Life was good for Jeanette Russell in 2021.
Married to a successful fishing enterprise owner and captain, she was mother of two children, Marc and Mckenzie. Now that her kids were adults, Jeanette was wondering how best to use her counselling psychology degree.
Jeanette had a busy lifestyle but, living in Mary’s Harbour, Labrador, there were lots of quiet spaces to contemplate and one of her favourites was walking a trail that led from the community to a hilltop where she could gaze over the vast expanse of the North Atlantic ocean and soak in its scenic wonder.
Friday, September 17, 2021, her tranquility was shattered.
It began as a lovely day. That afternoon, Jeanette decided to walk to Big Hill and enjoy the peacefulness of Labrador nature. At the top of the hill, she fixed her gaze in the direction of Battle Harbour, where Marc and his fishing mate Joey Jenkins were fishing on the last day of the season.
There was no sign of Marc’s vessel Island Lady, but that wasn’t worrisome because the guys might have gone into port or were fishing east of Battle Harbour. Just before returning home to cook supper, Jeanette was intrigued to hear a bird serenade her with a very clear and loud tune. She had walked that trail hundreds of times but had never heard that sound before. Searching to see what kind of bird it was, she walked around the tree where the sound was coming from, but there was nothing to see. Shortly after beginning her descent down the hill, a black butterfly flitted in front of her and stayed with her all the way as if guiding her.
Jeanette believes those two incidents were nature’s way of telling her to take note of that moment in time.
When Marc wasn’t home at his usual hour for supper, Jeanette figured the guys were on the wharf with their buddies discussing the end of the fishing season and perhaps enjoying a celebratory beer.
At approximately 6:30 p.m., everything changed.
The wharf manager called to ask if she had heard from Marc because he was concerned about the guys. He said he had a call from someone that he thought was Marc at 4:14 p.m. but it was noisy at that location, so he went outside the building to hear more clearly but the caller was no longer there. The manager waited but there was no further call.
The wharf manager’s call left Jeanette in a state of shock.
“I stood in my kitchen and thought, I have no idea what to do.”
After first calling a family member in Mary’s Harbour, she contacted her husband, Dwight Russell, who was also at sea. Jeanette was surprised to learn that Dwight was already aware that Marc and Joey had not returned to port and he was busy organizing a search effort. The veteran sea captain knew that every minute counts, so he started with contacting local fishermen and then called Coast Guard.
At approximately 8:00 p.m., the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Halifax initiated a search and rescue mission. A Hercules aircraft and Cormorant helicopter were dispatched from Nova Scotia and Gander. Two Coast Guard vessels were also dispatched from Newfoundland, and more vessels joined the search over the next couple of days. While all that effort was somewhat comforting, Jeanette realized that the long distances those aircraft and CG ships had to travel, it would take a long time before they were near Mary’s Harbour. That was her first sense of how inadequate Coast Guard search and rescue was for Labrador.
After several days searching, only a couple of fish tubs and gas cans were found. There was no sign of the Island Lady nor any sign of bodies.
As Jeannette struggled to deal with grief, she had a growing sense that she would strive for a better search and rescue system for Labrador.
In what she describes as her “from tragedy to advocacy” mission, Jeanette Russell has fought an intense, well-organized, time consuming and expensive fight to convince government to establish a SAR centre in Labrador.
She has attracted a lot of media attention and after four years has become a household name in Newfoundland and Labrador. Some of her many projects include working with other organizations such as the Fisheries Union (FFAW) and others. She also formed a group called Labrador Coalition for Search and Rescue.
Her approach was broad in scope, covering every issue from personally lobbying politicians and government bureaucrats, to improving safety devices such as locator positioning devices (EPIRBS) onboard vessels. In fact, her now ex-husband, Dwight, who is president of the Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Company, was instrumental in having the company provide funding for EPIRBS for 70 inshore fishing vessels in southeast Labrador. Jeannette’s most recent activity was carrying out a protest demonstration on September 17 in front of the Coast Guard’s Maritime Rescue Sub Centre in St. John’s. The protest brought wide media coverage, including an interview with Ian Hanomansing on CBC National that night.
Small accomplishments like the EPIRB issue are satisfying, but making gains with the federal government at both the bureaucratic and political level has been like dealing with statues. Some don’t even respond to her requests for information and those who do, have their standard rehearsed lines on topics including costs, Labrador’s small population and that they have a lifeboat station in St. Anthony, south of Labrador. She is then dismissed with silence.
She disputes government’s claim that a SAR station is too expensive.
Submitted photo.
“There is federal money already available in the Ocean Protection Plan and practically all of that is spent in Newfoundland. They have nine lifeboat stations and small inshore rescue resources on the island while Labrador, with 8,000 kilometres of coastline, is denied even just one such facility.” That’s why they’ve named Labrador “The Black Zone” (see graphic).
Jeanette dares to wonder out loud whether another reason for Ottawa’s denial is based on race.
“Half of Labrador’s population is Indigenous and when I look for government rationale I wonder; ‘is it racial?”’ adding that she can’t help but think that it must be about race when you look at the huge imbalance between the abundance of facilities on the island and nothing of substance in Labrador.
Four years of battling a brick wall has taken a toll on Jeanette.
Marc’s body was never recovered and without the tangible evidence of death that having the body provides for loved ones, closure is almost impossible to find, and that doubles the level of grief for the family, especially for mothers of young victims. Jeanette says the tragedy was even a contributing factor in her next big loss shortly after the accident — her marriage.
“We had some issues before the tragedy, but the added stress of losing Marc compounded matters greatly and within six months, my marriage ended.”
An additional upheaval of that magnitude so soon after the loss of her son turned what was left of Jeanette’s world upside down. She was so distraught that she left Mary’s Harbour and moved to St. John’s, even though that meant leaving family and friends behind. Losing that security network of “home” was hard to bear, especially when she needed it most.
“I admit that I had deep suicidal thoughts at that time,” she said.
However, Jeanette was also driven by a desperate need to try and make Labrador waters safer for fishing people so that others would not share Marc’s fate. That need consumed her as she worked day and night on her mission, thus moving her darkest thoughts a little further to the back of her mind.
A lot of things have changed in four years.
Jeanette is more reflective now and has come to terms with knowing she may not accomplish everything she once thought was her destiny to acquire at any costs.
“I still get angry and frustrated but I can carry those things better now,” she smiled, adding that she also has something new to focus her energy on. Her daughter was married in August this year and Jeanette is hoping that McKenzie and her son-in-law may need her sometimes, especially if they have a family. In fact, during her development through the grieving process, Jeanette wondered about children and how they deal with the catastrophic loss of a dearly loved one. So, she wrote a children’s book entitled Signs to Comfort Broken Hearts. Aimed at children from six to nine, she said it celebrates the enduring bonds of connection that can help navigate through grief. The book consists of 16 rhyming couplets that contains a powerful message for children. Those developments have opened her mind to view the world through a lens that was smashed four years ago.
Jeanette said she is not quitting her advocacy. She will always remain vocal and always push for justice and fairness for Labrador mariners to have SAR facilities in their region, but for the sake of her mental health, it’s time to take a breather.
“I think I’ve done all I can do. I don’t think anyone will say that I didn’t give it my best shot or that anyone else did more than I did,” she smiled.
