The modern cultural identity of Newfoundland and Labrador is deeply shaped by the legacy of the government-sponsored resettlement programs of the mid-twentieth century. Between 1954 and 1975, the provincial government, under the administration of Premier Joey Smallwood, implemented a sweeping centralization policy designed to move thousands of rural families out of isolated island outports and into designated industrial “growth centers.” While the program was framed as a progressive leap toward modernization, it inflicted a profound, lasting trauma on the tight-knit communities it dismantled. Within the televised archive of this tumultuous era, the personal journey of Loyola and Patricia Pomeroy—immortalized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s documentary series Land and Sea—stands as a definitive historical testament to the raw grit, displacement, and quiet rebellion of outport families who refused to fully sever their ties to the sea.

The Exile from Placentia Bay

Before the arrival of government relocation agents, the Pomeroy family lived and worked in Great Paradise, a rugged, isolated outport fishing community nestled on the islands of Placentia Bay. Like generations of ancestors before him, Loyola Pomeroy was a master fisherman, possessing an intimate, expert knowledge of the local cod and lobster grounds. The community operated entirely independent of the mainland, relying on hand-lined fishing, local gardens, and a deep system of communal reliance. However, by the late 1960s, the provincial government began systematically cutting off medical, educational, and ferry services to remote islands, forcing outport residents to sign relocation agreements.

In 1968, under immense administrative pressure, the Pomeroy family reluctantly boarded a boat, abandoned their ancestral home in Great Paradise, and resettled in the larger mainland hub of Placentia. The government had promised incoming families that centralization would instantly provide them with stable industrial employment, modern public schools, and indoor plumbing. The reality that awaited the Pomeroys, however, was a stark and immediate economic struggle.

The transition from independent outport harvesting to mainland wage labor was jarring. Although Loyola Pomeroy was a skilled mariner, he was forced to take up unfamiliar carpentry work to support his family in the new town. The vulnerability of this new lifestyle became clear when a local contractor unlawfully withheld his pay, leaving the Pomeroy family in severe financial distress and dependent on the kindness of neighbors just to procure food.

The Rebellion: Back to the Island

While many relocated families quietly accepted their displacement, the Pomeroy family actively resisted the narrative of resettlement. They refused to buy into the government’s argument that their traditional way of life was obsolete. In 1968, the CBC Land and Sea film crew captured this resistance in a landmark documentary episode titled “Back to the Island.”

The broadcast followed Loyola and Patricia as they loaded their children, their household goods, and their fishing gear back onto a boat and headed straight back to the abandoned ghost town of Great Paradise for the summer fishing season. They became the last family to leave the outport and the very first to return. The television footage of the Pomeroy children running freely along the wooden flakes and rocky beaches of Great Paradise, contrasted with the crowded, muddy resettlement grid of Placentia, became an iconic, powerful symbol of Newfoundland’s cultural resistance. By returning to their island home to fish, the Pomeroys proved that their identity was inextricably tied to the geography of Placentia Bay.

The 2003 Legacy and Reunion

Thirty-five years after their initial relocation, the CBC Land and Sea production team launched a highly emotional follow-up investigation to document the long-term impact of resettlement on the family. Broadcast in 2003, the retrospective episode tracked down the surviving members of the Pomeroy clan to evaluate whether the promises of centralization had ever truly been realized.

The documentary revealed a complex, bittersweet legacy. The crew found that while the family had spent decades continually returning to Great Paradise to harvest fish and maintain their emotional roots, the changing economic realities of the province had forced a permanent shift. Most of the adult Pomeroy children had permanently settled, built homes, and raised their own families within the modern boundaries of Placentia.

The family’s history was ultimately defined by the dangerous realities of the North Atlantic. Tragically, years after his televised rebellion, Loyola Pomeroy drowned during a localized lobster fishing expedition, dying on the very waters he had fought to return to. His wife, Patricia, passed away in the summer of 2007, but their shared journey remains a permanent part of Canadian history. Through the preservation of the original 1968 and 2003 broadcasts, the Pomeroy family remains a vital historical symbol of a generation that navigated the painful death of the outports with unyielding dignity.

Factual Bibliography

  1. The CBC Archival Audio & Video Broadcasts:
    • CBC Radio / The Broadcast with Paula Gale. “Archival Land and Sea, ‘Back to the Island‘ (The 1968 Pomeroy Family Resettlement Feature Re-air).” CBC Listen Directory Entry.
    • CBC Land and Sea (Newfoundland and Labrador). “Revisiting the Pomeroy Family: 30 Years After Resettlement.” Originally broadcast 2003; preserved via the CBC Television Documentary Archives, St. John’s, NL.
  2. The Digitized Oral History Registries:
  3. Academic Analyses of the Resettlement Era:
    • Matthews, Ralph. There’s No Better Place Than Here: Three Newfoundland Communities (Studies in Resettlement Policy). Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1976.
    • Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) Digital Archives. “The Placentia Bay Resettlement Project Case Files (1965-1970 Individual Community Records).” St. John’s, NL: Maritime History Archive.