July 28, 1755 - Acadians Deported - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Nova Scotia governor orders French-speaking Acadians deported. French people first landed in Acadia – later to become Nova Scotia – in 1604. In 1713, the English took control of the territory under the Treaty of Utrecht. Many French citizens left rather than pledge allegiance to the British Crown. Those who stayed suffered many forms of discrimination under the English, who disliked their religious and cultural practices. The new leaders denied French-speaking Acadians title to their land and access to any further land. Then, fearing they might join with the Mi'kmaq Indians and take up arms against the British, Nova Scotia Governor Charles Lawrence decided to rid the region of Acadians altogether. On July 28, 1755, Lawrence and his council ordered their removal. Over a period of eight years, officials packed some 11,000 of the estimated 15,000 Acadian population into ship holds and sent them to unknown locations. Many families were split apart, never to see one another again. Today, most of Atlantic Canada’s Acadian people live in New Brunswick and they number in the hundreds of thousands.

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