Here we are in wabush, newfoundland & labrador.
[cheering & applauding]
Wabush is in the western interior of labrador, near...
Well, besides lab city, not much.
[laughing]
Not much for about six hours in any direction.
[laughing]
But who cares, I mean...
In wabush, it's not about who's near,
It's about what's here.
No neighbours next door means more space to explore.
And labrador, you got more space to explore
Than the mars rover.
[laughing]
People have come from all over the world.
You're attracting a lot of people.
I don't know how you're attracting so many people
'cause some would describe you as cold and
Possibly even a bit distant.
[laughing]
When you grow up in a small town in newfoundland,
You see that people have a sense of humour
About hard times.
Check, check.
I turned that into a career and hit the road.
[mc] mr. Jonny harris!
Now I'm on a mission to find the funny in the places you
Least expect, canada's struggling small towns.
Towns that are against the ropes, but hanging in there.
Still laughing in the face of adversity.
This is wabush, newfoundland & labrador.
♪
Labrador, the big land.
Wabush, a mining town.
The rock upon which wabush was built is iron ore.
This started out as a little, scraggly work camp town.
But decades of lifting iron, well...
That's how a town gets built.
[laughing]
♪
I knew if I wanted to know more about ore,
I should be digging deeper.
[laughing]
I talked to a young man who's not only a
Third-generation miner,
He's also become president of the union.
That's what I call a purebred labrador achiever.
Joshua joy.
[cheering & applauding]
When did the operation...
It must have been like a work camp town at that point.
Yeah, it was, yeah, so like, they started in like the 50s.
My grandfather moved up here in the 60s.
Eventually, when dad turned 18,
He got a job at the mine. That was in '78.
How old we were you when started there?
I was 20 when I started there.
Yeah, so just fresh out of college.
Both of joshua's grandfathers came here and
Worked in the mine when it first opened.
His father punched 36 years here.
Joshua got his first job at the mine
When he was 20 years old.
How much iron does this guy have in his blood?
His doctor just said, "put it this way,
His stool sample's a steel sample."
[laughing]
So, your family has been here sort of from the get-go,
Continuously?
Since the mine's been running,
There's been a joy in there, so...
[laughing]
I think they should tell that to people as like
A recruiting tool.
-[laughing] -right?
That's interesting, then you have some new guy-
Exhausted, cold, at the end of his shift being like,
"hey, hang on now. I thought I thought you said
You could always find a joy working at the mine?"
[laughing]
"no, I said you could always find a joy
Working at the mine."
The grade of the iron is very high.
He said it's consistently 63%...
Which is considered very high, not only here,
But where I grew up. One time I got to a 64%,
Mom's still got it on the fridge.
[laughing]
And it looks blue in colour.
Wabush, you're sexier than zoolander.
You're producing blue steel.
[laughing]
We kind of run through a boom and bust cycle,
Like a lot of like commodities and industry towns.
It's like a five-year period, the price of ore drives up,
A lot of people come here.
The prices, the markets are through the roof,
And then, the markets will go down,
And then everything's busted and...
There's going to be layoffs.
In the 80s, when the price of the markets dropped so much,
People literally boarded up
Their windows and their doors...
And then just went into the bank and handed the keys
Back to the bank and, pretty much defaulted
On their mortgages and everything like that.
And then this, just left town.
It sounds a bit like the opposite of a bank robbery.
[laughing]
"who... Hey! Who's got the keys to the vault?
Who, who got the keys to the vault?
You? Yeah?
Okay, here, can you put those in there for safekeeping?
That's my house keys, yeah.
Why, why am I wearing a ski mask?
'cause it's minus 40 out, everybody's got..."
[laughing]
In 2014, the markets in china weren't buying
As high as much as they were.
The price or bottomed out and...
They shut us down.
They just, yeah, it was literally just one day
They just came in and shut the doors.
And they just closed it all down.
It was more than a minor inconvenience.
There was about 400 miners inconvenienced.
It was a rough time. It was... It was hard.
I just had two years punched in there.
We were starting to save up to buy our own house.
You know, kind of start your own life,
And then we're all laid off at that time.
-Really? -And just sent out to pasture.
Five years is a long closure.
Like, that long, some people are just gonna up and move.
Almost everybody in the town...
Like your job is almost all connected to the mine, itself.
