The islands of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon offer Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs a stepping stone to the EU, and for discerning travellers, an authentic taste of France.

After the North Atlantic cod stocks collapsed in 1992, Johann Abraham had to leave the life he had come to love as a fisherman and learn to be a truck driver. It was a miserable time. He hated the land–based work and longed to fish again. He was in his early 20s, but cod fishing was all he knew, having followed his father into the trade when he was 15. 

Fortunately, Abraham’s career as a trucker was short-lived. He and his compatriots in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon began to realize that while the cod were gone, there were, quite literally, plenty of fish in the sea. He began working in different fisheries, first for other people and then for himself in 2002, when he got his own longliner, the Emeline. He’s making a go of it, fishing crab and other species. “You can’t have a boat and do only crab now,” says Abraham, standing on the windy dock in Saint-Pierre one day this spring as he prepared to take the Emeline out to harvest scallops. 

Now 36, Abraham shows the type of Gallic pluck that had driven a revival of the tiny French territory just south of Newfoundland. The collapse of the cod fishery utterly devastated the economy of the minute archipelago, but, slowly and steadily, the islands’ 6,125 inhabitants have fought back by working together and using their competitive advantage as the one corner of the European Union within North America. “What we’ve had to do is diversify,” says Thierry Baslé, the director of development of the Société de développement et promotion de l’archipel Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, or SODEPAR, the development agency for the islands. “We’re not giving up on the fishery, but we know that the industry will never be what it was in the ’70s.” 

The verdant fishery was the main reason France clung to the windswept island, even though it ceded the rest of the continent to the English in 1759 and to the Americans with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. France reclaimed the islands at the end of the Napoleonic wars; for almost two centuries, the fishery drove the islands’ economy. The exception came in the 1920s, when Prohibition in the United States and Canada delivered a boom to the islands as they became smuggling bases. 

The collapse of the fishery whacked Saint-Pierre et Miquelon even more severely than it did Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. In its heyday, the French territory exported 40,000 tons of fish annually, and now it barely reaches 1,500 tons. The initial recovery took the form of a public works program, as the French government financed the construction of a new airport, and the benefits of the program are still being felt. The SPM International Airport is a glimmering edifice on the coast, and the former airport’s runway has been redeveloped into an elegant residential subdivision. And while the building trades have become the largest private sector employer in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, public works have continued. 

In fact, the diversification strategy has encompassed growth in dozens of fascinating niches, from linguistics to llamas. Llamas? Yes, llamas. The European Union has approved a quarantine station on the islands for animals being imported into the European trade bloc from countries not licensed to import directly to the EU. The station opened this summer, and management has decided to focus on camelids, or members of the camel family such as llamas and alpacas, coming from Australia or South America. 

The facility can handle as many as five consignments a year of up to 250 animals per consignment, and in the fall it is expecting its first plane load of jet-lagged alpacas to arrive. Of course, two-legged visitors are also important to the economy of the islands, which attract about 13,000 visitors annually, more than double their population. With direct flights from Halifax, Sydney, St. John’s, Moncton, and Montreal, and ferries arriving from Fortune, N.L., the islands are a curiosity for Americans and Canadians and a haven for vacationers who take their cuisine seriously. Though the terrain and the architecture are indistinguishable from those of Newfoundland to the north, the dining is more akin to the gastronomic delights found in the south of France. 

CRT, the local tourist office, is mandated by the local government to promote Saint-Pierre et Miquelon as a tourist destination. The aim of the archipelago is to double the number of visitors in the next few years. Therefore, the SODEPAR has hired a consultant in order to advise local operators how to attract more people. One of the big boons for tourism is the development of the FrancoForum, at which Canadian students can study French. The forum has been upgraded in recent years to include classrooms and has been successful in attracting Newfoundland public school students, university students from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and civil servants from various Canadian provinces. 

Another area that could drive economic growth for the territory is the possibility of developing offshore oil and gas (natural gas is the more likely) in what is known in petroleum circles as “the French baguette”—the 10.5-mile-by-200-mile slice of undersea French territory that extends south from Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. 

In May of 2005, ConocoPhillips and the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board agreed to convert exploration permits dating back to 1967 on the offshore Laurentian Block into seven usable exploration licences. France, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland had disputed the ownership of the Laurentian Block for decades, and in 2003 an arbitrator ruled that the sub-basin is 75% owned by Newfoundland, 16% by Nova Scotia, and 9% by Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. 

