TRANamr

Not to be confused with Cadiens.

Acadian descendants span all across Quebec, making up about 15 percent of the population.In fact, more than 50 percent of Quebecers with French-Canadian ascendance have Acadian origins.

Definitions

Acadianité

The French term acadianité is generally used to refer to Acadian identity, language, culture and history. In the Maritimes, all Francophones are considered Acadian. Even a large number of Anglophones are considered anglicized Acadians. In Quebec, an Acadian is generally defined as any Francophone who has an Acadian accent or affinity by birth or through marriage. Since the term Acadian does not only refer to Francophones from the Atlantic Coast of Canada, the Acadian population is always a factor to consider. According to a 2006 census by Statistics Canada, there were 96,145 Acadians living in Canada. When it comes to the question of ethnic origin, most people who met the definition of an Acadian had to select a different ethnicity on a census form. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is that the option to identify oneself as Acadian did not exist prior to 1981. Since then, the census form has been modified, and as a result the number of people reported to be Acadian kept increasing. This increase did not correspond to the actual increase of the population. A survey conducted by Léger & Léger in 1990 concluded that one-sixth of Quebec’s population has an Acadian heritage. There are Acadian families living in Montreal, Saguenay, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Lanaudière, Montérégie, Mauricie, Bellechasse, Côte-Nord and Matapedia. Several authors, such as genealogist Bona Arsenault, confirm that there are nearly 1 million Acadians in Quebec.

History

First Acadians

In 1604, Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Du Gua de Monts led French settlers to the Saint Croix River in New Brunswick, where they became the first Acadians. After the Great Upheaval a number of these Acadians fled to Quebec seeking refuge.

Re-establishment of Acadian Communities

Following the Treaty of Paris in 1763, British authorities allowed Acadians to return to Canada. Acadians slowly started to return and rebuild their communities in Quebec after seeking refuge in British colonies during the Great Upheaval. Some Acadians decided to stay in Quebec City, despite the many damages following the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759. However, many chose to settle in smaller areas along the Saint Lawrence River, as well as the Acadia River.

Having escaped imprisonment and deportation by the English authorities, Acadian priests, Le Guerne, Dosque, Germain and Labrosse made their way to Quebec City, bringing along other refugees. Some of these people chose to stay and settle in Quebec City. Many also chose to settle near the city, in areas along the Saint Lawrence River, such as Îles d’Orléans, Ancienne-Lorette, Beauport, Charlesbourg and Beaumonte.

Many other Acadians settled in the Montérégie region, in Southwest Quebec. In 1768, an Acadian parish founded an area they named Acadie, along the Acadia River. Today, Acadie is an area in the city of Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu. Acadians quickly began to prosper from the fertile soil in the Montérégie region. The Church of Sainte- Marguerite-de-Blairfindie de L’Acadie was built in 1801, and by 1816 the town’s population had soon reached 3,000 people. Parishes were also developed in areas such as Saint-Luc, Napierville, Saint-Jacques-le Mineur and Saint-Blaise-sur-Richelieu.

Meanwhile, other previously deported Acadians settled in the Southern Montérégie region, along the lower valley of the Richelieu River, in areas such as Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Ours, Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu and Saint-Roch-de-Richelieu. By 1770, 13 Acadian families who had been previously deported were settled in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu. In 1776, Simon Thibodeau started selling his pottery and ceramics in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu. He chose this location because of the blue-gray clay near the riverbanks in this area. Thibodeau helped develop the ceramic industry in this area, as well as in Saint-Roch-de-Richelieu, which prospered for over a century. Also, as there were battles both in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu and Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, many Acadians took part in the Patriots’ War (1837-38).

Many felt that the Acadian culture in the Montérégie region was diluting because of its proximity to larger towns and the mobility of the population. To help promote Acadian culture to Acadian descendants, there are celebrations called Tintamarres that celebrate the survival of Acadian people and their culture. There are also organizations, such as the World Acadian Congress, who help host Acadian family reunions across Canada.

Many Acadians who took refuge in Quebec settled in the Saint-Sulpice Seigniory, in the Lanaudière region. The Sulpicians gave the Acadians favourable settling conditions along the banks of the L’Assomption River and the Achigan River, where they founded Saint-Jacques-de-la-Nouvelle-Acadie in 1772.

Acadians from Prince Edward Island were attracted to the Matapédia Valley because of the land’s rich potential. They then founded the village of Saint-Alexis-de-Matapédia in 1870.

Acadian Renaissance

The Acadian Renaissance was a period of collective reaffirmation of Acadian identity in cultural, geographic, political and economic areas. In Quebec, the Renaissance focused on the reassertion of the Acadian cultural identity.

Several publications contributed to the Acadian Renaissance:

• In 1845, François-Xavier Garneau started the Histoire du Canada in Quebec which discussed Acadians.
• In 1847, an American named Henry Longfellow published a poem called Evangeline, which created a better understanding of the separations Acadians faced during The Great Upheaval.
• Starting in 1859, François-Edme Rameau de Saint-Père contributed to the Renaissance by publishing Acadian history books.
• In 1869, La Gazette des Familles Acadiennes et Canadiennes newspaper came to Quebec. The newspaper was published for approximately ten years.
• In 1887 and 1888, Father Henri-Raymond Casgrain published Pèlerinage au Pays d'Évangéline, a book that impacted the population. During this time he also published a series of Acadian documents found in France.
• In 1894, he also published Une Seconde Acadie.

There were also organizations that contributed to the Renaissance:

• In 1834, the first Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society was created in Montreal. This association promoted nationalism and the defence of linguistic and cultural heritage.
• In 1880, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society in Quebec invited Maritime Acadian delegates to their second major national convention. At this event, Pascal Poirier gave a speech on Acadians after the Canadian Confederation. This event inspired the organization of the first National Acadian Convention in Memramcook, New Brunswick in 1881.

References

External Links

• (in French) Fédération acadienne du Québec
• (in French) Musée acadien du Québec
• (in French) Présence acadienne dans la toponymie du Québec, Commission de la toponymie du Québec