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The Great Upheaval

Jul
28
2010

The year 1755 saw the beginning of a dark era in Canadian history when the British government began deporting Acadians from the present New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island at the end of the French and Indian War.

Without making distinctions between the Acadians who had been peaceful and those who rebelled against the British occupation, the expulsion of all the Acadians was ordered by British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council. It led to the deaths of thousands of Acadians. The Acadians were given a choice to either swear allegiance to England or be expelled. When they refused, the British forces deported them.

Not all Acadians were deported by the British. A large number of Acadians fled overland, aided by their Mi'kmaq allies, and resettled in the colonies of New France, present-day Québec and New Brunswick. There was also a small guerrilla resistance led by Joseph Broussard, known as "Beausoleil". Others returned and settled in the region of Fort Sainte-Anne, now Fredericton, and were displaced again by the arrival of Loyalists during and after the American Revolution. In 1785 they created the first colony in the Upper Saint John River valley, near what is now Edmundston.

The deported Acadians found new homes in many parts of the United States from Massachusetts to the Carolinas. But the greatest concentration made their way south to Louisiana, bringing their distinct culture to the bayous and southern reaches of the Mississippi River. Today more than 400,000 Louisiana 'Cajuns' maintain their unique lifestyle and cuisine which has its roots in Maritime Canada!

In December 2003, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, declared the Crown's acknowledgement of (but did not apologise for) the Expulsion. She designated July 28 as "A Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval." This proclamation, often referred to as the Royal Proclamation of 2003, closed one of the longest open cases in the history of the British courts, initiated when the Acadian representatives first presented their grievances of forced dispossession of land, property and livestock in 1760.

So today we commemorate 'The Great Upheaval'

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The Teeswater.Ca Team are a group of people interested in providing local news of interest to everyone without needing the instant gratification of their name in (cyber)print.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
This work by Mark W. Law & The Teeswater.Ca Team is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.