Stories:

• The Transformation of Isle Madame
• People-centred Economics
by Silver Donald Cameron
• SENCENding a High-Tech Message
• Back to Richmond

Richmond County - September 1999
The Transformation of Isle Madame.

The people of Isle Madame know what it is to face a challenge.

Located on the most southeastern tip of Cape Breton, Isle Madame is an island of 4,300 where 70% of the population are French Acadian. In the early 1990s, the collapse of the ground fishery sent shock waves through the community. Isle Madame had been built around fish. Suddenly, fishers were out of work, and 500 jobs were lost in one devastating decision to bulldoze the Richmond Fisheries plant. But rather than collapsing under the force of these blows, the people of Isle Madame began to rebuild.

"It took the loss of the fishery for us to decide we needed to do something ourselves," says Alvin Martell. He'd been union president at the local fish plant, and he was one of a group of residents who rallied when the fishery collapsed.

"It was a grassroots process right from the beginning," says Darrell Landry. After 13 years in Halifax, Landry returned home to the island to take up a job with the Development Isle Madame Association (DIMA).

DIMA was born of a strategic planning exercise that involved people from virtually every sector of the community: plant workers, fishers, business owners, educators, young people, senior citizens and government representatives. The situation was clear to all involved: the community had to take control of it's own economic destiny. And it had to diversify.

"It took a long time to get the ball rolling,"says Joel Bowen, a development officer who's been with DIMA since the beginning. "People were in shock and denial at first; but they realized a change had to take place. For a lot of people that meant stepping through a door without knowing what was on the other side. People went back to school and into professions they'd never have considered before. The first three years were the hardest - we spent that time building the foundation."

One of the first things DIMA did was hire a TAGS Liaison officer to make sure that the federal program to help displaced fisheries workers would bring economic benefit to the island. An aquaculture extension office was opened to foster the development of a now burgeoning aquaculture industry. Tourism Isle Madame was formed. The Cape Auguet Eco-Trail was developed.

Residents invested their time and money into the sweeping project of economic renewal. A community investment fund that DIMA set up for aquaculture development raised $150,000. Islanders demonstrated the same faith again when they bought $195,000 worth of shares in the UJ Leblanc Community Investment Co-operative, a local hardware business that employs 8 of their neighbours. A career resource centre was established to provide labour market information and career counseling.

Today, 60 per cent of the TAGS recipients on the island have found jobs in new industries. But DIMA didn't turn completely from the fishery. In addition to fostering aquaculture, it went after new opportunities that were emerging in the shrimp industry.

In June 1998, DIMA coordinated the applications of 14 local fishers in a shrimp license draw that was being held by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. It was an innovative arrangement: if any of the 14 won the draw, the license would be turned over to a community-based co-management organization owned collectively by the local fishers, plant workers and other community residents.

The scheme worked. One of the fishers was awarded a 100,000 lb. quota (worth $80,000), and the Richmond Community Fishery Management Co-operative became a reality. The people at DIMA believe their co-management organization is unprecedented in North America because it includes all of the community stakeholders. It ensures that the shrimp quota goes to local fishers and that it's processed locally, rather than being sold off to outside interests. The current quota may be small, but it gives the community an important foothold on which to build more opportunities.

For the people at DIMA, however, the work to diversify the economy and create sustainable jobs continues. "We can't slack off," says Bowen. And they haven't.

A small crafts manufacturing company was established, and the community launched its own cable television system. Spotting an asset in the bilingual culture of the island, DIMA jumped into the call centre business. The community owns 90 per cent of the Tradewinds Call Centre, while an Ontario-based marketing company, Vocatex, owns the other 10 per cent. "They do international marketing for the agency which helps us a lot," says Landry. There are 20 people at work at Tradewinds these days.

The community of Isle Madame is also investing in tourism. Construction will soon begin on a marina - the first stage of an ambitious waterfront development in Arichat. "This was a major port at one time and we want to build on that tradition," says Landry. "We're hoping to attract some of the 2000 sailboats that go through to the Bras d'Or Lakes. We're going to put in a band shell for outdoor concerts to the north of the marina. There'll be a boardwalk with places for small boutiques, and a bigger facility with a boat building display. We used to have seven boat building facilities around the island - a lot of people have boat building skills that have been passed down from generation to generation," he explains. "So tourists can get a sense of what life used to be like here. Hopefully we'll see some spin-off businesses develop as a result."

Isle Madame's continuing campaign of economic transformation was celebrated at Nova Scotia's first Community Economic Development Awards in November 1998, where DIMA received the prize for Contribution to Economic Growth. It's a well-earned tribute.

"Development Isle Madame is a terrific model of community-led economic development," says Chris Bryant, executive director of the CED Division at Nova Scotia's Department of Economic Development. "We were there to help DIMA get started, and we provided some money for the Telile cable TV operation. But this community has been incredibly effective in making the most of its resources; in identifying opportunities and building on its strengths."

Joel Bowen says that Isle Madame's best resource is its people. "None of this could have evolved without the tenacity and resilience of the island residents," he says. "Isle Madame has overcome its biggest hurdles, and in the last year we've really seen results. The future looks a lot brighter now."

For more information, visit Virtual Isle Madame at http://www.islemadame.com