Though these tiny islands have several irons in the developmental fire, they still have a ways to go before the various strategies pay off. One problem is that the islands use the Euro as their currency, and the strength of the European coinage has made it hard to compete for tourists and in export markets (one saving grace is the Canadian dollar has been even stronger lately). Statistics from the local economics department, Iedom, show that in 2005 Saint-Pierre et Miquelon ran an inflation rate of 8.1%, and that its imports that year were more than 13 times its exports. 

The most worrying statistic, which has the residents talking more than any other, is the one showing that the population in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon is declining. The 2005 census, the most recent to be publicly released, shows that the population had dropped by 191 people. Like their Atlantic Canadian neighbours, residents are worried about their young people leaving. 

“Now that there are no more fish, it’s really difficult,” says Valerie Gaspard, who owns household goods store Arts et Delices. “We are such a small place. We have no university, so after high school the young people go to university in France. Between 200 and 250 go each year, and a lot don’t return.” Though Gaspard’s message seems bleak, her store and the other retail outfits in Saint-Pierre show that something is working in the archipelago. Her vast array of flowery ceramic goods, kitchen utensils, and patês reveal a healthy appetite for French luxury goods that could only come with individual wealth. 

Yet there is one more statistic from Iedom developed by the RDEE, or Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité (www.rdee.ca) that is encouraging. Each year from 2001 to 2005, between 40 and 44 businesses opened in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. Bank loans to local entrepreneurs during that time rose almost 43% to 45.8 million Euros. The administration is now seeking a more broad-based approach to development and is working with Canadian governments and companies on several fronts. Baslé says the administration has been particularly impressed by Canadian programs that focus on community development by getting various groups in society to work together to grow the economy. Canadian officials from RDEE visited Saint-Pierre et Miquelon in July to introduce these programs to local administrators. 

Baslé adds that the islands offer an opportunity for Canadian entrepreneurs because as part of the European Union, products produced in the islands can avoid duties if shipped into the European trading block. That means Canadian businesses forming processing products in the islands can avoid tariffs, which is important with high-duty products. For example, cooked mussels are subject to a 20% tariff if exported into the EU, but Canadian processors can avoid that duty if the product is partly made in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. 

It is one of a variety of means by which the resilient islanders are fighting back. Some are looking to new ventures, and others, like Johann Abraham, are harvesting new breeds of fish. The day after he left to fish for scallops, he guided the Emeline back into port and reported little luck as there had been “too much tide.” His reaction? “Not today,” he said, showing the endless optimism of fishermen and the Saint-Pierreais. “Maybe tomorrow.” 

The young boy standing at the chocolate counter looked nervous. Finally, he turned to the woman next to him and said, “Can you ask for a selection of those chocolates for me? My mom really likes chocolates, but I don’t think I can say it in French.” So the woman asked for the chocolates, and the boy strolled off happily with his school friends. They were part of a large group of Newfoundland schoolchildren on a study visit to Saint-Pierre, and the little town’s narrow streets were crowded with the students as they shopped in halting French for family back home.  

The children were being hosted by the FrancoForum, a specialized language teaching facility owned and operated by the Saint-Pierre government. The FrancoForum gives students from Newfoundland and other provinces a chance to live in a French-speaking environment while studying the language. Classes are run for schoolchildren who are in core French and French-immersion programs, as well as for more advanced students attending Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s. 

FrancoForum director, M. Joseph Enguehard says that residents enjoy hosting the students, who live with local families and take part in sporting and cultural activities such as French theatre and song and excursions to the islands of l’Île aux Marins and Miquelon-Langlade. The youngest students usually stay for a few days, while the university students attend a full semester program. 

“Residents see the FrancoForum as a provider of culture and language,” says Enguehard. “Our aim at FrancoForum is to reach out to people in the surrounding provinces of Canada.” Programs have been offered to foreign students since 1992, and more are in the works. This year the spring school program had increased from 275 students in 2001 to 1,370. 

If you ask almost anyone where you can find fine French food in Canada, they’ll more than likely suggest Quebec. Few people know that the perfect chou chantilly or bouillabaisse can be enjoyed on a tiny French-speaking archipelago just 25 kilometres south of Newfoundland. 

The islands of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon have the windswept topography of their near neighbour, but make no mistake—once your aircraft touches down at the Saint-Pierre airport, you’re in a French overseas territory that is part of the European Union. In the restaurants, the cuisine is genuinely French, and so is the ambience; diners smoke in restaurants and bars, and the service is leisurely. 

