Land & Sea: Gaultois in 1990 on the day they call Black Thursday

The town of Gaultois on Newfoundland's south coast is at a turning point.

In a recent CBC news story, most women in the town's weekly dart league raised their hands in support of resettlement. Some referred to their home as a "dying town."

• Hands up for resettlement in Gaultois as island community braces for winter

The once-thriving island community took a turn in 1990, when the axe fell on the main source of employment there.

In this week's archival Land & Sea, host Bill Kelly takes us back to that fateful year.

It's a dramatic show that starts on the steps of the general store where men have gathered looking for news from the mayor, Roy Engram.

In his office at the back of the store, he's waiting for a phone call from Vic Young, chair of FisheryProducts International, the company that owned and operated the local fishing fleet and redfish plant.

The show was shot Jan. 5,1990, a day the 600 residents called "Black Thursday."

After almost 24 hours of waiting by the phone, the call finally comes through from Young, and it's not the news the mayorwants to hear.

The company says it has too many plants on the south coast and hasdecided that Gaultois will get only 20 weeks of work before being shuttered for good.

The mayor steps out onto the front steps of the store to deliver the bad news and announce there'll be a town meeting that afternoon.

Word travels fast and the whole community shows up for the meeting, where there are tears, anger and frustration.

Many are in a state of shock that their livelihoods could be taken from them with the stroke of a pen in a distant city.

One woman, Nadine Northcott, speakspassionately about the need for the community to come together and fight the decision.

Watch the Land & Sea archival show and the November 2017 report by Terry Robertsto seewhat happened to Mayor Roy Engram, businesswoman and mother Nadine Northcott, and their hometown of Gaultois.