of that. I had one or two teachers, though, who were great at telling us their stories and encapsulating lessons of life inside the story...and so that’s what I do. I don’t advise them, I don’t tell them not to do drugs. I tell them what happens when you do. I tell them what happened to me when I did.”
Lost and Found
Now, at age 63, Brian is setting out on a new adventure. Premiering this month on CBC TV is the nine-part series “Redemption Inc.” Produced by Proper Television and hosted by multi-millionaire businessman Kevin O’Leary (“Dragon’s Den”), the show will see 10 ex-cons take on a series of business-related challenges for a shot at winning $100,000 to get his/her own business off the ground. Viewers will meet people like Joseph, a 52-year-old former fraudster/cocaine trafficker who wants to open an antique store; and Nicole, a 29-year-old former drug addict and car thief who hopes to start an eco-friendly cleaning company. The show is all about second chances as it helps the enterprising ex-cons move away from their illegal pasts and closer towards their own legal businesses. And who knows more about second chances than Brian? He will appear in each episode to help Kevin assess the participants and, by the end, determine the winner.
Hear a clip from our interview with Brian:
“This was made for me. You know, my past as a con, my present as an ex-con and my experience producing television – well, that comes together beautifully. I understand television...and I understand character. And I understand these characters particularly, because I am one,” Brian says.
“The people on the show are absolutely incredible people. They are so talented and capable...they’re brilliant. And it’s indicative of who’s behind bars. We gotta pay attention to that now. We’ve gotta find another way of dealing with broken people other than punishing them for being broken.”
These days, Brian counts his blessings, four of which are his kids – two sons and two daughters ranging in age from 15 to 33.
“They were all here for the last three days of shooting...They are so happy. They get to see their dad finally having some sort of success,” he says.
While Brian’s walk down the road to redemption was long and hard, he has reached the end and it was well worth the effort. To those on their own journeys, he says, don’t lose heart – or hope.
“I was considered to be someone who was irredeemable and excludable. So if you know somebody like that in your life, know that what you know is not true. Everybody is redeemable. Nobody is excludable. There’s a way back for everyone, and I’m living proof.”
Catch “Redemption Inc.” on CBC, premiering January 9 at 9 p.m. (9:30 p.m. NT).
The following poems were written by Jack May for Downhome magazine many years ago. Jack was once the lightkeeper at Long Point Lighthouse in Twillingate, Newfoundland.
The Long Point Light
Way back in 1876
The first keeper came to stay
At the lighthouse known as Long Point
In Twillingate, Notre Dame Bay
He brought his family with him
To this lonely, rocky place
'Cause there was lots of things to do
And the elements to face
They kept the main light burning bright
So those in ships could see,
To navigate in darkest night
Upon the stormy sea
As time went by it came to pass
The station changed they say
Now a fog horn with a mighty blast
Was heard throughout the bay
Long Point got busier day by day
More staff, more dwellings built
The wives and families came to stay
And made their presence felt
Now keepers watched around the clock
Horns ready, light aglow
To keep the ships clear of the rocks
And warn sealers on ice floes
Then radios were installed there
And the station was complete
The keepers then went on the air
Strict schedules to keep
In the 70s things began to change
As government cut-backs came
Now many things were different
Long Point was not the same
Some keepers and the families left
Staff reduction had begun
One keeper stood upon the cliff
Wondering just what was to come
The light stations all were modernized
Lights and fog horns now were changed
So many things were different
Many thought 'twas really strange
But still one keeper is in charge
To watch and get things done
Report the ice and weather
Make sure the systems run
Let's hope that in the future
As we look in from the sea
The Long Point Light will still be there
And shine for you and me
Are Lightkeepers Really Needed Anymore?
Are lightkeepers really needed
In this country anymore?
Or maybe they should be left to go
The same route as the dinosaur.
Consider the following situation
Of two fishermen in a bind,
And after you know the outcome
You make up your mind!
Two fishermen were getting ready
To go out fishin' in the bay
One fall morning in Newfoundland
It looked like a nice, civil day.
They'd fished for cod all summer
But with so few fish around shore
They decided to go further out in the bay
To try and catch a few more
Their boat was fuelled and ready
They had food and a radio
So they headed for the fishin' grounds
Steaming out for an hour or so.
When they put the gear in the water
With the baited hooks in plain sight
They could see the fish were biting
They knew their decision was right.
The codfish they were catching
Were too big to be believed
But that's what happened every time
The hooks in the water were heaved!
They forgot to put out a grapnel
It was such a great fishin' day
Haulin' in fish as fast as they could
And the big ones did not get away.
But these fishermen didn't realize
They were drifting farther from shore
And the cod just kept on biting
So they kept on catching more.
Suddenly they noticed
They were in a thick fog bank!
When they sized the situation up
Their spirits really sank.
Then they discovered they had left
Their compass ashore that day
So now that they were lost
Way out there in the bay.
But they put a call over the air,
"We're out in the bay in a fog bank,
But we don't know exactly where!"
A lightkeeper heard that radio call
And he knew just what to do.
He turned his station's fog alarm on
So the fog horns blew and blew.
And out there in that fog bank
The fishermen heard the sound
Figured the direction 'twas coming from
And turned their boat around
They cruised along at slow speed
Towards the fog horn's blast
And as the boat moved forward
The sound got louder at last.
By the time they'd cleared the fog bank
Day had turned into night
And in the distance dead ahead
They could see the light station's light.
