A proud people

Acadian flag. Picture taken in Caraquet, Acadia, NB

Last year, we went on a trip to New Brunswick. I enjoyed it a lot.

There, we went to Acadia, which is another place of French-speaking people in Canada, outside Quebec. Acadians are very, very friendly!

A remarkable thing is that all the people we spoke to could speak French as well as English.

Although other provinces also offer services in both official languages of the country, and Quebec is the province in which the rate of bilingualism is the highest, it is surprising that New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada.

The Acadian flag resembles to the French one, the difference is the yellow star added. Acadians are descendants of French people, like Quebeckers, but their history is not the same. It is in New Brunswick that we find the major concentration of Acadians in Canada. The city of Caraquet is considered the capital of Acadia.

There are other Acadians, in small minorities, in areas in the Côte-Nord region, in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec, small groups in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, in the Magdalen Islands. And there are Acadians also in the USA (Louisiana and Maine), called “Cajuns”.

Since we arrived in Acadian territory, I was very impressed by the way they show their proud of being Acadians. They display their symbols profusely. Almost all houses have a star on their façade and there are lots of Acadian flags everywhere.

It seems that all the pain they overcome along their history, a difficult and sad saga, made them even prouder of being who they are and satisfied with their achievements.
More about the Acadian flag here:
http://museeacadien.org/an/online-resources/frequently-asked-questions/du-drapeau-acadien/