If people aren't working,
Restaurants aren't gonna be eaten in or...
You know, a lot of places like that,
So they all suffer as well.
A lot of retail shops closed.
The rec centre eventually closed,
With the pool and the bowling alley.
Not only could you not go to a store to buy shoes,
You couldn't even come rent some for an afternoon.
[laughing]
When things go bust, you know,
A lot of people leave town.
At that point, the best way to get...
Try to get somebody to stick around wabush is
Dare 'em to lick a flagpole.
[laughing]
♪
Despite having only nice things to say about the place,
Things got a little catty, when I talked to the owner of
Mission kitty thrift store, colette beals.
[cheering & applauding]
Give me the gist of sort of the...
The retail scene in wabush.
There is no retail scene.
I'm probably the only store, really.
Just across from the closed rec centre is
The shopping mall, which is...
Pretty quiet.
When I was a kid, this was the happening spot.
-Yeah. -You know it was, "downtown."
She said now her kids laugh at her when she says,
"I'm going downtown."
[laughing]
Can you imagine your kids laughing at you,
Giving you a reality check?
[laughing]
Like, "mom, we think you're old enough to handle this.
There is no downtown."
[laughing]
There's a real, yeah, lack of...
Of retailers here.
She said she went on a trip with her sister.
We used to do it.
Once a year, we'd just go on a shopping trip.
So, this particular weekend, we were going to halifax for
Two nights to go shopping to get a pair of sneakers.
-She went to halifax! -[laughing]
To get- not an mri, not a root canal...
[laughing]
Pair of sneakers.
[laughing]
Mission kitty began when colette wanted to
Adopt a cat, only to discover...
We could not find a kitten to get.
-Really? -There's no cats in labrador.
Meanwhile, on the island, in newfoundland,
There was an abundance, especially,
For some reason, in corner brook.
Of course, started chatting with them and discovered
How big a problem newfoundland has with cats.
With too many.
Like the ferals and the strays and abandoned cats.
And I thought, hey, I gotta do something.
So, I started everything in my garage, by doing auctions.
At first, she was selling stuff online,
She got donations, clothing, and whatnot from locals.
The first year we raised $25,000, I think.
Last year was my biggest year.
We raised $106,000.
-Are you serious? -Yep.
And I thought, hey, look, I got all this stuff.
I can't run it out of my garages anymore,
So let's open a store.
She opened this sizeable non-profit thrift shop.
I think some people were just- had bags of clothes
In their, in their basement or their garage and,
It's really hard to throw it out for some people.
Yeah, it feels like a waste.
No one wants to throw away perfectly good clothing.
You might have mail ordered something 30 years ago...
[laughing]
And by the time it got to wabush...
[laughing]
You're not gonna return it because god knows
It could be out of business by then.
Do you know what I mean?
You're like, "oh, I really love these gloves,
But they're too small. Maybe I can exchange them.
I'll write a letter to woolworths."
[laughing]
Anybody who was looking for a cat, they would,
You know, call me up or message me and say,
"hey, I want a cat."
And I've brought in over 400 kittens and
Cats from newfoundland.
So, we're helping the rescues in newfoundland,
And we're making people happy here.
Think about that, 400 cats.
How many lives has she saved?
[laughing]
Yeah, 3600.
[laughing]
I'm very transparent with, you know,
All the money we raise, where it goes.
I feel people, they're very supportive.
Her shop is great. It's, it's the cat's pyjamas.
Also, by the way, provides cats and pyjamas.
[laughing]
[indistinct speaking]
I met a woman who left for the big city,
And moved... To wabush.
Why? She did it all for inuky.
Owner of inuky arts, raeann brown.
[cheering & applauding]
Wabush isn't exactly remote to raeann.
She grew up in postville, nunatsiavat,
On the northern part of labrador,
One of only 250 residents.
I went to a school that had 'k' to 12.
I had three people in my graduating class.
She had a graduating high school class of three people.
You get to wabush, it's like, "oh my god,
They got grenfell corner store and wabush convenience!"
[laughing]
Raeann is, like myself, an incredible artist.
[laughing]
I always paint and I always drew.
And I seen something about glass etching.
So, I just ordered myself a little $30 kit.
Once she discovered etching in glass, that was it.
