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Photo taken by Yvon Cyr<\/p>\n
[ The above-noted was written by Margaret G. Zackowitz and published in the July 2005 National Geographics. I am grateful to my friend, Warren Perrin<\/a>, for having provided me a copy of the article, for publication, above. ]<\/p>\n Click here to view more information on the British Apology<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to View more on the Royal Proclamation<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to view photos of the Acadian Flag Raising Ceremony in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 28, 2005<\/a><\/p>\n Royal Proclamation relating to the Acadian Deportation<\/p>\n On December 11, 2003, the Government of Canada adopted a Royal Proclamation declaring \u201cJuly 28 of every year as A Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval (the Acadian deportation) commencing on July 28, 2005\u201d. The proclamation was greeted with enthusiasm throughout the Acadian community, including by many of those who felt that it did not go far enough in recognizing the responsibility of the British crown in the Deportation of the Acadians. In fact, the proclamation refuses any such responsibility, stating that \u201cthis Our present Proclamation does not, under any circumstances, constitute a recognition of legal or financial responsibility\u201d. The Queen of England is in fact recognizing (nowhere does the word \u201cregret\u201d appear) what the Acadians have known for 250 years: that the British government undertook the brutal deportation of its own French speaking subjects from their homes in Nova Scotia and that the deportation had \u201ctragic consequences, including the deaths of many thousands of Acadians-from disease, in shipwrecks, in their places of refuge and in prison camps in Nova Scotia and England as well as in the British colonies in America\u201d. On a more positive note, the proclamation does express her majesty\u2019s hope that \u201cthe Acadian people can turn the page on this dark chapter of their history\u201d.<\/p>\n The timing of the proclamation was a little fishy. It came in the twilight of the mandate of a lame-duck prime minister in a Council of Ministers meeting attended by only three members of his soon to be ex-cabinet with the notable absence of the Governor-General, the Queen\u2019s representative in Canada. No political risk taking here. All in all, though, I support the proclamation and do think it is a positive step for the Acadian community of the Canadian maritimes. What strikes me, however, is that the proclamation and its effects will be restricted to Canada. The effect of the proclamation upon the descendants of the Acadian exiles who ultimately settled in Louisiana will be little to none. In a political sense and to a greater and greater extent, in a cultural sense, there is more that separates the Acadians of Canada and the Cajuns of Louisiana than unites us, for all of the history that we share. On the day that the proclamation was being celebrated in Ottawa, a French immersion program was being sabotaged in Saint Landry Parish. The reality of December 11, 2003, in Louisiana was that 70 school children at South Street Elementary in Opelousas were scattered like the deported Acadians into unfamiliar circumstances while their former teachers were exiled to other schools, and this with no warning. The school principal, new to the job, has no patience for French in her school apparently, and with the complicity of the school board, was able to whisk away, practically under the cover of darkness, the French immersion program, thus throwing the lives of 70 children and their families into confusion. Not the Deportation of 1755, but a callous act none the less. (By the way, Canadian historian Stephan White has determined the average age of the Acadian exiles on the transport ships to have been 14 (fourteen) years old). As far as the Royal Proclamation itself, apart from a small article in the local Lafayette newspaper giving well deserved credit to activist Warren Perrin for starting the ball rolling, the whole thing passed undetected. Which is the way that the British would prefer it, I am sure. In perpetrating any despicable act, no news is always good news for the perpetrators.<\/p>\n One final note regarding the Royal Proclamation. The French document reads:<\/p>\n \u201cAttendu que la d\u00e9portation du peuple Acadien, commun\u00e9ment appel\u00e9e le Grand D\u00e9rangement\u201d,which is translated as: \u201cWhereas the deportation of the Acadian people, commonly known as the Great Upheaval\u201d.<\/p>\n What is interesting is that \u201cGrand D\u00e9rangement\u201d, is translated as \u201cGreat Upheaval\u201d. In fact \u201cDerangement\u201d is better translated as \u201cInconvenience\u201d, upheaval being \u201cboulversement\u201d in French. I wonder about the term \u201cGrand D\u00e9rangement\u201d, the \u201cGreat Inconvenience\u201d. Even as a child, that term struck me, not as odd, but as special. I wonder if the Acadians who suffered the \u201cGreat Inconvenience\u201d were aware of the irony of the term, and wished to diminish the extent of their suffering by referring to it in an almost off handed manner. The English translation is false to the idea contained in \u201cGrand D\u00e9rangement\u201d as though the Acadians have gone through history wringing their hands at the thought of the \u201cGreat Upheaval\u201d. Whenever I hear of the \u201cGrand D\u00e9rangement\u201d, it doesn\u2019t nearly sound so threatening. It sounds like something difficult, even tragic, but something that can be overcome none the less. Like Elisabeth Brasseaux. Following the sinking of the transport ship carrying her and her family into exile near the mouth of the Saint John river, she felt the almost unbearable sadness gripping those she loved. With nothing but the clothes on their backs, they were surrounded by British enemies and in a state of fear and shock. Little Elisabeth Brasseux, seeing the tearful expressions of her family and friends stood and said, \u201cThat\u2019s enough crying, we have work to do\u201d. In treating their plight as the \u201cGreat Inconvenience\u201d, the Acadians took away some of its force. An inconvenience is not as hard to overcome as an Upheaval. Even a Great Inconvenience<\/p>\n La proclamation royale sur Le Grand D\u00e9rangement Acadien<\/p>\n Le 11 d\u00e9cembre, 2003, le gouvernement du Canada a adopt\u00e9 une Proclamation Royale, d\u00e9clarant \u00ab le 28 juillet de chaque ann\u00e9e, \u00e0 compter de 2005, Journ\u00e9e de comm\u00e9moration du Grand D\u00e9rangement\u00bb. La proclamation a \u00e9t\u00e9 re\u00e7ue avec beaucoup d\u2019enthousiasme dans la communaut\u00e9 acadienne des provinces maritimes, y compris par ceux qui pensent que cette proclamation ne va pas assez loin pour reconna\u00eetre la responsabilit\u00e9 de la Couronne Britannique. En fait, la proclamation refuse toute responsabilit\u00e9, d\u00e9clarant que \u00ab Notre pr\u00e9sente Proclamation ne constitue en aucune fa\u00e7on une reconnaissance de responsabilit\u00e9 juridique ou financi\u00e8re \u00bb. Par cette proclamation, la reine d\u2019Angleterre reconna\u00eet (on ne parle jamais de \u00ab regrets \u00bb ou de \u00ab excuses \u00bb) ce que les Acadiens savent depuis 250 ans : que le gouvernement Britannique de la Nouvelle-\u00c9cosse a entrepris la d\u00e9portation brutale de ses propres sujets francophones de leur pays et que la d\u00e9portation \u00aba eu des cons\u00e9quences tragiques, plusieurs milliers d\u2019Acadiens ayant p\u00e9ri par suite de maladies, lors de naufrages, dans leurs lieux de refuge, dans les camps de prisonniers de la Nouvelle-\u00c9cosse, et de l\u2019Angleterre, ainsi que dans les colonies britanniques en Am\u00e9rique. \u00bb Sur un ton plus optimiste, la proclamation exprime les souhaits de sa majest\u00e9 pour que \u00ab le peuple Acadien puisse tourner la page sur ce chapitre sombre de son histoire \u00bb.