Possibly one of the most popular spots on the island, the dining room in the Hôtel Ile de France is always busy. The highlight of any visit is its fabulous bouillabaisse, a fish soup from Provence served with grated Gruyère cheese, toast, and rouille (mayonnaise spiced with garlic, bread crumbs, chili, and saffron). At the Patisserie Guillard (père and fils), residents line up to purchase perfect pastries, chocolates, and ice cream. Be sure to sample the éclair crème vanilla, chou chantilly, or baba au rhum. Try also the Alsatian pizza at the Restaurant Le Feu de Braise; this specialty pie is a tasty but slightly heavy combination of white cheese, bacon, and onion. 

The Restaurant La Voilerie is excellent and its seafood is superb. The restaurant has fine French cuisine with comparable prices to other local establishments. 

Looking elegant in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon’s harsh climate isn’t always easy, but residents take fashion seriously, and local boutiques tempt them to buy with big signs proclaiming the arrival of the latest “nouvelle collection.” Cecile Jaccachury, the manager of the Vetimode boutique, believes that it’s imperative to look chic in spite of the elements. “Fashion is very important to us,” she insists as she arranges vivid Icepeak sports clothes and lilac-hued summer fashions from Best Mountain on her racks. 

The Brandtex, CO2, and Pourquoi Pas labels also sell well: a little black dress from Grifflin Paris retails for 60 Euro, and a Euroline Paris denim purse for 33.50 Euro. Even in the family stores, fashion is far from dowdy or utilitarian. “People here like French fashions,” says Denise Derouet, the co-owner of Commerce Derouet Didier. “They’re a little expensive, but people are prepared to pay.” 

At La Chausseria Shoe Shop, beautiful Bopy baby shoes are displayed beside Bocage Paris court shoes. Trouvailles sells a selection of glamorous Swarovski jewelry as well as La Maison de l’Etain Pewter. The pewter, handcrafted in the small town of Villedieu-Les-Poeles near Paris, is very popular. 

The tiny town of Saint-Pierre also has many more beauty salons and perfume stores than you would expect to see in such a small place. At Parfums 2000, along with some Lagerfeld and Chevignon scent, shoppers can pick up treats such as cranberry-and-vodka sauce; for the French, the fact that a store sells scents clearly doesn’t get in the way of also selling food. 

Every second store in Saint-Pierre seems to sell wines and French delicacies. Le Tire Bouchon (the corkscrew) is one of the best, stocking a good range of wines and many fine foods; choose between Klaus chocolates from Switzerland or French soupe de poissons, marbré de porc, or canard aux cèpes. “People are very knowledgeable about wine here. French food and wine are very important,” says manager Sylvie Rivollet, adding that Saint-Pierre residents adore a robust Bordeaux. 

The beautiful cellar-like interior of the Comptoir d’Importation des Alcools contains an impressive selection of drinks from around the world. A good bottle of French wine costs around $20 here and most other places. Down on the waterfront, Epicerie Fine Arts de la Table sells a smorgasbord of cheeses, wines, French chocolates, and many other items, including canard foie gras, paté de porc basque, moutarde au cognac, and olives de Seville. 

As well as fine foods, the Arts et Délices store on Rue Boursaint also stocks olive-patterned pottery and escargot dishes from Provence. Owner Valerie Gaspard says that everything comes from France. “It’s impossible to keep prices low because everything has to be imported from France by boat,” she said, pointing to her shelves laden with apéritifs aux noix, aux oranges, and aux cerises. 

At Décor de Ma Maison, elegant Picatto glassware is shelved beside rice and sushi sets from China and Japan. The store is pervaded by the aroma of fresh leather exuded by the elegant armchairs imported from Italy. 

Saint-Pierre et Miquelon is in a different time zone from the rest of North America, 30 minutes ahead of Newfoundland and Labrador. Air Saint-Pierre flies small aircraft between Halifax, St. John’s, Sydney, Moncton, and Montreal. The frequency of the flights depends on the time of year (for schedules call 877-277-7765 or visit www.airsaintpierre.com). Two ferries operate between Fortune, N.L., and Saint-Pierre: the Atlantic Jet year round (800-563-2006/011-508-41-05-02 or www.spmexpress.net) and the Arethusa in summer (call 800-563-2006 or visit www.spmtours.com). For more information about Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, call 011-508-41-02-00 or visit www.st-pierre-et-miquelon.info . — C.M.