Gina Deer turns the page

After almost a decade and a half of owning and operating Depanneur et Gas Guimond, Gina Deer is going home.

“It’s time. People in my family are getting older, and my brother is suffering from cancer,” said Deer, who officially sold her business last Friday in Ste. Lucie des Laurentides - less than 10 KM away from Tioweró:ton.

“That kind of gives you a whole reality check on life. I spend seven days a week working, and I realized I have to make a change,” said Deer.

In the beginning, Deer’s purchase of the operation in 2011 was born out of a desire to challenge herself by having her own business off-reserve while, at the same time, being a question of practicality.

“When it, the only gas station in Ste. Lucie, shut down, we had to drive to Ste. Agathe des Monts, a 15-minute drive there and a 15-minute drive back, with your gas cans in the back. It just was not practical,” said Deer.

“I told my husband, Ron, ‘You know what? We should open that gas station back.’”

The process to reopen the gas station was a lengthy one. The official re-opening happened in June 2011, three months after the purchase, due mostly to the fact that the station had been shut down for almost two years.

“It might have been easier just to start from scratch than to reopen something that had been sitting dormant for that long,” said Deer.

But nonetheless, through two stages of environmental assessment, economic assessments, the bank, and general bureaucratic delays, she got what she wanted, and they were open for business.

“It was just being persistent - and stubborn - that paid off,” said Deer.

A few years after operations resumed, Deer found herself open to selling the business. The gas station was placed on the market in 2018, and it took one year for an offer to come forward.

Shortly thereafter, the COVID-19 pandemic reached Quebec. Banks were no longer lending money for these kinds of transactions, so the sale was put on hold.

“They were shutting things down, and people were asking me to stay open, saying ‘we don’t want to go to Ste. Agathe for anything,’” said Deer.

And so, they did stay open, adding onto their regular depanneur offerings by providing some grocery store products, including SAQ products by operating as an “agency,” a point of sale that the crown corporation offers in third-party stores in remote areas.

“Our business more than doubled during COVID,” said Deer.

So, the sale was off - but they instead worked with the prospective buyer, by adding on a bakery and coffee shop where he could operate.

What makes Deer the proudest of the business over the years was that she did succeed in running a business off-reserve - and she feels she helped bridge the gap between the community of Ste. Lucie and the Kahnawa’kehró:non and Kanehsata’kehró:non who visit Tioweró:ton.

“When I started it, the first thing I did was contact the city hall, and I wanted to make sure that the mayor and counselors were comfortable having a Native person come in and open a business in the community,” said Deer.

“Let’s face it, we’ve been neighbours for many years, but there had been no relationship. I did not want to start a business where I would have people within the city council kind of making things difficult. I wanted to make sure we were welcome, and we were actually very welcome.”

Jessica Dumoulin, a resident of Ste. Lucie, has worked at the gas station for three years, getting her start when they needed an extra pair of hands and sticking around due to how much she enjoyed working there.

“It has been a very enriching time. They have a big heart, they are great to work with, and I find that they have really created a nice connection between the community of Ste. Lucie and Indigenous people. There are a lot of people who would never have thought about Indigenous people if they didn’t have the business here. It has created a lot of open mindednesses,” said Dumoulin.

“They have always been there to help the community. I just want to thank them for being there.”

On top of being an essential service for the community at the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic, Deer also helped by being part of an organized resistance to a proposed tree-cutting operation on Mount Kaaïkop in 2013.

Deer, at the time a sitting Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) chief, was asked if she would help in the fight against the cut.

“Of course, immediately we helped, because the impact of the cut would affect the territory of Tioweró:ton. I used to live out west. I’ve seen clear cuts, and it’s the most disgraceful thing that a business can do to the environment,” said Deer.

Deer went to several meetings with regional county municipality officials, got the support of the MCK and the mayor of Sainte-Lucie, and even received the visit of famed ecologist David Suzuki.

“He was impressed with the collaboration between the two communities, Native and non-Native,” said Deer.

Quebec’s Superior Court ruled in January 2014 that the cutting would not take place after all.

With the sale now finalized, she is very confident the new owners, Dominic and Melina Leveillé, will do a great job in her stead.

While they did not know Deer prior to purchasing Depanneur et Gas Guimond, the two new owners said that they had only heard good things about Deer and her husband.

“They managed to create a wonderful relationship with the people of Ste. Lucie, and they are appreciated by all,” the new owners said after the sale in a written statement.

“She worked hard to build the business, and we are very excited to take over the depanneur. We are also eager to learn to know the Mohawk community that comes to Tioweró:ton, as well as their traditions and beautiful culture.”

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