Every single piece of glass I could get my hands on,
I was etching into, whether it'd be a patio door
Or salt and pepper shakers.
Drinking glasses, windows, mirrors.
There wasn't a window left in the house.
No, there wasn't. [laughing]
I don't know if as an indigenous woman,
There was any sort of glass ceiling.
If there was, she took it down
So she could etch inukshuks in.
[laughing]
This here is a stencil with the inukshuk in it.
Raeann showed me a technique to
Get beginners into etching glass.
She creates these stencils, and you apply it to
A drinking glass, in this case.
And what's this? Is this sour cream?
-That is the acid. -That's the acid, okay.
It looks like sour cream, so be careful.
Like, this stuff will corrode the surface of glass
In about 10 seconds, and ruin a taco.
[laughing]
Line that up and then just press it down.
And then you apply acid.
We're gonna blob it on,
So it's gonna be really nice and thick.
Amazing. Look at that!
Someone could go buy this in your store.
Ah! I'd be like, "johnny made that!"
-[laughing] -10, 11 $12, easy.
This is something that I love.
So, when it came to a point where I was so busy with it
That it was becoming a little bit less enjoyable,
I decided that it was time to expand.
She's opened the new shop, and now she has people
Buying pieces from her from the states, the netherlands,
Germany, the uk, of course, all across canada.
And she bought a laser engraver.
If I want a new design,
I'll draw something and then...
Send it right over to my laser,
And it's able to duplicate my drawing.
Now, I'm not limited to the materials and
Things I can engrave into.
So, I can do anything from bone to metal to marble.
This laser will do anything. Well, it won't do anything.
She got mad, she caught me-
I was trying to use it to remove a tattoo.
[laughing]
It's not that kind of laser. I think I just made it worse.
Now, it just looks like the dolphin went to chernobyl.
[laughing]
-So how are you doing? -Good.
♪
Wabush, labrador is home, or at least home base,
To one of the most gruelling snowmobile endurance
Races in the world, cain's quest.
Why you would ever want to partake in this event was
Just one of the many cain's questions I put to
Two-time winner, andrew milly.
[cheering & applauding]
Let's talk about high speed hobbies.
What is cain's quest?
Cain's quest, it's arguably the
World's longest cross-country race.
It is the ultimate test of speed and
Navigation and endurance.
It takes it to the next level, right.
With sled racing, there's bush league
And then there's wabush league.
[laughing]
Started out with utility sleds,
And the kind of snowmobiles that people would
Normally go caribou hunting on.
Now it spans thousands of kilometres across the
Big land at speeds of, well, let's just say now
You don't want to run into caribou.
[laughing]
And it evolved from that into...
Arguably the world's longest cross-country race.
It's almost every community in labrador,
And it's a big deal.
The race starts on a Friday or a Saturday.
You're looking to finish somewhere between
Wednesday and Friday the next week.
Some days, you could be on the snowmobile
For 24, plus, hours.
It's a tough one.
Just finishing this is an accomplishment.
Andrew 's raced five times.
Started in 2009 with my father.
2009, we had a really good run for
The first two-thirds of the race.
And we ended up finishing eleventh.
In 2016, came back and won.
And in 2018, he won again.
When it comes to cain, this guy is able.
[laughing]
There's techniques that you learn,
I had no idea how you learn.
-I mean, is it dangerous? -Absolutely.
One time, it was really dark.
One of those nights where, like, there's no stars.
It's just dark.
They're coming around the bend of a river,
Where they've been many times before, always frozen.
They come around the corner...
And it was just water.
And just stay on the gas and yell at my buddy in
The radio, "water, water, water, water, water!"
And just keeps going.
And you just go, try to go across the top of the water
And hope that the other side is friendly.
And you just pin it across?
No, you don't pin it, too fast and the belt gets wet.
You don't pin it, you try to go about 65,
That way you'll stay on the surface,
But you won't get your belt wet.
[laughing]
And I was thinking...
How do you learn this and still be alive?
[laughing]
The town is just booming when cain's quest is on the go.
And the hotels are all full and restaurants are all full.
It brings a lot of energy, a lot of money,
A lot of excitement. The town becomes a hub.
People have guests staying in their houses.
And streets are lined with race trailers,
And there are snowmobiles going everywhere,
And there's a lot of excitement the week of
Cain's quest, like it's a big deal.
