Wednesday, January 9, 2008

On this day in Our Islands History

In 1948, The lighthouse keepers of the Bird Rocks and of Brion Island and their families were returned to the main islands. Mr. Reid Turnbull was at the time the keeper of the lighthouse on Brion Island and he stayed there with his wife and two children. Mr. Alfred Arseneau was the keeper on the Bird Rocks with his wife and their four children. The ship Le Sorel arrived at the Bird Rocks first to pick up the Arseneau family and then sailed to the west end of Brion to retrieve the Turnbull family before setting sail for Grindstone, where the two families debarked.

This information was loosely translated from:
- From the chronicle's of historian Father Frédéric Landry
Événements Historiques Agenda (Septembre 1993 à Septembre 1994)

Although the fact does not say why the families were brought from the lighthouses concerned, I am assuming that the Canadian Government decided that the lighthouses were not needed during the freeze up months of the year. This fact was perhaps the first year that the keepers did not remain at their posts all year long. Due to all the tragedies on the Bird Rocks and the winter retrieval of one of the keepers on Brion, perhaps the Politicians of the day decided since there were no ships in the area, there was no need to keep the lights working.

If anyone has any ideas on the subject, please feel free to make suggestions in the comment section of this posting!

In 1981, The Villa Plaissance opened its doors to elderly persons.

- from the official website of the Magdalen Islands
Ephemerides by Lise Bouffard

Villa Plaissance was the first senior citizens home, for elderly people who are not critically ill enough for the third floor of the hospital for the chronically ill, but are incapable of caring for themselves or their families are incapable of caring for them any longer could go for adequate specialized care. For the past few years, fund raisers have been taking place to build a new care facility to take the place of the aging building that is the Villa Plaissance. There are now several homes for the elderly, which have varying amounts of care given.

If anyone has any ideas on the subject, please feel free to make suggestions in the comment section of this posting!

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