Grande-Grave Heritage Accommodation Project

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• Speech of the Gavey family by Amanda Roberts

  Hello, pusu'l, Bonjour, et Merci, mi'walatl and Thank you deeply for the invitation to speak on behalf of the Gavey family. I am Amanda Roberts, daughter of Cynthia Gavey and Ronnie Roberts, Great Grand daughter of George and Ethel West-Gavey and a very proud descendant of the people who lived on the South side of Forillon National Park for, hundreds of years. Both my mother’s and father’s roots run very deep here. As do my uncles Norman and Larry Gavey’s, Norman & Linda Gavey’s son, Parker’s and my sister Jenn’s. Together, we are here to give our support and be part of the important work that will move this project forward, while respecting the past.

  I’d like to start with sharing a Maya Angelo quote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”, I have the great honour and duty to tell in a small part, the story of George Gavey and Ethel West-Gavey, the last owners of this house, by the collection of memories from their grandchildren that I have interviewed for this important day. The grandchildren fondly called them Grandma and Grandpa, and this is how I will now refer to them.

  The exciting project we are here to learn about is the Joseph Gavey house restoration. Joseph Gavey was George’s (Grandpa’s) father.

  Today is Sunday, July 16th, 2023. In the spirit of this day, I invite us to ground ourselves, and let our minds wander. Let’s rewind the clock to 1960 before this was known as Forillon National Park. A time when Grandma and Grandpa were living in the community of Grande Grave, in what they knew as simply, ‘their’ house. Life was focused on family, working their farm, and fishing.

  These were good days. They weren’t easy days, but they were good. They didn’t yet know that in 10 short years things would change and become much, more, challenging. Decisions would be made for them that would change their lives, and hence, the lives of us, for generations to come.

  Living here meant working hard. The ‘work’ was everyone’s responsibility. Being entrepreneurial, resourceful, collaborating with neighbours, helping the community, and learning how to persevere was in Grandpa and Grandma’s DNA. Let me assure you, these are character traits that run deep in our veins, to this day.

  Who were Grandma and Grandpa? They were very kind people. They were proud. They said what they meant and meant what they said. They were honest and they didn’t take more than what they could use. Integrity was their core trait.

  On a Sunday just like this their grandkids would come running up the road and through the fields. They would come into the house through the back kitchen which smelled like fresh baking, warm flans, fruit cakes with almond icing, home churned butter and plum jam, made by Grandma from the plum trees out front. As they moved through the house to the parlour, grandma would keep the blinds pulled down in summer to keep the room cool as she had picked baskets of plums right off from the front gallery. Their parlour room would smell sooooo pretty.

  Grandma was very proud of her fancy hats. Sundays meant going to church. Back then, the women had to have their heads covered, in style. Some of the grandkids remembered that ‘the old people’ (grandma and grandpa’s friends), would arrive by boat across the bay and would gift gramma some of her fancy hats. She was a social woman, and would take her youngest son John to dances, teas, and socials. Grandpa was a quiet, shy, man, who preferred to stay home. For as put together and proud they were, Grandma also had an amazing sense of humour. She was known for her sharp wit and one liners, and she was a lover of card games. One in particular was called Cruts, where no one, especially Grandma, ever wanted to have ‘the cruts’.

  Grandpa was a very kind, shy, soft-hearted man. Uncle Norman remembers Grandpa being a pipe tobacco smoker. Others recall he kept his pipe and other precious items such as the compass from his boat, in the back kitchen.

  Many of the grandkids remember Grandpa coming into the house through the back kitchen, grabbing his binoculars, walking to the front windows, looking down at his salmon nets to see if it was time to harvest the day’s delicious catch. Next, he would go to the upstairs to the front windows over looking the bay, where he would watch for boats coming in, and if there were, he would go down to his own boat, and safely pilot them into the harbour.

  Joan and Carol remember every Sunday going to their house from Indian Cove for lunch. Grandma made salmon that Grandpa had caught, every-single-Sunday!! They remember saying to her, “not salmon again”. Many of the grandkids shared, if they could, they would go back and gladly have that Sunday Salmon dinner with them, over and over again.

  At some point, a new addition was added to the family. A puppy named, Nipper. He was so tiny. Tiny enough that one of cats started grooming and nursing him. Grandpa would sit in his favourite glider rocking chair, put little Nipper on his knees, and while visiting with his 4 children, make little circles in Nipper’s fur. My mom Cynthia shared that one of her memories was of little Nipper getting off Grandpa’s knees and he would have a whole new hairdo of curls from Grandpa’s twirling of his fur. She also remembers Grandpa would place him into his moccasin to keep him warm and safe.

  Uncle Wayne remembered they had a beautiful horse named Betty. Grandpa would get Betty tacked up and go into the fields to start cutting the hay. It was the older grandchildren’s pleasure and responsibility to be in the back of the cart, jumping on the hay to try to crush it down. Betty had the hardest job of pulling the cart back up the field to the barn where Grandpa would easily turn her around, and back her in so they could pitchfork the hay up into the loft.

  Back at the house, Uncle Larry remembers sitting in the parlor room by Grandmas organ playing with a slide/picture film viewer. “On a long thin piece of wood, like a ruler, is where the film would go, and a magnified glass would bring the pictures to life.”

