The oldest of Anticosti celebrates her 100th birthday

Ernestine Poulin has seen Anticosti go through the ages, from the hunting territory of a rich foreign chocolatier to a national park with world-renowned heritage. Now 100 years old, it tells the story of a multi-faceted island, isolated, but populated by “grandiose” deer. An island she will never abandon.

At 100, I don’t feel like I did at 50 says Ernestine Poulin, adjusting her hearing aid.

After more than a century of life, his steps are slow, hesitant, and his hearing is no longer what it used to be.

Despite everything, to the great dismay of her daughter Ginette Gagnon, she sometimes climbs the three floors of her century-old house to access her many memories, piled up in the attic.

She takes out little nuggets, including photos of her parents dating from the end of the 19th century.

That’s me! I was 23 years old there, in front of the Menier castle which was still standingshe says.

An island with a unique destiny

Ernestine Poulin was born in Port-Menier in 1924. At the time, the island was still the property of the French chocolatier Henri Menier who had made Anticosti his private hunting ground, by introducing white-tailed deer.

Two years later, the island was bought by Wayagamack Pulp and Paper which later became Consolidated Bathurst, commonly called the Console by the residents of the island.

The arrival of the forestry industry heralds an era of economic development on the island.

At the dawn of the Second World War, Ernestine Poulin remembers well being at the side of her father, Ernest Poulin, when he went to meet Germans who landed on the island by boat.

At the time, the mysterious group of investors wanted to buy the island.

In the 1940s, while the war was in full swing, Ernestine Poulin met Gérard Gagnon, originally from Saint-Fabien, near Rimouski.

The latter visited Anticosti after returning from the front.

The couple married in 1947. They had two children and adopted a third.

My mother is a force of nature. Its roots are truly anchored in the island says their daughter Ginette Gagnon, now in her seventies.

Although Ginette Gagnon left Anticosti Island at the age of 20 to settle in the Quebec region, the memories from the cradle of his childhood never left her.

[L’île] I still miss it. […] I was raised in nature, by the sea she said.

For her part, Ernestine Poulin says: I wasn’t bored on the island.

In the 1950s, according to Ms. Gagnon, the village of Port-Menier was particularly dynamic.

There were large families of around ten children, a school full of people and the lush wildlife allowed the families to feed themselves. to their hunger.

AndClub also existed. There was a bowling alley, a pool hall, a restaurant, a cinemalists Ginette Gagnon.

At that time, his father and mother ran a small inn and hosted tourists.

Residents even received deliveries from former retail giant Eaton’s, which delivered goods by boat and plane to the island.

Between 1926 and 1974, the island reached its demographic peak with more than 800 residents and 3,000 employees.

In 1974, the island was sold to the Quebec government and Consolidated Bathurst ended its operations.

The post-“Console” era

With the departure of the island’s main employer, the families left says Ms. Gagnon.

Several families moved to Saguenay or Haute-Côte-Nord, where the forestry industry is still alive and profitable.

It fell quietershe judges.

Although she is saddened by the demographic decline of the island, she salutes the inhabitants of the island whom she describes as resourceful et valiant .

Even those who left the island, they still have the island in their hearts. You don’t take the island out of the islander.

His mother now lives alone, surrounded by crosses and statuettes of Saint-Joseph and Saint-Frère-André.

Asked if she wants to leave the island one day, Ernestine Poulin answers in the negative.

The idea of ​​leaving your pink house facing the sea for a seniors’ residence in Sept-Îles or Quebec City does not doesn’t interest him .

A fervent Catholic, Ernestine Poulin recites her prayers every day.

I said to him: O God Almighty, make me live again. And he keeps me alive, huh? replies the centenarian.