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JOHN CROSBIE (THEN FEDERAL MINISTER OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS):
- PETER MANSBRIDGE (HOST):
The legacy of Newfoundland's cod collapse. Twenty-five years later, has a lesson been learned?
KAREN DWYER (BIOLOGIST):
You don't want to get it wrong twice.
PETER MANSBRIDGE (HOST):
It has been 25 years since a dark day in Newfoundland.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN (NEWFOUNDLANDER):
A lot of people's homes are going to be gone, cars gone. This is going back to the soup kitchen days.
PETER MANSBRIDGE (HOST):
Desperate times were in store when the cod fishery closed. Now, some people fear what might come next. Twenty-five years ago the ban on fishing cod spread misery through Newfoundland. Some critics have changed their tune. -
(Archives) I didn't take the fish from the goddamn waters.
PETER MANSBRIDGE (HOST):
Tempers are bound to burn hot when a whole way of life is under threat. That was the case 25 years ago in Newfoundland-and-Labrador when the federal government shut down the northern cod fishery. Stocks of the fish were critically low, almost to the point of no return. So just like that, tens of thousands of people saw their livelihood disappear. Tonight, Reg Sherren revisits those hard, hard times. Has anything really changed in the quarter century since? Here's Reg.
REG SHERREN (REPORTER):
Well, Peter, this isn't exactly the picture that comes to mind for most people when they think of Newfoundland. But 25 years ago these doors and what was going on, on either side, represented the end of almost 500 years of Newfoundland history, fishing the northern cod. It was quite a scene playing out on national television. Outside, barred from the room, angry Newfoundland fishermen trying to get in.
JOHN CROSBIE (THEN FEDERAL MINISTER OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS):
(Archives) This is an amount that the… that we think should look after any emergency.
REG SHERREN (REPORTER):
While inside, federal Fisheries Minister John Crosbie was presiding over the largest mass layoff in Canadian history.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (REPORTER):
(Archives) Mr. Crosbie, did you expect this kind of reaction when you brought this announcement down?
JOHN CROSBIE (THEN FEDERAL MINISTER OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS):
(Archives) They don't need to go berserk, trying to batter on doors to frighten me.
REG SHERREN (REPORTER):
But this day, July...