Community Life

In the seventeenth century, the development of rigid social stratification among the Acadians was impeded by a number of factors, including England’s control of the colony from 1654 to 1671. One reflection of the society’s relative egalitarianism was that, even following the return of the colony to France, seigneurial land tenure never took root. After 1670, when proprietors obtained new concessions of land in Acadia, acknowledgment was often made of the rights of settlers who, without legally registered title, had already established themselves. For example, the founding of Beaubassin in 1672 by Jacques Bourgeois and his family was a matter of their establishing homes first and seeking permission from the authorities afterwards. Similarly, land grants made to Leneuf de la Vallière in 1676 contained specific clauses of protection for the colonists already resident there.

This pattern of proprietorship in the context of life on a frontier led to the development of a community with a permeable social structure. In 1702 the French surgeon and poet Dièreville visited the colony and wrote a lengthy description of it in mediocre verse. For him, moulded by life in the deeply status-conscious France of Louis XIV, the Acadians were a people without any sense of social hierarchy, and he noted particularly that marriage patterns took no account of birth. Modern scholarship is qualifying such observations, but it nonetheless seems clear that Acadian society had a high degree of homogeneity. Of course, there were differences in standards of living. Recent archeological excavations have shown a variation in house size within the Acadian communities, and the unearthing of glassware and clothing indicates the presence of a number of Acadian families with some wealth. Further, records of the Acadians deported to Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia reveal that several had taken coinage with them. As the years of exile passed, divisions within the Acadian community tended to disappear. The common experience of deportation became of greater significance than small variations of economic standing. Indeed, ethnic origin proved a bond capable of overcoming most distinctions among the Acadians for many years after 1755.

The very absence of a specific geo-political entity called Acadia after 1763 meant that the nurture and preservation of Acadian identity as more than a quirk of individual heritage demanded strong and deeply felt convictions as to the reality of the group’s existence. In the face of continued pressure by the anglophone majority for the Acadians to become assimilated into the larger culture – pressures that increased when Irish Catholic bishops were appointed to the Maritimes – Acadian community life has centred upon the preservation of Acadian ethnicity. Over the years, there has been a continuous debate in Acadian communities as to what constitutes that identity. It is a debate that embraces most of the arguments about national symbols and beliefs common to any people, and its emphasis changes according to time and place. What gives the debate particular power, however, is its impact on the everyday lives of Acadians: the patterns of education, the social interaction between Acadians and other groups, the character of religious traditions, and the style of political action.

Of fundamental importance to the debate is the belief that Acadian history is the story of a self-sufficient, pastoral, God-fearing people who were driven from their homeland for no fault of their own and who suffered exile with Christian fortitude and resignation. This is view enshrined in Longfellow’s poem Evangeline, published in 1847, which revolves around a young woman’s search for her true love, from whom she had been parted by the deportation. For Longfellow, the poem was above all a story of a woman’s fidelity, but for the Acadians it had a larger significance. Translated into French by Pamphile Le May and published in Quebec in 1865, the poem swiftly became widely known among the Acadians, for whom it was a vivid, if not entirely accurate, account of their historical experience. In 1866 it was adopted as a text for classes at the Collège Saint-Joseph in Memramcook, New Brunswick, and in 1867 copies of the poem were distributed with an early issue of the first Acadian newspaper, Le Moniteur acadien (The Acadian Monitor; Shediac, 1867–1918, 1924–26). In the 1850s, as the Acadian community attempted to strengthen its identity in relation both to the anglophones of the Maritimes and to the francophones of Quebec, the poem proved to be of great symbolic importance.

Between 1881 and 1913 the Acadian community was reinvigorated by nine national conventions: at Memramcook in 1881; at Miscouche, P.E.I., in 1884; at Pointe de l’Eglise (Church Point) in 1890; at Arichat in 1900; at Caraquet, in 1905; at Saint-Basile, New Brunswick, in 1908; and at Tignish, P.E.I., in 1913. The first convention, at Memramcook, drew 5,000 participants and resulted in the selection of an Acadian patron saint, Mary Mother of God, and of an Acadian national day (15 August, the feast of the Assumption). The convention at Miscouche selected the Acadian flag – a tricolour with star – and the Acadian national hymn, “Ava Maria Stella.” The first three conventions, in particular, also outlined programs and initiatives for a future effort to strengthen the Acadians’ sense of themselves as a community of survivors, of French-speaking Catholics hard pressed by fate yet capable of resisting assimilation by a Protestant and English-speaking majority.

The work of these conventions was augmented by the Société Nationale de l’Assomption, which was formally organized in 1890. Its membership was made up of the Acadian elite, who represented the various parishes. In 1957 the name was changed to the Société Nationale des Acadiens in order to end confusion with the insurance company and mutual-fund association, the Société Mutuelle de l’Assomption (formerly La Société Assomption). Under both names, the organization has been a major force in developing conventions as a means of articulating Acadian goals and aspirations. It has proved to be a major rallying point for the Acadian elite and was, in its early years, the most important forum for debating the nature of Acadian identity.

While there is a strong consensus among Acadians that there is such a thing as an Acadian identity and that it should be preserved, the diversity of the Acadian experience from province to province has led to considerable disagreement as to the changing nature and, occasionally, even importance, of that identity. After 1800 the Acadians who established themselves in Prince Edward Island found themselves particularly challenged by the anglophone majority, and their fight against assimilation has demonstrated remarkable courage in the face of growing difficulties. From its founding in 1919, La Société Saint-Thomas d’Aquin, dedicated to the preservation of the Acadian heritage, has been a major pillar of strength. Yet the deterioration of the francophone position on the island has continued. In 1951 there were 15,477 islanders who considered themselves of francophone origin, but only 8,477 spoke French. Twenty years later, the francophone population was much the same size, 15,325, but only 7,365, or 48 percent, claimed French as their mother tongue. In 1991 the island’s population of francophones was 11,845 and those claiming French as their mother tongue numbered 6,285.

