Au revoir, Acadia!
It’s one of the saddest stories in Canadian history. One day in 1755, British soldiers suddenly appeared at the doors of French settlers living peacefully in Acadia. They forced entire families onto ships sailing south, to the faraway American colonies. Those who tried to escape were hunted down. All the Acadians were forced from their homes and threatened by the British never to return.
Acadia was the French name for what is now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Acadians were French, but they had long been settlers in Canada. They were hard-working farmers who had no interest in the wars raging between Britain and France over their land. When asked to pledge an oath of allegiance to Britain, the Acadians refused, because they wanted to remain neutral. The British responded violently, forcing them out.
The Acadian Deportation was a tragedy. Many Acadians died on the dangerous sea journey, and those who survived in America mourned their lost homeland. They vowed to return to Acadia one day, and many succeeded, slowly and secretly.
Canada Post marked the 250th anniversary of the Acadian Deportation with a domestic rate (50¢) stamp that reproduces an earlier Canadian stamp, from 1930, showing the Acadian village of Grand-Pré. |
