Here we are in new richmond, quebec!
[cheering & applauding]
On the southern coast of the gaspé peninsula,
On the shore bay de chaleur.
This is a meeting place not only of rivers-
The grand cascapédia and petite cascapédia-
But also of cultures.
The indigenous word, nesue'g,
Suggests the coming together of three-
The mi'gmaq, the french, and the english.
When three come together-
The french call it a 'menage a trois', I think.
[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'd 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 new richmond, quebec.
♪
[cheering & applauding]
Since the 1960s, new richmond has been
A mill town, a company town.
The mill here created pulp and paper,
And turned it in to liner board for cardboard boxes.
It was not just the major employer,
The mill built a neighbourhood-
A grocery store, baseball field, the curling rink...
Even a union bar.
It was the cornerstone of the economy here.
But you guys know- if anybody knows-
The trouble with the cardboard box industry...
It can collapse and fold.
[laughing]
But to give me the liner notes of the liner board
Heyday, and the allure of chaleur...
From chaleur park, natalie clark.
[cheering & applauding]
Natalie's dad worked at the mill.
She was one of a generation of new richmond'ers
Who grew up as mill kids.
-This is chaleur park. -Chaleur park.
And chaleur park was built by the mill.
She told me that at its peak in the 70s,
Up to 1400 people worked at the mill.
Massive workforce, and to attract and
Retain this massive workforce, the mill
Built a neighbourhood, chaleur park.
This place is special.
This is where I was brought up.
-And look at the view. -Unbelievable.
-Look at the view. -Yeah, look at that.
Down here, jonny, this wasn't the rich place.
My dad was a tinsmith, so he wasn't a director of the mill.
-He was just a tinsmith. -Right.
But he was happy, we were happy.
And we had a happy life, right here.
They might not be rich, but I could tell that there was
Something special about living in a cardboard box...
Making town.
Living in a cardboard -box-making town.
The people that were employed at the mill,
They were going to be able to raise their kids and
Be secure here.
Natalie said with homes and with secure jobs,
There was a bit of a baby boom here in new richmond.
There was three, four, five children per family.
You grow up in chaleur park and, you have fun.
There's lots of people around, lots of kids.
They'd all play together outside till all hours.
I guess you would want to spend time outside if
Your parents are making that many babies.
[laughing]
"kids, remember I want you to be home by dark.
Ah, no, hang on, actually like maybe...
Like half hour after dark."
[laughing]
She has fond memories of growing up here,
But she said not everything smelled of roses.
People would say, "ah! It stinks in new richmond.
How can you live there?”
The mill gave off, I guess it was a sulphury kind of smell.
Ugh, yeah, yeah, it stinks.
Well, what does it smell like?
Well, it's kind of like a...
An egg fart, sort of, you know, it was, you know.
Well, she said egg farts.
[laughing]
In fact, you could tell if the wind was
Changing by the smell.
Apparently, like some of the old timers, they'd be like,
"ah, I do believe we're in for a cold nor'easter,
For the air carries upon it the whiff of egg fart.”
[laughing]
Ironically, the mill caused the biggest stink
When they stopped making cardboard.
One day, in 2005...
They went to work, and were told at the gate that they
Were allowed to go get their things in their locker.
And that was it.
But it all happened sort of abruptly, unceremoniously.
I think people were upset by the way it happened.
They show up for work, and it's like,
"okay, you don't have a job.
Go collect your personal belongings.
You'll be escorted by security, and no,
You can't use one of our boxes.”
[laughing]
Well, then rumour got out, right?
Because eventually it's on the radio, and then...
The whole town knows.
But for some people, she said they found out
On the radio that they didn't have a job.
That's gonna be pretty bad no matter
How the dj puts it, you know.
"ah, we're looking at mild temperatures and
Clear skies, a great day to have off work.
Speaking of which..."
[laughing]
Everybody's going, "what is going to happen?
Where are people going to go?
How are people going to live?”
People thought that it was going to be a ghost town.
As is often the case all over the east coast,
Sometimes life is like a cardboard box.
Sometimes things get wet, and the arse falls out of it.
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
In 2005, 300 jobs were gone overnight.
People worried that this place
Might become a ghost town.
But that's not what happened.
