Four years after post-tropical storm Fiona damaged their home in September 2022, Alma and James Doucette have been living in a garage on their Upper Malagash, N.S., property due to an unresolved insurance claim. The public adjuster working on their case says he continues to work on unresolved Fiona claims.
'I shouldn't have to worry every day, 'Are the kids gonna get hurt?' says Alma Doucette
Alma Doucette gets choked up when she thinks back to her routine of walking one of her grandchildren to the morning school bus stop. Her granddaughter, who is on the autism spectrum, struggles deeply with change — and every walk to the bus stop in recent years was a reminder of that.
"She'd look at the old house and cry because she couldn't understand why, that she couldn't live in her house 'cause we've had her since birth and to see her like that, that really got to me," said Alma.
For nearly four years, the Doucettes have lived in a garage on their Upper Malagash, N.S., property after their home was damaged in September 2022 by post-tropical storm Fiona, one of the most powerful and destructive storms in Canadian history. The public adjuster working on their case says he continues to work on a number of unresolved Fiona claims.
The garage that Alma, her husband, James, and three of their grandchildren call home has interior plywood walls and a concrete floor.
"I shouldn't have to worry every day, 'Are the kids gonna get hurt?' because we don't have a proper home," said Alma.
Fiona caused the home's roof to leak and the basement to flood, and mould soon accumulated. Because of the damage, the home was torn down in 2024, and today only a patch of weeds remains where it once stood.
Because their home was uninhabitable after the storm and their insurer, Aviva Canada, covered rental housing for only about two months, the Doucettes say they felt they had no choice but to move into the garage.
James said the insurance company didn't dispatch anyone to undertake repairs, so he went up onto the roof of the house to install some tarps. When he was coming down, he fell, hurting his hand and wrist. He then went to a hospital for treatment.
"The doctor didn't worry about my hand stuff. He thought I had dementia because I was so messed up. I didn't know if I was coming or going and I was saying just weird things to him, so he sent me for a dementia test and it was just caused by stress," James said.
He used to have a business selling oysters, but between the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and stress from the insurance ordeal, he can no longer work.
The garage was formerly used for his business, so with nowhere to turn, the family moved in there. It initially didn't have electricity and they had to run extension cords from their house to power things.
Frustrated the matter wasn't getting resolved with Aviva Canada, the family turned to a public adjuster, Francis Martin of ClearClaim Adjusters, to help them.
Unlike an independent adjuster who represents insurers, public adjusters represent property owners. They are paid either a commission out of the insured's final settlement or based on an hourly rate plus expenses.
"It's one of the most heart-wrenching cases I've seen in my entire life … it's a family that are trying to do their best," said Martin. "They don't come from means. And after the loss, they were just sort of left on their own."
In a followup email, he said the Doucettes "were made to feel as though they didn't deserve respect and decency. The handling of the file had the same flavour."
Martin has worked in the insurance industry for 13 years and started his career with Aviva.
"That's why it breaks my heart even more," said Martin.
The matter is also going before the courts, with the family suing Aviva Canada in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
To make ends meet, the Doucettes have had to sell many of their possessions, including fishing gear, a wood splitter and all-terrain vehicles, and assets like a 22-hectare woodlot. They even sold a dishwasher they had bought but never used.
Martin said the damage their home initially sustained could have been repaired if it had been dealt with right away. However, because of delays that he attributes to the insurer, the home became unfixable.
"Mould sets in and starts eating away at the home and then the nails [in] the walls start to rust and everything just starts to collapse and eventually the home didn't sustain itself after a while," said Martin.
Aviva provided the family with some money, which they used to install a wood stove in the garage and set up sleeping quarters upstairs. They chose to spend the money on the garage because it would not have gone far enough to repair the main house.
In a statement, Aviva Canada said it understands having a claim can be a difficult and stressful experience, and that it strives to settle claims as fairly and quickly as possible.
It said it has a "small number" of Fiona-related claims that are unresolved as they go through legal proceedings.
"We're also committed to treating all customers fairly, professionally and with respect," the company said. "Our expectation is that all claim decisions and customer interactions are based on the facts of each claim and conducted in line with our customer service standards."
A new start
While the insurance dispute drags on, Martin has arranged for the family to purchase a lot and mobile home in Digby County so they can resume their life.
The family expects to move before the end of the month.
Alma said she can't wait to leave Upper Malagash, where there are simply too many bad memories.
"I wanna give better for the kids," she said. "They deserve better than this."
