ABSTRACT
Acadians live mostly in the maritime provinces of Eastern Canada and are descendants of the settlers of the first French colony in North America. Established in 1604 in the area now known as Nova Scotia, Acadie was small in terms of territory and population. Its strategic location on the naval route between New England and New France rendered it vulnerable during the many conflicts between the two colonising countries, until France eventually ceded the colony to England in 1713. Under British rule, Acadians struggled to keep their language, religion and culture intact. Because of this resistance, in 1755, most of the settlers were deported to New England (Faragher 2005). Present day Acadians are descendants of the settlers who managed to avoid deportation, and of those who returned from exile. In the province of New Brunswick, they represent around 30%
of the population (Landry 2010). The vitality of this group is declining because of several factors, including an ageing population (Marmen and Corbeil 2004), a low fertility rate (Landry 2010), language shift (Landry and Rousselle 2003) and growing exogamy (Landry 2010).