In a cold place, the cool thing cain's quest is doing
Is putting wabush on the map with people
Who like to look at maps.
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
Then, I knew it was time for me to go and
Break bread with some of the newer locals...
Or I should say, "break naan."
I got filled to the gills with town councillor,
Shazia razi, and dentist, farheen shaikh.
[cheering & applauding]
Shazia, let me start with you. What brought you to wabush?
My husband's job brought me to wabush.
He got a job offer with wabush mine.
We decided that, okay, we'll drive from
Toronto to wabush. Not a good idea.
I flew from toronto, and it still took
4 flights over 12 hours.
[laughing]
You got to keep in mind that these ladies are-
They're coming from india, the most densely populated
Country in the world. People per square kilometre...
Ontario: 14.
India: 430.
Labrador: Less than one...
[laughing]
Tenth, less than one-tenth.
She got here, frazzled, long drive.
She doesn't know the place.
After two days, they had a planned power outage.
Did you know the power outage would-?
-No, no. -Okay.
She said there was another indian family that they met
Who, during the power outage, you know,
Took them in and gave them a meal.
They provided us food.
They, you know, they were really, really nice to us.
They were the reason why we moved here.
They convinced us.
Farheen said a similar sort of thing happened
When she first arrived.
First week was very isolated.
But then, I went to the mall one day,
And the person met me from-
He saw my hijab, and he just waited around me
Until my husband came.
And said, "I'm gonna give you a phone number
For somebody that you might want to meet."
And of course, that number was shazia's.
He made us meet shazia, so they took us back home.
They gave us good food and we were like,
Okay, now I can stay here.
Shazia says now she's been in wabush
For almost ten years and her kids...
My middle child, he wants to have a skidoo
That he can ride on.
He wants us to go fishing, hunting.
He wants to have a pickup truck because he doesn't
Think that our suv is good enough.
Kids absorb culture more from their peers
Than their parents.
Like my dad was a british academic,
But growing up in pouch cove,
I was into dirt bikes and pellet guns.
I was a bayman.
[laughing]
Her son, yaseen, he's not gonna get
Her accent, he's gonna get mine.
[laughing]
I just imagine, his, you know, at the age of 16:
"boys, load this sled in the trucks, we'll take off soon as
I'm done over to the mosque."
[laughing]
Farheen and shazia organize these potluck dinners.
It's a chance for long-time locals and newcomers alike
To come and share a meal,
And the kids come and play some games.
Okay, let's all put it on our head.
We played cookie face.
I don't know if you know this game.
You put a cookie on your forehead,
And you try to get into your mouth
Without using your hands.
So, you got to like scrunch up your face.
[laughing]
Cookie face is a game I'd like to bring back to toronto.
I bet it'd be a good way to see who's got botox.
[laughing]
"oh my god, I'm trying as hard as I can, but..."
[laughing]
"this game is so crazy, it makes me laugh.
Ha-ha-ha."
[laughing]
Bye now, nice meeting you.
Newcomers bring culture from all over the world.
Indian food can finally be found.
There's come-from-aways and new homes for strays.
Lots of furry felines around.
But none are the coolest cat from corner brook,
Sure jonny harris was born in that town.
[laughing]
Racers ride sleds like a bat out of hell...
Over wilderness mile upon mile.
What possesses them to do so?
If I had to guess, it's the lore of the labrador wild.
Life's up and down and rides the price of ore.
Sometimes a layoff will loom.
But if you can't deal with wabush at bust,
You don't deserve her at boom.
The work is rough, and the people are tough.
Strong backs and hands that are calloused.
The rock sparkles blue. The sky glows green.
The iron aurora borealis.
Thanks for coming out, everybody.
You've been great.
Thanks so much for coming out and having us!
And we'll see you again!
Oh, it was fantastic, jonny was hilarious.
I loved it. It was just amazing.
♪
I really liked how it kind of dug around town to find
Different aspects of the town to get into his jokes.
♪
Oh my gosh, it was super.
Couldn't stop smiling, it was the cat's meow.
♪
It was really, really nice.
It was really good, good stuff,
But a laugh out of the whole crowd.
♪
We can always find snowmobiles for people,
So bring all your friends and just come out.
♪
Thanks jonny, for coming to wabush and...
I think you're forever etched in our hearts.