The Acadian communities in the other two provinces have had greater success in maintaining the French language, although there is considerable divergence in method and result. The rate of assimilation in Nova Scotia has been greater than in New Brunswick, which is the sole province where the number of residents claiming French as mother tongue has risen in recent years. In 1961 New Brunswick had 210,530 people claiming French as their mother tongue, and in 1991 the number was 250,175. In Nova Scotia there was a very slight decline in the size of the francophone population over these years; the figure for 1961 was 39,568 and for 1991 it was 39,425.

In Nova Scotia, while the conditions of life in Cheticamp, Îsle Madame, and St Mary’s Bay are basically similar, the communities do differ in several respects. There were seven cooperatives in Cheticamp at the end of the 1980s, and most adults belonged to more than one. One of the most important of these cooperatives makes hooked rugs, consisting of fine wool and dyed in soft, contrasting colours. The cooperative took shape in 1936, with the expressed intention of cutting out middlemen in the marketing process. It has flourished in the last fifty years, providing women with the ability to earn money at home and bringing in more than $500,000 annually to Cheticamp. In Clare, cooperatives are much less important and it is above all the parish that has served as the focus of Acadian life. The foundation of the Collège Sainte-Anne by the Eudiste Fathers in 1890 gave great support to francophone society in the area.

In New Brunswick, the large size of the Acadian population and regional variations in the circumstances of Acadian life have led to the sharpest debates about Acadian identity. The debates centre upon the extent to which there is still a geo-political framework for Acadian identity and the relative importance of genealogical heritage, as opposed to the present cultural milieu, in supporting that identity.

The three main Acadian communities of New Brunswick are primarily dependent on different economic pursuits: Madawaska County, while having a certain amount of light industry and agriculture, relies on the lumber industry; the towns and villages between Dalhousie and Cap-Pelé, though possessing a certain amount of mining and civil-service employment, are focused on the sea; and Moncton’s economy rests on information technology, education, light industry, and the media. These economic variations are coupled with differing political influences. Madawaska County borders Quebec and the state of Maine as well as the anglophone counties of New Brunswick. Its interpretation of identity includes a concept of separation from both an Acadian and a Quebec heritage: its major folklore festival celebrates the idea of “Brayons,” a name derived from the word braie, meaning flail as in flailing flax.

The Acadian seashore villages, from the Baie des Chaleurs to the mouth of the Miramichi, have a great deal in common with the villages of the Gaspé and of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. Its interpretation of Acadian heritage has often been the most aggressive and has included a history of riots against central New Brunswick authority as well as strong differences of opinion with fellow francophones elsewhere in the province. The Caraquet riots of 1875, for example, were as much over English economic dominance in the area as over the attempt to elect an English, Protestant school board in a predominantly French and Catholic community. The people of Moncton and environs have always had considerable contact with anglophone New Brunswick. Moncton itself was settled in the 1860s by German-speaking migrants. Its Acadian population has wavered between negotiation and outright confrontation with anglophones, particularly those of Irish heritage. The old saw that only in Canada are the Irish, English, has considerable truth for Moncton. From the founding of the township it was clear that, when Irish and Acadian Catholics met, language was a greater force for division than common belief was for unity. It is one of the few cities in the world that has two Roman Catholic cathedrals.

Until the 1960s the francophones of the Maritimes were an archipelago of separate communities connected by a generally accepted view of Acadian life. In broad terms, Acadian ethnicity was seen as based upon faith, language, and history. Further, for many Acadians it was an ethnicity preserved by isolation from other influences. According to a major study carried out in the 1950s, the extended family was of major importance to Nova Scotia’s Acadians; visits among relatives were frequent and economic aid was sought and given between family members. The Catholic religion coloured all aspects of life, from family behaviour to work and social gatherings. Acadian identity was based on genealogy, language, religion, choice of marriage partner, and considerable mistrust of outsiders, particularly anglophones.

The 1960s saw this tradition considerably battered. Urbanization, industrialization, and the mass media were three of the forces of change that transformed Acadian identity in this period, but they were not the only ones. When certain Quebec nationalists argued that francophones elsewhere in Canada did not possess a particular identity – or were incapable of sustaining it if they did – they posed a fundamental challenge to Acadian nationalism. Even among those Acadians who believed in the legitimacy of their identity, there were many who wondered whether that identity was strong enough to withstand assimilation by late twentieth-century anglophone Canada. Simultaneously, owing partly to the secularization associated with the “Quiet Revolution” in Quebec and partly to the impact of the Second Vatican Council, the close-knit association between the secular and clerical elites that had been a major factor in Acadian life since the 1880s began to unravel. With regard to family and community life, the role of Acadian families and communities as a support network in times of difficulty was undermined by unemployment insurance, old age pensions, and medicare.

As a result of all these developments, Acadian communities started redefining what Acadian ethnicity means and even debating how important it is to them. The student riots at the Université de Moncton in 1966 and the intergenerational conflict presented in the 1971 film L’Acadie, l’Acadie?!? are two examples of this process of self-questioning; another has been reflected in the ongoing work of Acadian sociologists and political scientists, both at the Université de Moncton and elsewhere. By the 1990s, however, there was sufficient self-confidence and unity of purpose among Maritime Acadians to organize a Congrès Mondiale Acadien in 1994. This event celebrated Acadian life everywhere, from the Maritimes to Louisiana to France, and explored the nature of Acadian identity in the late twentieth century. It left no doubt whatsoever that, while there are differing views on what it means to be an Acadian, all Acadians agree that they are in fact a people with an identity of their own.