St. Paul’s River: The Once and Future Village

St. Paul’s River: The Once and Future Village explores the memories, hopes, and fears of residents in a remote coastal community near the Quebec-Labrador border who’ve experienced shattering changes in the fisheries on which they’ve so long depended. Independent filmmaker Louise Abbott produced this documentary under the auspices of the Whiteley Museum in St. Paul’s River as part of QAHN's 2020-2022 project "Belonging and Identity in English-speaking Quebec," sponsored by Quebec's Secrétariat aux relations avec les Québécois d’expression anglaise. Louise Abbott (www.louiseabbott.ca) is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker. She has produced numerous documentaries, including Dreamers and Steamers (2025) about the steamboat era on Lake Memphremagog, and seven illustrated books, including Islands of History (2025) about islands in the archipelagos of Old Fort and Blanc Sablon in Quebec. This film is part of a series of mini documentaries Abbott produced for a multimedia project for the Whiteley Museum called In Their Own Voice: Stories and Songs from St. Paul’s River, capturing the region’s unique culture, history, and maritime life. https://whiteley.miaexplore.com/en/