New richmond is no longer known by the company it kept.
[laughing]
I got to see one of the big reasons- and I mean big-
That people love coming to this area.
Fly fishing.
Fly fishing for salmon on the grand cascapédia.
My guide was of mi'gmaq descent,
But he said I was pretty fly for a white guy.
-[laughing] -josh bradstreet.
[cheering & applauding]
This river is world renowned for,
Not only the number of fish, but the size of fish.
You can see them come right out,
And their tails are splashing on the water...
And you're like, you're just waiting
For that fish to come back down,
So that way you can set the hook.
It's a wonderful experience.
Josh told me this is one of the best
Salmon fishing spots in the world.
It is home to the river monsters.
It is home to the cascapédia giants.
Of all north america, there have only been
22 salmon caught with a recorded weight
Over 50 pounds. Of those 22,
17 were caught on the grand cascapédia.
[cheering & applauding]
Because of this, people will come from
Far and wide and pay top dollar.
Some of the names that I know of that came to this river is
Like guys like bobby orr, jimmy carter, paul newman.
And people still come, even after 2010,
When they put in some conservation measures.
The number one reason
Why we still sustain our big fish here...
Because we practice this catch and release.
You know, if you're not killing fish,
The fish are always going to come back, right.
Still, people didn't care.
They just wanted to get the big fish,
The cascapédia giant.
You can still get your picture taken with it.
It'd be great. Also,
I think the fish have caught on.
[laughing]
Like, hear me out.
Maybe you got to salmon, there it is.
Oh, look, there's a big juicy fly.
But then he thinks, "oh, well, maybe it's a fishhook."
And then he thinks, "oh, well,
What's the worst can happen?
I'll get my picture taken with bobby orr."
[laughing]
Josh said just because you come here and
You can pay top dollar and you can have a good guide
And have all the right gear,
Doesn't mean you're going to catch a salmon.
He said it's sometimes referred to as,
'the sport of a thousand casts'.
Because sometimes, it could take about a thousand casts
Before you hook up to anything.
I know, I know personally,
How frustrating casting can be.
[laughing]
Like, to just get a guest spot on heartland,
What does a guy got to do?
[laughing]
You have lots of different fly choices here.
Each one of those flies can catch you a big fish.
For an example, this caught me a 38-pound fish
Two days ago, little, tiny thing like this.
-Really? -38-pound fish.
Some anglers will get really choosy about the flies
They use, which I find odd because...
I think if you're trying to get the big salmon,
Like the heavy salmon, they're probably
Less choosy about what they eat.
[laughing]
Like, maybe they'll eat anything.
That's how they got 50 pounds.
Maybe one guy's like, "oh, yes,
I'm gonna use an eastern -tailed yellow hackle fly.”
Well, okay, sure.
Maybe just stick a timbit on the end.
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
No doubt the mill closure was a kick in the caboose,
But there is a new local company who,
By getting rail cars back on track,
Are doing the same for the local economy.
I went to rail gd, I had a chat with joey cyr.
[cheering & applauding]
Joey was born and raised on the gaspé coast.
Moved away to work in the railway industry.
Most of my life, I was...
Job-related to the railway.
What brought you back to new richmond?
Ah, it was not the railway.
And then he came back, for several reasons,
But one of which being- the funniest reason, I thought-
Is that he came back for a y2k party.
And I was here for the party, and I never left.
-You never left? -[laughing]
He's still partying like it's 1999.
[laughing]
Joey said that he knew trains,
And his buddy gil knew business.
And gil, he talked to me, he said, "joey,
We have to find a way to bring money from the outside
To the gaspé coast.”
He said he wanted to create a new business.
If we open a business that already exists,
We will just split the cake in two.
Right, yeah.
And we're not create nothing.
Like, if he opened a gas station or, or another hotel.
He said, "you're just cutting the same cake in two.”
I said, "I don't know how it is with you in quebec,
But I feel like half a cake is still a lot.”
[laughing]
At rail gd, their specialty is refurbishing
Passenger cars and dining cars.
A lot of people didn't believe in us.
Not all, but some were laughing about me and gil,
When we say that we're going to bring
Railway equipment here for repair.
Joey said people laughed when they started the business.
