The lone bank on Grand Manan is set to close in two months, but residents on the island are not ready to give up.
Scotiabank announced earlier this year that it would be closing its branch on Grand Manan later this summer.
Concerns about the impending closure were taken straight to the federal Department of Finance last week.
Mayor Bonnie Morse was part of a delegation that met with senior staff from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office.
“Our Member of Parliament, John Williamson, organized the meeting with two officials from Chrystia Freeland’s office. When you get to meet with someone at that level in the Department of Finance, it’s a pretty big deal,” Morse said in a recent interview.
“I think it was a positive meeting. Didn’t really expect there to be tangible results, and there weren’t, but it’s always good to have a fresh set of eyes look at the problem and talk about what some of the challenges are going to be for Grand Manan when the bank closes in August.”
Residents will have to take a 90-minute ferry ride from Grand Manan to Blacks Harbour. From there, it is a 20-minute drive to St. George, where the nearest bank is located.
There is also a four-hour wait between crossings most of the year. Residents who leave on the 7:30 a.m. crossing would have to wait for the 1:30 p.m. crossing to return home, meaning they would not get back to the island until 3 p.m. — seven-and-a-half hours after they left.
For those who choose the 11:30 a.m. crossing, it would be around 7 p.m. before they got back to Grand Manan.
Morse said the community has tried to get another bank or credit union to set up on the island but has not had any success to date.
They are still hoping to convince Scotiabank to stay, she said, but have started looking at other options in the meantime.
“We’re still hoping that we might be able to come up with something, whether it’s an ATM or some sort of creative solution to that. Really, I think for us, that’s probably the next step,” said Morse.
Grand Manan currently has cash dispensers on the island, she said, but the fees are “really high” since they are not affiliated with any financial institutions.
Morse said that also does not solve the problem for businesses looking to make cash deposits.
“If you have to pay a member of your staff to go to the bank [on the mainland] and it’s a full day of work essentially, it’s really not the most productive use of someone’s time,” she said.
“Conversely, for people who are working 9 to 5, if you need to go to the bank, where now you could maybe take an hour off, you’re looking at losing a full day’s pay just to go to the bank.”
The Scotiabank branch is set to close on Aug. 24.
