Chapter Five 99

Tignish is more independent than it was a hundred years ago in the days of the Myricks. Much of this is due to its adoption of the co-operative movement; the rest to its residents’ habit of going their own way, and looking after themselves, regardless of what other communities might be doing. It is more affected by both provincial and federal governments than it used to be - but so is every other community. Tignish, however, does not passively let government do what it likes, or, more frequently, fail to do anything; it will lobby and push for many years, if necessary, to get something done, such as repairs to the harbour or a new school building. Though one hundred miles is no longer the great distance it was as recently as fifty years ago, the distance between Tignish and Charlottetown remains a very long one psychologically from the point of View of both places; the myths of the wild people at North Cape and the lazy, corrupt bureaucrats in Charlottetown are just as current as ever.

With regard to other kinds of independence, Tignish seems to have embraced much that is characteristic of twentieth-century North American life without having been deeply affected by it. The eagerness of the community to help its members who are in trouble by organizing benefit evenings and other events is remarkable. So is the respect shown to the elderly, even on Prince Edward Island, where such behaviour is relatively common. The community’s children are still recognizable as such even

after they have been in schools made up of young people from all over West Prince County.