I’m from Point La Nim in the North Shore region of New Brunswick — a place so small that everyone knows everyone. The North Shore is made up of the town of Dalhousie, the city of Campbellton, the city of Bathurst and a whole bunch of little places peppered in between.
It’s a unique area because the North Shore is a mix of white anglophones and francophones and Mi’kmaq people. My father is from Eel River Bar First Nation, nestled along one of only two natural sandbars in the world that have a highway running over it. We dug clams there and cooked them right on the beach when we were young. I remember spending whole summers on that stretch. We would catch lobsters, mussels and fresh salmon. They’re not just “rich person foods” there — everybody gets to enjoy them. The first time I bought clams in a supermarket, I almost had a heart attack because I hadn’t realized how expensive they are in a city where you can’t just pull them out of the water yourself.
Famous people flew into our airport all the time. I remember when Jack Nicholson came to town one summer because he wanted to fish in the Restigouche River. It’s cool knowing that our little part of the world, our little heaven, entices people. In the winter, the east wind is harsh, but that’s just life on the North Shore. It’s a harsh but beautiful place.
I once couldn’t wait to get out, but when I see my old friends back home post a photo on social media of themselves sitting in their backyard on a Tuesday night with a big fire going, surrounded by their family with the water and mountains an arm’s-length away, I think differently.