With a hazardous shoreline, pastel-coloured houses and Canadian flags flapping on every boat, the eastern gateway to the St. Lawrence River looks much more like the Maritimes than Quebec. Which is the way many residents say it should be.
Shopkeepers flagrantly break the province's sign laws.
Schoolchildren speak French only as a second language. The lower north shore is served only by floatplane and a weekly ferry, which takes 14 hours to reach the nearest road. Long a curse, such isolation is also proving to be a small blessing to the anglophone communities. Ms. Evans said the Quebec government has left her village alone, largely because it is closer to St. John's than Quebec City. At Harrington's only pub, fishermen drag their vowels, drink Labatt Blue and watch a U.S. country-music video channel.