  Walking around the house, you’d find very beautiful blue and pink basin bowls to wash up in, filled with water collected from rain barrels, and the pump out back.

  Debbie remembers coming down from Chateauguay in the summer visiting grandma and Uncle John after grandpa had passed. She loved going there and remembers it as a very beautiful, warm feeling, and well-kept home. All the grandkids shared how peaceful it was to sit in the front windows or on the front porch and look out at the water.

  At Christmas time, the roads were not ploughed and the north Atlantic brought in not centimeters, but rather multiple feet of snow, Grandpa would get Betty out of the barn, hook up the sleigh, making sure the bells were on her reigns, and go down to Indian Cove to pick up his daughter Gertie and her husbands’ kids to ensure they were able to celebrate Christmas’ together. He would wrap them up in blankets in the sleigh, making sure they were warm, and then make the trek back home to Grande Grave. They said it was truly, a magical time.

  Moving forward into the mid-late 1960’s, Uncle John and gramma bought a colour tv. This was a BIG deal for the family. The first time they watched that tv, Bonanza was on. Uncle Larry remembers everyone was not paying much attention to the show, but rather they were commenting on how blue the sky looked and how red the actors’ shirts were.

  Grandma and Grandpa cared deeply for their community. I learned they either gave or sold the piece of land to build The Grande Grave protestant school in 1938 where grades 1-7 were taught, in a one room schoolhouse. And, if that wasn’t generous enough, Grandma boarded the teachers, who came from away to educate the community.

  Let’s now move to the 1970’s, and the time of the expropriation. This is where the good memories and our family story, like so many others here, moves from fond, to confusion and loss, after experiencing a gross misuse and abuse of power as well as several broken promises from the men in suits that were sent to the community to negotiate, or rather, bully the people into letting go of their homes, land and livelihood. I asked the grandkids if they would like to share their memories of growing up here and of their grandparents. Every time, the first memories offered were about the expropriation. I heard the significant hurt, which in many, came out as anger from the tremendous loss, they experienced.

  This is where we must acknowledge some hurtful truths. I learned Grandma and Grandpa, and the greater community were offered next to nothing for their homes, their land, and their livelihoods. Their way of life was simply, not respected. Grandma and Grandpa as well as many others in the community were seen as simple people, living a simple life. Not many of them had formal education, even though they were RICH in experiential learning. They were very trusting people, and therefore, sadly, very easy to take advantage of.

  Uncle Larry remembers moving out of Grande Grave on his 11th birthday, into their home that Franklin and Gwenny built in Rosebridge, He noted, “the house wasn’t even finished yet”, however, “they HAD to go”, as the men in suits were making threats to the other neighbours they felt were not leaving quickly enough. I was told that a family had refused to leave their house, so the men in suits started his neighbours house on fire as an act of intimidation and control.

  This next memory took my breath away. I was speechless. My uncles hurt was palpable.

  First, I would like to remind you of the compass from Grandpa’s boat and how he kept that by his pipe and tobacco in the back kitchen. He gifted the compass to Uncle Philip. It was truly, a priceless item. Uncle Philip kept the compass in that back room. Often, the men in suits, some accompanied by law enforcement, would come to the homes and take possessions they said they now owned. Sometime during the move, the compass went missing. Uncle Philip was told he must have lost it as it could not be found anywhere.

  Fast forward to a trip Uncle Philip took a while ago with his wife Isabelle. As they were touring the North Sector and visiting the Interpretive Centre, there, in a glass case, was Grandpa’s compass among some other artifacts!!! Anger and incredible hurt came rushing to the surface. He had to leave. He did not want to see one more artifact, or story board of the people. It was too much. When I asked what he believed was most important to share with you, he stated “the Park could steal my family’s livelihood and land, but they’ll never steal anymore of my memories!”

  I’d like to now bring us back to this very important Sunday, and why ‘this day’ is so very important for all of us. About 6 months before my grandmother, Gwenny Roberts Gavey who was married to George and Ethel’s son Franklin, passed away, she shared her expropriation story with me. She took me lovingly by the hand and wrist and said, the expropriation caused more than people lose their homes. They lost their livelihoods, their sense of purpose, their community, their culture, and their own sense of deep peace, all - to create a National Park. She then said, she was “too close to it” (meaning the pain of being expropriated), and that - I am now part of “the healing generation”.

  Standing here with you today, I can clearly hear her words as a call to action for the immediate descendants, and future generations of the expropriated peoples. Our Story (our truth) telling from Hermeline Smith-Simon, Debbie Philips, LynnAnn Smith, the committee of The Association of Expropriated Persons of Forillon is critical and must be told. When the team from Forillon Park reached out to our family, it felt different. There is now a spirit of collaboration, curiosity and respect, from them. I believe, we have the perfect conditions to start the healing work, exactly what my Grandma was referring to.

  I close with another quote from Maya Angelou “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.”

  None of us can go back. We can though, all, collectively, CHOOSE to do better!

  On behalf of the Gavey family, thank you again, you have our deepest gratitude. We look forward to ‘doing better’, along side of all of you!

See a photo album of the event

Read the news release issued following the event