Letter to the editor

In January, 1990, I prepared a petition and had it delivered to the British Crown. The petition sought a formal apology for their role 267 years ago in the 1755 Deportation of 18,000 Acadians from Nova Scotia.

Feigning concern over the Acadians’ neutrality, the British developed a devious plan to eradicate the Acadian culture so as to take over their lush farmland: ethnic cleansing. Today, because half of the Acadians died, some now refer to it as a genocide.

Happily, the effort for a royal acknowledgment was successfully concluded on December 9, 2003, when Queen Elizabeth II’s representative signed the Royal Proclamation.

The implications were three-fold: an acknowledgment of the horrific wrongs committed against the Acadian people in the name of the British Crown; a symbolic reconciliation for the death and suffering resulting from the diaspora; and the establishment of July 28 of each year as a Day of Commemoration of the Acadian Deportation.

The annual Day of Commemoration of the Acadian Deportation is held as an attempt to understand how this tragic event has shaped the character of all of the Acadians—and how they have impacted Louisiana. The public is invited to visit the Acadian Museum in Erath on July 28 from 1-4 PM and view the Royal Proclamation and the original Petition.

Warren A. Perrin

Perrin is the co-author of Acadia Then and Now, winner of the 2014 international literary award Prix France-Acadie in Paris, France, and Gov. Edwards’ appointee to the CODOFIL board