Now, they're landing contracts with major national
Rail companies, and helping new richmond's economy.
I wish I had invested.
I'll jump at a chance to invest in rail.
Every time I play monopoly, I will try...
To put money into railroads.
[laughing]
Things that we did, was close to the impossible.
Bring a railway, and build a business in the area that
Didn't have any history in the railway.
Sort of growing something out of nothing.
It start with a dream.
Not only has it been a success, you know,
They've gone from two people to...
Almost 40 people in a state of the art facility.
And what's sort of poetic...
Is that rail gd sits on the very site where
The gd mill used to be.
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
Long before there ever was a mill,
People around here put their eggs in more than one basket.
The mi'gmaq people here have a tradition of
Weaving incredibly strong baskets.
There aren't as many people doing it nowadays,
But I did meet a couple who still have a handle on it.
Stephen jerome and heather condo.
[cheering & applauding]
The best kind of wood-
The strongest and most resilient-
Is black ash wood, and that's the only kind
That stephen will work with.
And his shop is called...
The ashole.
[laughing]
Ashole products sold here.
[laughing]
Welcome to my ashole.
You know, it's just, it's ongoing, people love it.
It fits with his personality because he's a joker, so...
He makes lots of jokes about it, which is good,
So I won't have to.
[laughing]
I gotta be careful with that word because it can make
Even simple, innocent questions sound a bit...
You know, even just something like,
"when did you open it?”
[laughing]
Here in gesgapegiag, we're very well-known people
For making black ash baskets.
It was taught to my grandfather, my grandmother,
Down to my father, then taught to me.
He says he learned from his dad,
What he considers is the hardest part of this process,
Which is to find the right wood.
Then he got into a wheelchair in his 30s.
We'd go out anyway.
He'd take us out in the woods,
He'd point at trees: "go get that one,
Go see that one, go check that one.
Go on,” you know.
He taught him the trick is to take a piece of bark
And smell it.
It has to have that sugary smell, the sweet smell.
-Like red wine. -Oh, yeah?
The red wine, it's got that berry smell in there.
If it smells like red wine, it's gonna be sturdy.
Opposite of my aunt pam.
[laughing]
They told me that the baskets,
Originally, they were just a practical use,
A tool for gathering and collecting,
And then it became a trading commodity
With european settlers.
And that's a tradition that's lasted
Through the generations.
A lot of families made their living off of the baskets.
They would make them all day,
Go up on the highway.
People would weave these baskets and
Sell them to passing motorists.
I guess it's a bit like a fruit stand.
In fact, that's the challenge with
Selling baskets by the road.
You don't want to look like a fruit stand that has sold out.
[laughing]
Just gotta watch your belly. It's very sharp, right?
He started to show me a few of the techniques,
How you do it.
You know, you get your piece of wood on a horse.
The horse has a pedal, and it grabs on,
And you use the draw blade.
You know, he's very quick.
I bounce it off my belly because
I got a little bit of cushion there.
A little bit?
[laughing]
And then you take that,
And you start pounding it with a hammer.
What you're trying to do is, for every ring,
For each year of growth,
You're wanting those to separate.
They'll eventually sort of like do-
Split apart, like that.
And then he got me to do it, and I'm pounding,
It was a heavy mallet.
About 30 seconds in, my shoulder is exhausted.
I start slowing down.
[laughing]
I'm glad I'm not paying you by the hour.
[laughing]
The finished product, these baskets,
They're incredibly strong.
He said they're so strong, he said, again and again,
He puts a lifetime guarantee behind all his work.
At one point, he told me to sit on the basket.
Put it on the side and sit on it.
-Oh, yeah? -Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah...
It supported my weight, it was actually
Kind of springy and comfortable.
Then he sat on it as well and,
I mean, stephen is built.
-Like, he's a... -[laughing]
I'm a little bit heavier than you.
Yeah, just slightly, yeah.
He's built like those...
Do you remember, it was all the rage on tv,
Those strongman competitions.
[laughing]
You know, you'd have a guy who's like pulling
A jumbo jet over his shoulder.
A competition where they got to...
I was gonna say, "lift trees over their head,"
But that's exactly what he does do.
