A CANADIAN TRAGEDY OF INJUSTICE:
THE ACADIAN EXPULSION
(DEPORTATION/DIASPORA)
“Far asunder, on separate coasts, the Acadians
landed… Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they
wandered from city to city.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie
ALSO KNOWN AS:
 The
Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, The
Deportation, the Acadian Expulsion, or to the
deportees, Le Grand Dérangement
EARLY ACADIA
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Acadia began at Port Royal in 1605.
During the 17th century, about 60 French families
(with names such as Gallant, Boutilier, Thibault,
Surette, Legere, Fougere, Samson, D’Entremont,
Babineau, Gaudet, LeBlanc, Boudreau, Saulnier,
Dumaresq, Gagnon, Aucoin, Doucet, Doucette, Labatt,
Touesnard, Cyr, Deveau, Deveaux, etc) were
established in Acadia.
They developed friendly relations with the Mi’kmaq,
with whom they intermarried, learning their hunting
and fishing techniques.
The Acadians lived mainly in the coastal regions of the
Bay of Fundy; farming with dyke systems.
FARMING & DYKES
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Aboiteau farming on reclaimed marshland.

Labour-intensive method using dykes.

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Dykes stop high tides from inundating
marshland. A wooden aboiteau built into the
dyke, with a hinged door that swings open at low
tide to allow fresh water to drain from the
farmland but swings shut at high tide to prevent
salt water from flooding the fields.
Aboiteau farming of salt marshes tied to
modernization of agriculture in the 19th and
early 20th centuries.
Acadian Culture
The Acadians were and remain very family oriented
devout Catholics. Like their French ancestors, they
were known for their excellent culinary skills.
 Caught
in the middle between French (Cape
Breton) and British (NS Mainland).
 Over
74 years, there were 6 wars in Acadia and
Nova Scotia in which the Wabanaki Confederacy
and some Acadians resisted British takeover of
the region.
 France
lost political control of Acadia in 1710, but
the Mi'kmaq did not concede land to the British.
Along with some Acadians, the Mi'kmaq used
military force to resist the founding of British
(Protestant) settlements by making raids on
British towns.
 The
Mi'kmaq assisted the Acadians in resisting
the British during the Expulsion.
 1710:
The British Conquest of Acadia.
 Acadians
refused to sign an unconditional oath of
allegiance to Britain.
 Various
British.
Acadian militia operations against the
 Supply
lines to the French at Louisbourg and Fort
Beausejour.
 This
is often ignored. Acadians are usually shown
to be neutral victims of imperial wars.
Reasons Against Unconditional
Oaths to Britain

Some anti-British sentiment.

Religion: British monarch was the head of the Protestant
Church of England.

Male Acadians might have to fight against France during
wartime.

Mi'kmaq might perceive this as acknowledging the British
claim to Acadia rather than the Mi'kmaq. Dangers of attack
from the Mi'kmaq.
Claude Picard, Ships Take Acadians into Exile
WHAT WAS IT?

The Deportation was the forced population
transfer (or ethnic cleansing!) of the Acadian
population from Nova Scotia, P.E.I., and Cape
Breton between 1755 and 1763.
WHERE IS IT?



Acadia/Acadie: the name given to lands in a
portion of the French colonial empire.
Parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritimes, and New
England as far south as Philadelphia.
People living in Acadia, and sometimes former
residents and their descendants, are called
Acadians.
WHO ORDERED THE DEPORTATION?

The British governor Charles Lawrence and the
Nova Scotia Council.
EVENTS LEADING TO THE
DEPORTATION

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The idea of solving the Acadian “problem”
through full scale deportation, was not new.
The Acadian “Problem” had existed since the late
1600s.
RELEVANT HISTORY
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Acadia was captured by the British from the
French in Queen Anne’s War(1702–1713).
The British conquest was confirmed in the Treaty
of Utrecht (1713).
The French kept Ile Royale (Cape Breton), Ile
Saint-Jean (P.E.I) and parts of New Brunswick.
RELEVANT HISTORY CONTINUED…
 1720-1740
–Building of Louisbourg at Ile
Royale (Cape Breton)
 1749
– Creation of Halifax as British
stronghold to counter Louisbourg and
protect Boston/New England.
 1750-51
– French strengthen position at
Fort Beausejour in New Brunswick near
Sackville; Acadians were in the middle.
BUT, WHY IN 1755?

