Episode 10: The Newfoundlander-Melanie Rideout

                Walking with Melanie Rideout, with the Tablelands of Gros Morne National Park in the distance.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s declining population has been well documented over the last 30 years. In otherwise booming Canada, it is the only province to see continued decline. Take the capital city of St. John’s out of the equation(where over a third of the population lives), and the numbers are even more dire.

Particularly troubling has been a plunging birth rate. Although the province had more than 15,000 live births per year in the early 1960s, there were just 3,566 births in 2022-23.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, the province is now the oldest by population in the country. According to Stats Canada, 1 in 4 Newfoundlanders is over the age of 65. These figures are expected to rise to 1 in 3 being 65+ by 2043.

So what’s a young Newfoundlander to do? Well, clearly most leave. (Locals aren’t joking when they say that Fort McMurray, Alberta is the second largest city in Newfoundland). But for those who stay, or find themselves called back to the shores of their youth, there are rewards waiting.

On a recent trip to Gros Morne National Park, I met a remarkable young woman who is determined to stay in the province she will always call home. To do it she has to work several jobs to make ends meet, a common occurrence in small communities on the island.

Click below to join me for a walk with Melanie Rideout along the main street of Woody Point, Newfoundland, population 244.