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
People worried about putting food on the table
After the mill closed down,
But I met three brothers who can teach you a
Thing or two about eating dust.
[laughing]
The 2021 canadian rally champions:
René, andré, and adam leblanc.
[cheering & applauding]
When was the first race?
-We wasn't born. -[laughing]
-Fifty years ago. -Yeah, yeah, okay.
Rallying has been in this town for five decades.
Now, I've been to struggling towns that have had to
Rally around, but this is ridiculous.
[laughing]
They each have a specific role in the team.
André is the driver. René is the co-driver.
And adam is the mechanic.
Our team spirit is really good.
Everybody has his jobs.
So, it's a lot of dedication, passion.
André will drive as fast as he can,
As rené calls out pace notes.
Keep right... Left three.
He'll say, "keep left over crest star 5,
Don't cut into 80.” right?
And that goes into andré's headset and comes out,
"pedal down, flat out.”
[laughing]
New richmond hosts the rally bay de chaleur,
One of the seven races on the
Canadian rally championship circuit.
It is a long and gruelling race.
But, it brings out thousands of fans.
People from near and far.
They trek into the woods, and find a spot to watch.
They trek in with tents, and barbecues, and beers.
They love it, these are hardcore fans.
[roaring engine]
[cheering]
For these people, there's nothing like
The smell of gas on the gaspésie.
[laughing]
For a small town like new richmond,
Rally is really something good.
Gas stations sell more gas.
Restaurants sell more food.
People find it's attractive to come so,
People come back again after the rally,
So we create tourists.
♪
We managed to get the roads closed down for
An hour or two, so we could go and...
[singing] kick the dust up!
[laughing]
[roaring engine]
André was driving, I was in the co-driver's seat.
Good god, andré!
Holy ----!
We're flying down a gravel road...
With so much speed.
Here, it's 200k per hour.
[jonny laughing]
And there's trees ripping by.
It was like the x-wing fighter
Going for the death star.
It was like zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom.
-Good god! -Here we go!
I'm not gonna make any jokes about
Peeing in my race suit...
-[laughing] -because I couldn't.
All the fluids were pushed to the back of my body.
[laughing]
The gravel, it's a little bit like driving on ice.
[jonny laughing]
And then turns, we get into a turn, and this-
It's a front wheel drive car,
It's going sideways around the turns.
[roaring engine]
My god, the salmon in the cascapédia
Don't have bigger fish tails.
[laughing]
-Yeah, that's about it. -[jonny sighing]
-[andré laughing] -that was amazing.
That was terrifying and amazing.
Good lord, I thought they drove scary in montreal.
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
It's exciting times in new richmond.
And new richmond is an exciting town.
Who knows, maybe the best way to
Stop being run-of-the-mill...
Is to stop running the mill.
[laughing]
Sure, it was crushing when the mill closed down.
Some people moved away, like you would.
But some bore the weight with the strength of black ash,
In a way that cardboard never could.
[laughing]
Cast a line in the cascapédia,
Catch a giant, then let it go.
Get a mi'gmaq basket that's woven in tradition,
And carries a faint hint of merlot.
[laughing]
See the leaves turn a fiery orange,
And their reflection by the rapids of the river.
See a guy send a sedan sideways through a turn...
As his brother beside him goes, "give 'er!”
[laughing]
It's funny how train cars are carefully restored,
While rally cars routinely get wrecked.
Well, that's just life in the gaspésie,
Here in new richmond, quebec.
Thanks for coming out, everybody!
You've been great! We had a great time here!
-Thank you for having us! -[applauding]
I think the whole experience was just great.
We just had so much fun.
We're really rich with our neighbours, with the culture.
You know what I really enjoyed was the...
The marrying of the three communities.
You know, the french and english,
And you know, the mi'gmaq communities.
So, now, you don't scream.
Don't scream, I won't scream.
Left at three, right there.
At junction, right here.
And right three, just right there.
-Don't cut, don't cut. -Don't cut, oh!
[laughing]
Thanks, jonny, for don't crash the car.
[laughing]
That was amazing, that was amazing!
Jonny, this was great, this was amazing.
Hopefully, next time you come,
We can hook up to a 40-pound giant.
Look at that, doing good.
How's it feel to pound my ash?
[laughing]