Cajun Cleansing

Ever heard of the Acadians? From previous visits to the Maritimes, I was aware of them but for me they were just the random small French Canadian communities. I didn't know much about their complex history and relationship with the British officials that used to run Canada. But they have quite a tragic and violent history.

Back when the British and French (and the Dutch too I suppose but to a lesser extent) were starting to occupy and colonize North America, the first settlers in the Maritimes (Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) were French. This area was called Acadia and these people were the Acadians.

Then in 1713, as part of the Treaty of Utrecht between Britain and France, Acadia was handed over to the British and all European colonists came under their jurisdiction. No one really considered the Mikmaq but then what else is new? I wonder what kind of relationship the Acadians had with the Mikmaq. I'm sure they were told to despise the savages and probably just accepted that they should hate them. Though the Mikmaq did help the Acadians when they needed them most.

The British regarded the Acadians suspiciously as a potential sixth column should they come into conflict with France again; they were probably already making plans. And the Acadians didn't fit into those plans. So they expelled them from Acadia in 1755. Families were separated, farms burned, livestock slaughtered. People were rounded up by soldiers and forced onto waiting ships to be carried to the 13 colonies and then-Spanish Louisiana.

In fact, the term cajun from Louisiana comes from Acadian (say it really fast). The cajun people were Acadians from the Maritimes. Apparently the Spanish were happy to have the deportees since they were Catholics. Quite a change from the Maritimes to Louisiana. Can you imagine growing up knowing one climate and one way of life and then having to start over in a completely different climate? I guess we might experience chances like this in our lifetime with our own human-made climate change.

Many Acadians ran away and hid in the forests of the Maritimes. They were helped by the Mikmaq. These Acadians eventually returned and started the Acadian communities that continue to this day.

But despite their efforts to have this ethnic cleansing recognized for what it is, the British and subsequent Canadian governments have never admitted their crimes. Each time we go to Sydney we see a sign which states: Celebrating Democracy, 1758-2008. Apparently the government of Nova Scotia is proud of its representative democracy despite the treatment of both the Acadians and the Mikmaq. I guess technically the 250-year period started just after the deportations and the powerful write the history.