What does the future of Labrador West look like? Ideas are on the table this week
Labrador-based solutions needed, says Chamber of Commerce
A summit happening in Labrador West is examining the region's economy — which for decades has relied heavily on mining — and its unique challenges to help lay out a roadmap for its future.
The Future of Labrador West Summit, which began in Wabush on Monday and will run until Wednesday, focuses on topics like health care, education, mining and housing.
Toby Leon, president of the Labrador West Chamber of Commerce, which organized the summit, said it aims to address some of the socioeconomic issues that are in the way of further development.
"We're 600 kilometres in both directions to another person. Our issues are completely different than the issues in Joe Batt's Arm or, you know, other remote areas of the province," Leon told CBC News on Monday.
"We need to find solutions that fit where we are, not solutions that fit somewhere you can go by road."
The iron ore industry in Labrador City and Wabush has sustained the communities — and a healthy share of revenue for the Newfoundland and Labrador government — for generations.
But Leon said new solutions are needed for the future.
"Presently, I don't think you could mine one more pound of iron ore in this community … without solving these problems."
Premier Andrew Furey, the keynote speaker of Monday's afternoon session, said Labrador West is a key economic driver for the province and has great potential in mining, renewable energy and more.
Residents face the same challenges as other residents of the province — like a shortage of affordable housing and health-care workers — but Furey added Labrador West also has its own unique obstacles.
"All of those things are different here than they are anywhere else in the province. And it deserves to be recognized differently," Furey said.
"That's why a forum like today is important, to get all that collaboration."
Monday afternoon's session focused on health care, the challenges of which Furey said he knows personally.
He told attendees that over the prior weekend, he worked on call as an orthopedic surgeon — which he needs to do to maintain his medical licence — and understands the impact of issues like medical transport.
"As a provider, I know the patients feel it," he said.
"People being stranded here waiting for transport for days to get to a provider and a team that's waiting on the other end. This past weekend, I was on the other end. Today, I'm back in the premier's chair trying to make sure that we have a system that can facilitate that in a more faster way."
Furey addressed medical recruitment in the region, saying two physicians have been hired to work in Labrador West with a third person coming.
Leon said he hopes the three-day summit will lead to collaboration that sets the groundwork for years to come.
"This is hopefully going to be a process where people over the next three days get in, you know, little huddles here and there and … think about innovative ways to change things," he said.
"I hope this reverberates for a number of years and that we solve these problems."
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With files from Jeremy Eaton
