There is no economic basis for staying...   Many, many white folk in Canada have left Ireland, the Ukraine, Portugal etc. because there was no work.  I personally have left PQ, Ontario, Alberta and Canada itself to find work.  I dig down but find it hard to see how it is a good idea to sit on your hands and hope things will improve.  Even traditional communities would move to where the caribou are and the soil was less depleted.  

The Irish who felt a strong attachment to the land during the potato famine died.  The smarter ones left.  Either you figure out how to make a living or you don't get one.