Island family drawing attention to Acadian involvement in Second World War

Names like Gallant, Haché and Blacquiere appear on headstones, lit up in blue to symbolize their Acadian heritage.

But these graves aren't in the Acadie region. They're in the Normandy region of northern France, where Acadian people's contributions to the Second World War were recognized this past summer during the annual Semaine Acadienne, or Acadian Week.

"This year it was a 10-day event. That's really a celebration and a commemoration of Acadians that went over during World War II," said Karine Gallant, who travelled to Normandy with her family in August 2024 for the annual event.

Six members of the Gallant-MacInnes family made the trip after being invited to perform during Acadian Week, and say the trip opened their eyes to just how many francophones from Atlantic Canada participated in the war effort.

"We saw so many Canadian flags," said Gallant. "But particularly for that week, the city and all the villages around were plastered in Acadian flags."

Numbers hard to determine

While 2024 marked the 80th anniversary of events such as D-Day, La Semaine Acadienne is now in its 19th year.

"The organizer… noticed that there was a lot of events for Canadian soldiers, American soldiers and so on, and not really a recognition of the Acadian experience," Gallant said. 

Just after the war, there were many Acadian people living in the Normandy region. And while there are far fewer today, Gallant says it was still an eye-opening experience.

"After 80 years, you can imagine the numbers are a bit smaller now for those that can participate," she said. "But we were still honoured to meet some people that had witnessed World War II."

Stating someone's Acadian, it's an identity as well as so many other things.— Karine Gallant

Gallant says it's unclear exactly how many Acadians served in the war.

"It's a very hard statistic to have because you know, stating someone's Acadian, it's an identity as well as so many other things," she explained. "And even if the person has the family name, they might not have identified [as Acadian], right?"

Gallant says the trip taught her family more about something important to their heritage.

"Their area in Normandy had a lot of experiences with Acadians and a lot of ties were sort of still there in the memories of people that were there at the time," she said.

"I think my father said it best... that was the biggest amount of Acadian flags he's ever seen along a shoreline." 

Sharing the experience with others

Karine Gallant's three children, including her son Vincent Gallant-Côté, also went on the trip.

Vincent, who is 14, said it helped him better understand how Canadians, especially Acadians, participated in the Second World War.

There was a lot of really, really touching ceremonies that left their mark on me... We felt like family.— Vincent Gallant-Côté

"I'd say it was a lot deeper than I expected," he said. "There was a lot of really, really touching ceremonies that left their mark on me."

Vincent said one of his key takeaways from the experience was meeting other Acadian youth. He said that while they may live far apart in Canada, they are quite similar in many ways.

"Going to France, we all felt like we were all from the exact same place," he said. "We felt like family."

The Gallant-MacInnes family has many musicians, including patriarch Gary Gallant, who's a longtime singer-songwriter and guitarist. Karine plays fiddle, her partner Ian MacInnes plays bagpipes, and her children Mia, Evelyn and Vincent are also musically inclined.

That's what got them the Normandy invite initially — an offer to perform at events during La Semaine Acadienne.

"We really played Acadian music, local music, and some of my father's songs and a bunch of tunes and dance from P.E.I. But we also had all the military ceremonies as well," said Gallant.

The Gallant-MacInnes family is taking what they learned on the trip and turning it into a presentation and concert that will take place at the Wellington Legion the evening of Friday, Nov. 8. The event will raise funds for the poppy campaign.