252 years ago Britain committed one of the most sinister crimes against humanity. This is not the better documented African Slave Trade, Boer War concentration camps or even the dire treatment of Aboriginal Australians, but the lesser known ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Acadians. It is a crime Britain wishes to forget and conceal even to this very day.

Perhaps hidden to avoid detection by Anglo Saxon adventurers along the rugged littoral of Nova Scotia live small pockets of communities of repatriated Acadians; the Acadians are descendants of the first Europeans to inhabit Atlantic Canada, which includes the three provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Originally French settlers, the Acadians had within a century after their arrival developed into a distinct community with their own culture, while intermarrying with the native Mic’maq with whom they developed amicable relations.

By the early 18th century, Britain and France fought bitterly over Atlantic Canada, with the region exchanging hands time and time again, but in the end coming under British control.  The Acadians who had developed a sense of neutrality amid the chaos of a long fought conflict between British red-coats and the French soldat found their loyalty questioned by both nations. However, in the end their neutrality, which John Mack Faragher’s defines in his book “A Great and noble scheme, the tragic story of the expulsion of the French Acadians” as “their intimate and cooperative connection to the Mic’maq,” and their “attachment to place, local practice and newly developed traditions” was not enough to save them from destruction.

Briefly after having been appointed the Governor of the new British colony of Nova Scotia (replacing defeated Acadia), General Charles Lawrence, wrote to London about the Acadians: "As they possess the best and largest tracts of land in this Province, it cannot be settled with any effect while they remain in this situation ... “It would be much better ... that they were away".  General Lawrence who seemed to have their plans prepared carefully wrote to the British Secretary of State revealing his intentions: "I will propose to them the Oath of Allegiance a last time, if they refuse we will have a pretext for their expulsion: If they accept I will refuse them the Oath ... In both cases I shall deposit them." 

Director of Acadian studies at Moncton University, James Laxer lends credence to this by quoting a letter sent on July 18 1755 to the Board of Trade, which explained how the Acadians had “since earnestly desired to be admitted to take the oath, but were refused.” Describing the consequent upheaval and exile of the Acadians,  in his book: ‘The Acadians, A people’s story of exile and triumph,’ historian Dean Jobb recounts how the Acadians were forcibly rooted from their homes. “Columns of smoke and flame rose skyward as homes and barns were put to the torch. “Cattle were slaughtered or confiscated. “Their only crime had been to insist on the right to live in peace as England and France rushed headlong into another war.”

Describing events during “le Grand dérangement", (Great Upheaval), Jobb described how families were torn apart as children were taken from their parents to become servants. Around 15,000 Acadians out of a population of 18,000 were deported in 1755 with around half dying on ship wrecks or in poverty on British ships.

Providing the Acadians with a trap proposal, British military leader Charles Lawrence knew he was leading them to their obliteration. The rapacity for control over the natural resources of Atlantic Canada and the growing need to reap the benefits of the New World was the motivation behind the forced expulsion of the Acadians. Later British generals with their oblique principles of democracy driven by avarice, convinced themselves that the Acadians were a security risk, and therefore a consequence of war.

The agony of the Acadians in exile after “le Grand dérangement", is reflected in the poem Évangéline, A Tale of Acadie by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow describes the betrothal of an Acadian girl named Evangeline to her lover, Gabriel and their forced separation after the expulsion of Acadians. Spending a lifetime of poverty on the road, Évangéline finds work as a nurse finding Gabriel who is impoverished and weakened by disease, before he dies in her arms.

Apology and reconciliation

Despite the harrowing events that make human hearts ache with emotion, even now there remains a prevailing psyche among many that the Acadians brought on this tragedy themselves. Alarmingly, the attitude is not only confined to the average Nova Scotian lumberjack but spills into the palaces of the British Haut Monde and in the corridors of power where elected parliamentarians sit.

When seeking an apology, Acadian Canadian  MP Stephane Bergeron’s bill  was defeated by Anglophone Liberals whose opposition was based upon not facts but an invisible emotional cord of British loyalty stretching all the way from Ottawa to London. Their meticulous efforts to conceal this past crime, blocked the bill and the consequent apology it would have sought from Westminster, while also freezing the process of reconciliation.

Those in power will try to justify opposition to a British apology by suggesting, “but this transpired 252 years ago…. therefore it is not so important today.” A feeble argument, if the issue in question was ‘history’ then Acadian Canadian today would not be fighting for equality in their status as citizens or reduced to a small minority living in pocket communities.  Past actions have consequences beyond a few years.

The current status of the Acadian minority in Canada today as in other parts of the globe reflect the 252 years of suffering in re-adjusting oneself and re-building ones life. Until recently many still faced overt discrimination. If past wrongs are not addressed then how can those whose misery today was founded in 1755 move on and reconcile with their neighbours?

A paradigm that re-appears again and again in the thought-process of sceptics, people will typically enquire as if seeking to trivialize the Acadian tragedy, “Well…what about all the other injustices committed in history?” To which I ask, Well…what about them? Is there a queuing system for seeking an apology for past injustices? Are injustices weighed against those who fall under a ‘priority list’ ?

Apologies may be mere words to some, but they can act as a foundation that is requisite to the process of reconciliation in a modern society. Historical injustices represented by centuries of suffering of a people are not history as they are easily transferred to one’s standing in that society today. Past acts have far-reaching consequences dividing people, and fuelling resentment and distrust, especially if those enjoying the fruits of power are still benefiting from their callous actions yesterday.