RCMP cuts ribbon on new station in Bay D'Espoir, almost 3 years after arsonist torched building
The Bay d'Espoir region took another step on Thursday in recovering from a devastating arson attack nearly three years ago.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police held a ceremony to reopen its station on the island's south coast. The building was the target of Donald Craig MacHaight on Jan. 17, 2017, along with the school and town hall.
It's been open since August, but it became official Thursday with dignitaries and senior officers in attendance.
"It means so much to the community," said Milltown-Head of Bay d'Espoir Mayor Georgina Ball.
"I guess we got so used to having [the RCMP] there and then when the building was burnt, we didn't quite know what the next step would be."
The building is on the same site as the former station, which was heavily damaged by fire and smoke.
Ball remembers the day of the fires very well. The deputy mayor called her at 5 a.m. and told her to look out the window. She could see smoke and fire emanating from the school and town hall.
"Everything was like chaos at that point."
Two years later, she said the fires have changed the town — but not in a negative way.
"I think a lot of us have become closer," she said.
"We're strong. Vigilant. We want to make our community better than it ever was. We're working at that and things are coming together."
The police station is the second building to reopen, one year after the town hall was rebuilt. The provincial government awarded a contract in August for a new school to be built in nearby St. Alban's. It's expected to be finished in 2021.
MacHaight is serving a four-year sentence for arson, with about a year and a half left to serve.
When asked if he could be welcomed back in the Coast of Bays area after his release, Ball said it will be a complicated issue and one they'll have to deal with together.
"It is [in] a sense about forgiveness. But when someone has a problem, which he did … we have to be human beings first. I knew the family quite well."
It's not going to be an easy task for anyone. - Mayor Georgina Ball on arsonist's release
During MacHaight's sentencing, a 25-page, handwritten manifesto was entered into the record. He explained that he went into a deep depression after the provincial government refused to compensate him for damage to his family home during a flood in October 2016.
The RCMP petitioned the court to force MacHaight to pay $1.5 million to pay for the damages to its detachment, but it was rejected by the presiding judge, calling it "cruel and unusual punishment."
MacHaight could conceivably be paroled any time now. The region has rebuilt, but his release could be the test of whether or not it has moved on.
"It's not going to be an easy task for anyone, I don't think, because of all the devastation," Ball said. "We'll just have to see where that's going to go."
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