So Few on Earth
So Few on Earth A Labrador Métis Woman Remembers
Josie Penny
DUNDURN PRESS
TORONTO
Copyright © 2010 Josie Penny
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
Editor: Michael Carroll
Design: Courtney Horner
Map of Labrador by Christopher Pandolfi
Printer: Transcontinental
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Penny, Josie
So few on earth : a Labrador Métis woman remembers / by Josie Penny.
ISBN 978-1-55488-709-5
1. Penny, Josie. 2. Métis women--Newfoundland and
Labrador--Biography.
I. Title.
FC109.1.P45A3 2010 971.82004'970092 C2009-907441-9
1 2 3 4 5 14 13 12 11 10
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
Printed and bound in Canada.
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First of all, I dedicate this book to my four children, Gregory, Darlene, Catherine, and Mark, who, though they were born in Happy Valley–Goose Bay, Labrador, aren’t familiar with the primitive lifestyle of their mother. I also dedicate this book to my nine grandchildren, all of whom were born in Ontario and have no concept of Labrador. I wish also to dedicate this book to my parents, Thomas and Flossie Curl, especially in light of their tenacity and determination to survive in Labrador’s isolated wilderness. And lastly, I dedicate this book to Violet Dyson, a dear cousin, who in the later years after my parents’ deaths was the only source available to me for information about Roaches Brook and Spotted Island … place of my birth. Thank you, Sissy.
Contents
Introduction: The Wild Land That Is My Home
7 Springtime and Shifting Outside
9 The Making of the Fish
10 Medical Care and Mail Delivery
Part Two: Lockwood
11 Heading for Lockwood
12 Arriving at Lockwood
13 School Days
14 Learning the Rules
15 Special Times at Lockwood
16 Longing for Home
17 The Children Return
18 Learning to Cope
Part Three: Return to Family
19 Getting Home
20 Muddy Bay
21 The Move to Cartwright
22 St. Peter’s School
23 Life in Cartwright
24 A Joyous Winter
25 Spring Adventures
Part Four: Later Life
26 My First Job
27 Challenges
28 Coping with Tragedy
29 Early Teens
30 Growing Up
31 Love and Conflict
32 Leaving Childhood Behind
Glossary
A special thank-you and much gratitude to my original manuscript editor, Mary Labatt, who was extremely encouraging from the first phone call when I told her just a wee part of what my book was about.
I would also like to thank Robert Nielsen, my first teacher at McMaster University, who in our initial class told us two things: