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Expulsion and exile

Broadcast Date: Feb. 15, 1966

Some are forced into hiding, setting up new homes along the St. Lawrence River in the Gaspé Peninsula. Others are exiled to France and England, and a large group travel south and attempt to rebuild their French colony in Louisiana. They are the francophone Acadians — innocents caught in a territorial power struggle between Britain and France. This CBC Television clip examines the history of the ever-resilient Acadians.

Expulsion and exile

• In 1604, settlers from France crossed the ocean and established communities along Canada's east coast in present day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, known as "l'Acadie." More immigrants came over the next few years to develop the fertile lands. Tension mounted as France and Britain each made territorial claims on this same stretch of land. Britain assumed control of the region with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

• After the Treaty of Utrecht, conflict abounded between the British powers and the French citizens in Acadia. Fearing a potential rebellion and union with the nearby French forces, British authorities demanded that the Acadians pledge an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. Wanting to remain neutral in the British-French struggle for land, the Acadians resisted swearing allegiance but finally agreed. Unsure of their loyalty, the British forces deported or imprisoned the Acadians between 1755 and 1758.

• It is estimated that 7,000 to 11,000 people were deported from the Acadian region. Approximately 3,000 others went into hiding.

• Some Acadians returned to the region following the Seven Years' War which decisively terminated any French interests or authority in the Maritimes and New France. The Acadians felt that they would no longer be caught between the two warring interests of Britain and France and could at last return to their homeland. But when they returned, the Acadians found that land had already been settled, forcing them to move up to the north shore of the coast.

• Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie, written by the American Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is the most famous depiction of the expulsion. The poem tells the story of Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lajeunesse, who are engaged to be married in Acadia "home of the happy." The couple are tragically separated during the deportation. Evangeline becomes a nun and spends her life desperately trying to locate Gabriel. She wanders the American Midwest and many years later finds an elderly Gabriel, dying of smallpox in a poorhouse.

• Evangeline became the face of the deportation and became an emblem of the Acadian struggle. A statue of Evangeline was erected in Grand-Pré near Wolfville, N.S.

Expulsion and exile

Medium: Television

Program: CBC Newsmagazine

Broadcast Date: Feb. 15, 1966

Guest(s):

Host: Kingsley Brown

Duration: 2:58

Last updated:
Jan. 15, 2005