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War starts up again in 1756 – The Seven Years War.
It started in North America in 1754 as the French and
Indian War but not declared by Britain till 1756.
While the relationship between the French and the
English had always been filled with animosity,
tensions heightened.
British worry that the Acadians will be disloyal, they
tried to make them swear an oath or be deported.
IN 1755


That year, the British attacked the French Fort
Beausejour during the beginnings of a major
military offensive to gain greater control of the
continent.
Within the walls of the fort, 300 Acadians were
found. Despite claims that they had been forced
to take up arms against their will, the discovery
completely eroded British trust of the Acadians.
ATTACK ON FORT BEAUSEJOUR
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Thomas Pinchon, the fort’s supply clerk had been sowing
doubt among the Acadians for days before the Fort fell.
The French later discovered, that Pinchon was a spy who
had funneled information, including the plans to the fort, to
the British.
Lawrence was raging mad over the amount of Acadians
who had rallied to Fort Beausejour’s defense.
Lawrence said, “Their pretending to have been forced to
take up arms is an insult upon Common Sense.” and “The
Acadians will prove for ever a Thorn in our Side.”
He made sure that the colonial office in London found out
about the 300 Acadians present at the Fort.
FORT BEAUSEJOUR
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE


Early in July 1755 - Lawrence orders Acadian
leaders to appear before the Halifax Council to
sign an oath of allegiance.
The Acadians will not sign, but will hand over
their firearms.
ONE LAST CHANCE

On July 28 of 1755, Lawrence gave the Acadians
one last opportunity to swear allegiance to the
British Crown. The Acadians again refused,
believing that this demand was no different than
ones made over the past few decades.
IN THE WEEKS THAT FOLLOWED…


Lawrence, “Destroy all the villages….and use every
other method of distress.”
Carried out by 2000 New England militiamen who
herded the Acadians together at their settlements and
sent them on ships bound for the 13 American
colonies, the Caribbean, back to France and England.
The largest group went to Louisiana, a French colony.
The order to deport the Acadians read by Winslow in a
church in Grand-Pré.
Parks Canada - Grand Pré National
Historic Site - Grand-Pré's Legacy
THE EXPULSION
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The New Englanders burned the Acadians’ barns
and houses to deprive them of shelter if they
tried to stay behind.
Women and children took to the woods in hiding
(Mi’Kmaq help).
Families were broken up as the British sent ships
from the same villages to different destinations
(intentional to kill their culture/cultural
genocide).
THE ACADIAN REACTION
 The
church erupted in shouts and cries. Every
well-tanned face was frozen in shock or twisted
in rage. What had they done to deserve such
punishment? Where were they being sent?
What would become of their wives and
children? At first, few could grasp the
enormity of what was happening. Weeks later,
Winslow would note, many still found it hard
to believe they were being stripped of their
property and banished from their homeland (Jobb 119).
THEIR FATE
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The British response was swift and unforgiving.
Before 1755 was over, an estimated 6,000
Acadians were rounded up as prisoners and
forced onto ships bound for the 13 colonies, The
Caribbean, Britain, and France.
Nearly half would die en route.
THEIR FATE CONTINUED…
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The deportations lasted for seven years.
In the end, Acadians were sent to Massachusetts, New
York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North and
South Carolina, Georgia and England, most of which
were unprepared for their arrival.
In total, the British are estimated as deporting 75% of
the Acadian population of 13,000. Seven thousand
were deported in the first years alone. Another 3000
had been deported by 1762.
BRITISH ULTERIOR MOTIVES?
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British desired Acadian lands for the settlement
of Protestants from Britain, New England, and
Germany (around Lunenburg).
These settlers came to be known as the “New
England Planters,” the ancestors of most modern
Annapolis Valley citizens.
YouTube - The Acadians Deportation
THE ACADIANS IN LOUISIANA
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1756 – a group of Acadians was sent to England
and put into internment camps until France took
them back in 1763.
They had difficulty adjusting to French society
and could not find comfortable homes.
1600 of them sailed for New Orleans, Louisiana,
a Spanish colony, in 1785 to join others who had
settled there earlier from 1766-1770.

This is where we get the word “Cajun”.
EFFECTS ON THE MI’KMAQ

The deportation destroyed the friendly social and
economic relationships on which Aboriginal
people had depended for nearly 150 years and led
to poor relations with the British that culminated
in wars and the now infamous treaties of the
1750s.
THE RETURN OF THE ACADIANS!
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By 1764, the Acadians were permitted to return
to NS, NB and PEI.
An estimated 3000 returned.
By 1800, there were 4000 Acadians living in NS,
3800 in NB, and 700 in PEI.
Most settled in Cheticamp in CB and the SW of
NS, in Malpeque in PEI, and to vacant land
throughout NB.
A NEW IDENTITY
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The new Acadian identity was centered around
the church since very few other aspects of their
culture remained intact.
The Expulsion unexpectedly acted as a unifying
force and helped to create a uniquely Acadian
identity that continues to this day.
2012: Grand Pré named UNESCO World
Heritage Site.