<\/p>\n Le d\u00e9roulement des \u00e9v\u00e8nements qui a fini par produire cette proclamation a \u00e9t\u00e9 assez convolut\u00e9. Elle \u00e9tait adopt\u00e9e lors d\u2019une r\u00e9union du Conseil de Ministres pr\u00e9sid\u00e9 par un Premier ministre qui vivait les derni\u00e8res minutes de son r\u00e9gime, assist\u00e9 par seulement trois membres de son bient\u00f4t-d\u00e9funt cabinet. Le Gouverneur G\u00e9n\u00e9ral, repr\u00e9sentant de la reine au Canada, n\u2019y a pas assist\u00e9. Pas beaucoup de risque politique l\u00e0. Malgr\u00e9 ces d\u00e9tails moins que glorieux, je suis heureux de cette proclamation et je pense qu\u2019elle aura un effet tout \u00e0 fait positif dans le contexte de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 acadienne du Canada. Malheureusement, cette influence ne descendra pas jusqu\u2019en Louisiane. Dans le sens politique et de plus en plus dans le sens culturel, les deux communaut\u00e9s acadiennes, Canada et Louisiane, s\u2019\u00e9loignent. Le jour de la proclamation \u00e0 Ottawa, on sabotait un programme d\u2019immersion fran\u00e7ais dans la paroisse Saint Landry. Le 11 d\u00e9cembre, 2003, 70 jeunes \u00e9tudiants en fran\u00e7ais ont \u00e9t\u00e9 dispers\u00e9s comme autant d\u2019Acadiens exil\u00e9s, pouss\u00e9s vers un avenir inconnu et intimidant. Leurs professeurs ont \u00e9t\u00e9 envoy\u00e9s dans d\u2019autres \u00e9coles, et tout cela en catimini \u00e0 cause de l\u2019indiff\u00e9rence de la nouvelle directrice. Les vies de 70 enfants ont \u00e9t\u00e9 chamboul\u00e9es parce que le fran\u00e7ais n\u2019a plus vraiment de place dans cette Louisiane am\u00e9ricanis\u00e9e. Ce ne pas la D\u00e9portation de 1755, mais c\u2019est un bouleversement pareil. (En passant, l\u2019historien Stephan White a d\u00e9couvert que l\u2019\u00e2ge moyen des exil\u00e9s au bord des bateaux de transports pendant la d\u00e9portation \u00e9tait de quatorze (14) ans !). \u00c0 part un petit article, enterr\u00e9 dans les pages du fond du journal local rendant hommage \u00e0 Warren Perrin, l\u2019avocat louisianais qui avait lanc\u00e9 le proc\u00e8s, la proclamation royale est pass\u00e9e totalement inaper\u00e7ue en Louisiane. Ce qui convient certainement aux Britanniques. Pour les auteurs de d\u00e9lits, pas de nouvelle est bonne nouvelle.<\/p>\n Un dernier petit mot au sujet de la proclamation. En fran\u00e7ais, le texte d\u00e9clare :<\/p>\n “Attendu que la d\u00e9portation du peuple Acadien, commun\u00e9ment appel\u00e9e le Grand D\u00e9rangement”. Ce qui est traduit par : “Whereas the deportation of the Acadian people, commonly know as the Great Upheaval”.<\/p>\n Ce qui est int\u00e9ressant, c\u2019est que \u00ab D\u00e9rangement \u00bb devient \u00ab Upheaval \u00bb dans le texte anglais. En fait \u00abD\u00e9rangement \u00bb est mieux traduit par \u00ab inconvenience \u00bb. \u00ab Upheaval \u00bb veut plut\u00f4t dire \u00ab bouleversement \u00bb. Ce que je trouve tr\u00e8s sp\u00e9cial c\u2019est l\u2019ironie de cette phrase \u00ab Grand D\u00e9rangement \u00bb, comme si la d\u00e9portation \u00e9tait une esp\u00e8ce de super piq\u00fbre d\u2019insecte ou de grande fuite de robinet. M\u00eame tr\u00e8s jeune, cette phrase me frappait fort. Je me demande si ceux qui ont connu le Grand D\u00e9rangement ont voulu diminuer l\u2019importance de cet \u00e9v\u00e9nement en le traitant pince sans rire. La traduction anglaise \u00ab Great Upheaval \u00bb (\u00ab Grand Bouleversement \u00bb) trahit le sens du fran\u00e7ais. Elle laisse entendre que les Acadiens exil\u00e9s passaient leurs vies \u00e0 se lamenter. Les Acadiens ont r\u00e9agi plut\u00f4t comme Elisabeth Brasseaux lors du naufrage de son bateau. Perdu sur les rives de la rivi\u00e8re Saint Jean, le groupe d\u2019exil\u00e9s s\u2019est retrouv\u00e9 bredouille, et m\u00eame d\u00e9prim\u00e9. Alors la petite Elisabeth en voyant les gens dans un \u00e9tat de choc, leur a dit, \u00ab R\u00e9veillez vous, il y a du travail \u00e0 faire \u00bb. Si les Acadiens n\u2019avaient pas \u00e9t\u00e9 capables de s\u2019organiser pendant la d\u00e9portation et l\u2019exil, il n\u2019y aurait pas eu leurs descendants pour applaudir la proclamation de la reine d\u2019Angleterre 250 ans plus tard. En traitant leur sort de \u00ab D\u00e9rangement \u00bb ils ont r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 enlever un peu de sa force. Un d\u00e9rangement n\u2019est pas du tout aussi bouleversant qu\u2019un bouleversement et donc plus facile \u00e0 surmonter. M\u00eame un Grand D\u00e9rangement.<\/p>\n