Members of the Acadian community, dozens of school children and local officials gathered Wednesday to mark Acadian Remembrance Day at Skmaqn–Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst National Historic site.
Dec. 13 has a special meaning for P.E.I.’s Acadian Community. On that day in 1758, a ship carrying Acadians being deported to France sank. More than 350 people died.
It was the greatest loss of Acadian life in a single day, says Georges Arsenault, an Acadian historian.
“It is to recognize the difficult years that the Acadians had and of course resilience because we are still here, we’ve been on the Island for over 300 years and French is still a language which is alive, that has been spoken on the Island for 300 years,” he said.
One third of P.E.I.’s French population died as a result of deportations in 1758, which included two more ships sinking just days apart with Acadians from the Island aboard, Arsenault said.
“Just in those three days there’s about 900 Acadians from the Island that died,” he said.
