Several Quebecers had their dream of living on an isolated island of the St. Lawrence River. The newspaper presents some of these incredible stories to you, but also the challenges that these unique places represent.
Do you find it difficult to reconcile the schedules between the house, the work and the children’s school? Imagine then that you lived isolated on an island, without school, and that your child must take the plane every morning to go to class.
It is however the daily life of Edith Rousseau and his spouse, both residents of Isle-aux-Grues, in the St. Lawrence River, just under ten kilometers off Montmagny, in Chaudière-Appalaches.
Photo Edith Rousseau
Every day of the week, from September to June, like five other children from the municipality of Saint-Antoine-de-l’Isle-aux-Grues, their 13-year-old son, Caleb Gagnon, must take the plane twice a day to go and return from the versatile Louis-Jacques-Casault.
“Even if several friends envy them, I would tell you that there is nothing really special for them to take the plane daily. Despite appearances, this life is not really jets For them, ”explains the mother of the young Caleb, Édith Rousseau, an employee of the Isle cheese dairy and municipal councilor of the village of 114 permanent residents.
Island life
This is one of the little known particularities of one of the rare islands of the St. Lawrence occupied in the long year by its inhabitants and not connected by a bridge. The newspaper became interested in the unknown daily newspaper of tens of these islanders who have or attend, on a regular basis, one of some 200 islands that bathe in the river (See other texts).
Regarding the children of Sainte-Antoine-de-l’Isle-aux-Grues, they have to take the plane to go to Montmagny since 1999, when it was decided to permanently close the primary school of the village which had only 12 students.
Photo Sarah-Émilie Nault
Departures are made from 7:30 a.m. to 7:55 a.m. in the morning while the return takes place from 3.30 p.m. to 4:20 p.m., before nightfall.
A second accommodation
An imperative of security that is not without tinting the school experience of children like Caleb Gagnon, a hockey buff, registered in the sport-study profile of his school. It happens, due to training, tournaments or other, that he cannot take the plane back home.
Photo Edith Rousseau
“For everyone here, it requires adjustments, gymnastics of life that most Quebecers are not confronted,” explains Mme Rousseau. Our boy does not play hockey, he eats it. He played in four different leagues this year. In the circumstances, we had no other choice but to take a little two and a half outside the island. ”
What makes the experience of children and parents of the softest is that all the people involved, directly or indirectly in the journey of these children, are mobilizing to make the experience viable.
Thus, when the flight of the plane is delayed due to the ice or fog, it is not uncommon for an airport employee to decide to accompany the children at the school himself by car, instead of the school bus. The teachers are also conciliatory before these absences or delays, beyond the control of children.
“It is certain that our children quickly become resourceful and responsible. But with the help of the community, the island and the exterior of the island, which in a way teams up with us, our particular reality of island succeeds in becoming something other than a daily test, “concludes the municipal councilor.
