Randy Jones, pillar of Quebec's Lower North Shore, is dead at 69

One of the most influential voices advocating for Quebec's Lower North Shore region has fallen silent. Randy Jones, a political figure and ardent defender of his region, has died. He was 69.

Born in Harrington Harbour in 1956, Jones distinguished himself through his involvement at several levels of government. He served as mayor of Gros-Mécatina, for 16 years, which includes the village of La Tabatière, where he lived.

He entered politics in 2005, after spending many years as a ship captain.

That same year, he became mayor of Gros-Mécatina and, soon after, ran for federal office, but was defeated in the 2008 federal election, receiving only 14 per cent of the region’s vote.

He championed the extension of Route 138 throughout his life and was an outspoken advocate for his area.

“In 1988, I went to Quebec City with a bucket of water and protested for two days in front of the National Assembly, until Mr. Pierre Paradis [a former MNA] came out and said, ‘For heaven’s sake, Randy, come inside—we’ll talk to you,’” Jones recalled in a Radio-Canada interview. “A week later, we got our waterworks system.”

Voters on the Lower North Shore supported Jones numerous times, with residents of Mutton Bay and La Tabatière electing him for five terms. He was also elected warden of the Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent regional county municipality in 2017.

Following his most recent election, in 2021, Jones reflected on his career in an interview with Radio-Canada’s Boréale 138. He said he considered the arrival of cellular service and high-speed internet in his remote region that year as his greatest achievement.

“When you talk about getting chills down your spine — it really is a powerful moment,” he said, noting that as soon as it arrived in the region, cellular service helped save lives.

While he was an elected representative of a predominantly anglophone region, Jones spoke impeccable French and defended Quebec several times.

For instance, in 2014, he opposed the separatist movement in Blanc-Sablon, which was considering leaving the province to join neighbouring Labrador.

The following year, Jones even went so far as to say that, if he had to do it again, he would have voted “yes” in the 1995 Quebec referendum, as he was exasperated by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.

Jones’s relationships with his counterparts within the municipal administration were not always smooth.

As mayor of Gros-Mécatina, he initiated legal proceedings in January 2016 against five municipal councillors, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars from them. They resigned in April 2016.

Since the municipal council was no longer able to sit, it was placed under the administration of the Commission municipale du Québec until the next elections.

Jones resigned from his post as mayor in 2021, shortly after he was re-elected, citing “difficult working climate” within the Gros-Mécatina municipal council. His seat as warden of the Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent RCM was also left vacant.

Marilène Gill, MP for the federal riding of Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, paid tribute to Jones in a social media post on Wednesday, thanking him for his “raw strength” and “hearty sense of humour.”

“Your face will always be, for me, intertwined with the soul of the coasters—the face of love, dignity, determination, perseverance, and kindness,” Gill wrote. “The White Route will always be open for you, while we build the one you dreamed of. We will miss you.”

In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, Gill described Jones as a giant, not only because of his stature, but also because of his “enormous love” for the region.

“A lot of people acknowledge the existence of the Lower North Shore because of Randy, because he spoke in the media about the Lower North Shore that he loved deeply,” she said.

Gill said she hopes people will honour Jones's legacy by continuing to advocate for the Lower North Shore with dignity and respect.

“Everybody deserves services, a road, a boat ... postal services, food, medication in a place where we choose to live, where our ancestors have been living for 200 years or more,” Gill said.

The MRC Golfe-du Saint-Laurent said in a media statement published Wednesday that Jones was a "great Coaster who devoted himself, body and soul to the Lower North Shore."

"He readily admitted to playing the role of mayor, psychologist, and confidant to his fellow citizens. With his Malecite origins and bilingualism, he also embodied, single-handedly, the multifaceted identity of the Lower North Shore," the statement reads.

When he died, Jones, who had been a smoker, was battling lung cancer. In a recent interview with Radio-Canada, he said he hoped the story of his illness would help convince people to quit smoking.

"If one person will stop smoking," he said, "the battle I'm currently fighting will have been worth it."