They lived and loved on Little Bay Islands, but were left out of the resettlement program
Some couples left for health reasons, and won't see any payments
They may own properties there, pay taxes there, and even consider it home — but Little Bay Islanders who did not make the cut for the provincial government's permanent residents list say they've been unfairly left out.
Ferry and electrical service will be cut on Dec. 31, leaving property owners without a government link to Little Bay Islands. However, only property owners designated as permanent residents by the Department of Municipal Affairs will be getting payments.
"I served on the council there for five years," said Ray Flynn. "Even though we're paying taxes and own property there, we're not allowed to have a say."
"I felt insulted," added his partner, Doris Tucker. "And I felt, you know, of anyone — I was born there in 1939, I went to school there, and I worked there."
Tucker moved away to work, but always returned to the islands without fail. She married Flynn in 1990.
Under the conditions of the community relocation policy, only those on the permanent residents list got to vote on resettlement.
"A person's place of birth, or where they spent most of their life, does not constitute a person being a resident of a community," a spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Affairs wrote in a statement.
"A person may be born in a community and live there for 50 years, but if they, at some point prior the community's relocation request, move to, and reside in another community, they cease to be a permanent resident."
A permanent resident is defined as an individual who "lives and sleeps year-round, 365 days per year," on Little Bay Islands — subject to some conditions. Those conditions allow for temporary absences for vacations, work or caregiving, and more extended absences for those in prison or accessing ongoing health care treatment if "substantiated by a doctor's note."
The Department said their payouts are directed only towards permanent residents because they aim to subsidize the cost of moving to a new community.
"The funding provided to eligible permanent residents is not intended to compensate for the value of their property," it wrote. "As such, persons with permanent residences outside the community do not require financial assistance to relocate."
Feels like 'discrimination'
After 68 years living in the community, Juanita Hull and Gord Hull left Little Bay Islands in 2016 to move closer to health care services.
Gord had a stroke in 2003. The couple returned to Little Bay Islands following initial rehabilitation, but Juanita said she realized she had to move upon seeing her Gord's decline in health.
"First when he came out of the Miller Centre [in St. John's] we used to go for a walk. Now it's only just from A to B, I'll say."
The couple was denied a vote, and denied a payment in the Little Bay Islands relocation. But they still have property, and paid property tax, in the community.
"I was hurt, and I thought we was discriminated [against]," she said, adding the couple got to vote in the first rounds of voting, but did not get the final offers to sign.
"There's bad feelings. And the ones like myself, got turned down, they feels exactly the same way that I do," she said.
Hull was advised she could appeal the decision on her residency, but told a government representative she didn't have enough money to hire a lawyer for the process.
She said a number of residents did win their appeals, after being initially left off — which upset her even further.
"To realize that so many got turned around, and we never," she said. "And I mean, some of them was left the island before I left."
In early 2017, the town council on Little Bay Islands sent 76 expression of interest ballots to the provincial government, to restart the relocation program process.
According to a spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Affairs, 55 residents were deemed to be permanent residents under the program, and all voted for resettlement.
About $8.7-million was paid out to those 55 residents.
According to an analysis performed by the Department of Municipal Affairs, the provincial government will save about $20 million over 20 years as a result of the relocation, accounting for the payouts made.
The majority of the savings are estimated to come from cutting the ferry services. The Department of Transportation and Works says it will save in fuel and will be able to cut salaries after the ferry runs end.
Ray Flynn and Doris Tucker, who did not qualify for those payments or have a say in the vote, both say they believe government is making a big mistake by offering to resettle the community.
"I think it's awful. I think that they should have just left us, and people will go back and people would have stayed," Tucker said.
Although government policy says it does not initiate or encourage relocation, they say the financial assistance is encouragement enough.
"It was the money, that's what got people wanting to go because the government was paying them money so what can you do," she said, adding she doesn't think the expenses of the ferry justify resettlement.
"They waste money on other things," she said.
Newfoundland and Labrador is set to run a $944 million deficit in the 2019-2020, according to the province's latest fiscal update.
With files from Here & Now and Garrett Barry