I daresay those two fishermen feel
That lightkeepers are needed today
Since one lightkeeper's quick response
Helped them get ashore OK
And there've been many such incidents
On Canada's oceans, rivers and lakes
Which go to show the difference
A lightkeeper's presence still makes
NL Book Awards Presented
Six local authors were honoured during the 12th annual Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards. These rotating awards recognize excellence in local writing in children's/young adult literature and fiction in one year, and in non-fiction and poetry the following year. At a recent ceremony at Government House, Bernice Morgan (author of Random Passage and Waiting for Time) received the 2008 Downhome Fiction Award for her latest novel, Cloud of Bone. The 2008 Bruneau Family Children's/Young Adult Literature Award went to Janet McNaughton (author of Catch Me Once Catch Me Twice and Make or Break Spring) for her latest novel, The Raintree Rebellion. Along with the honour, Morgan and McNaughton each received $1,500. Other finalists for the 2008 Downhome Fiction Award included Russell Wangersky for The Hour of Bad Decisions and Kathleen Winter for boYs, while Catherine Hogan Safer (What If Your Mom Made Raisin Buns) and Robin McGrath (Livyers World) were on the short-list for the 2008 Bruneau Family Children's/Young Adult Literature Award. Each finalist received $500.
Daniel Cleary is Number One!
After the Detroit Red Wings' 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins during game six of the finals, #11 Daniel Cleary (or "Dan the Man" as he's come to be known in Newfoundland and Labrador) became the first player from this province to win the Stanley Cup. The 29-year-old Riverhead, Harbour Grace-native has received enormous support from his hometown throughout the playoffs. A 22.5-metre-long red and white banner reading "Go Red Wings Go" was proudly draped across the ship the SS Kyle, the historically grounded ship in the harbour. During the final two games, the town hosted a hockey party at the local arena, serving up free wings for those who came to watch the action on a big screen. As a member of the championship team, Cleary's name will become the first from Newfoundland and Labrador to be etched into history on Lord Stanley's Cup. He'll also have the honour of introducing another first to the province - bringing the Stanley Cup home to Riverhead during its year-long tour of players' hometowns. Only two others from this province have ever made it to the Stanley Cup final: Keith Brown and Alex Faulkner (who also played for the Red Wings).
Jack Byrne Dies
Jack Byrne - Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, former provincial cabinet minister and MHA for the Cape St. Francis district - recently passed away after an undisclosed illness. Byrne was first elected MHA for the district St. John's East Extern in 1993, after serving as mayor of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove for six years. Since then, Byrne was re-elected four times to the newly-named district of Cape St. Francis, which encompasses communities on the northeast Avalon.
Truxton Shipwreck Survivor Receives Honorary Degree
Lanier Phillips was one of nine outstanding individuals to receive honorary degrees during Memorial University's 2008 spring convocation. Phillips' first encounter with Newfoundland was born of tragedy in 1942, when the USS Truxton went aground near St. Lawrence during a blizzard. (See "Putting the Past to Rest" in the November 2006 issue of Downhome.) Out of the crew of 156, Phillips was one of 46 survivors rescued by the people of St. Lawrence. He was the only African-American to escape the ship, while other black sailors stayed on board fearing harsh treatment from the locals. The compassion, instead of repression, that Phillips encountered in St. Lawrence led him to fight against repression later in life, and he eventually marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King. Other recipients of honorary degrees were former Land and Sea producer, writer and director, David Quinton; fisheries activist, Gus Etchegary; former senior civil servant in the Irish government, Walter Kirwan; geographer and writer, David Lowenthal; and Gladys Osmond, a tireless humanitarian. Aboriginal leader and advocate, Mary May Simon; public servant, arts supporter and volunteer, John Perlin; and John Ford, WWII veteran who survived the atomic bomb explosion in Nagasaki, also received honorary degrees.
New Mayor for St. John's
Garnering about 58 per cent of the ballots in a June byelection, Dennis O'Keefe is the new mayor for the City of St. John's. Marie White, the other mayoral candidate, received approximately 42 per cent of the vote. Defeating Paul Sears and Fred Winsor for the position of deputy mayor was Ron Ellsworth, and Debbie Hanlon is the new councillor for ward four. The byelection was called after former Mayor Andy Wells resigned his position in March to become chair of the Public Utilities Board.
Newfoundland at the turn of the 19th century was heavily Irish, and its inhabitants were deeply in debt to wealthy merchants who used a system of credit that kept the working class in virtual slavery. Discontent was particularly strong among soldiers garrisoned in St. John’s, who were mistreated by their officers.
In 1799, the colony’s chief justice estimated 400 people had become United Irishmen, a secret society plotting Irish independence from Great Britain. Many of the Newfoundland Irish came from Wexford, a region that strongly supported a rebellion there in 1798.
On April 24, 1800 a group of soldiers, intent on mutiny and led by James Murphy and Sgt. Kelly, met at the powder shed behind Fort Townsend. Unfortunately for them, only 19 soldiers of the expected 80 men showed up. The commanders quickly discovered the men were missing and chased the rebellious soldiers into the woods outside St. John’s.
The entire group was captured within weeks, except Murphy and Kelly, whose fates are unknown. Five soldiers were hanged by the powder shed where the ill-fated mutiny began. Edward Power, Garrett Fitzgerald and Pierce Ivory were hanged in Halifax, and the rest were sent to prisons in Australia.
