Acadian Remembrance Day marked Dec. 13 on P.E.I.
Gail Harding | CBC News | Posted: December 11, 2016 3:00 PM | Last Updated: December 11, 2016
Service remembers those in deportation through music, story and songs
The Société Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin and Parks Canada will remember the Acadians expulsion in a service on Dec. 13 at Port-La-Joye-Fort-Amherst.
Natalie Pendergast says the date for the Acadian Remembrance Day was picked because it was the date in 1758 many Acadians were forced from their homes and put on ships.
"There were ships that shipped significant numbers of Acadians from P.E.I. to Britian but they didn't make it that far. They actually sank and the majority of the people on the ships died."
Pendergast said of those deported, only 38 per cent survived.
The two hour service will commemorate the event through music, story and song.
"Every year George Arsenault writes these fictional but historic testimonies based on individuals who were real. He has the real names of these people who died when the ships went down and he then he composes this fictional testimonial of what they would have told if they had a chance to tell their story."
Pendergast told Mainstreet's Angela Walker it's a profound moment to hear the story being told through a child or an adult who would be the same age as the person they are depicting.
Ten year-old Thea Knickle said she will perform a song in French called The Lost Acadian.
The service will begin at 10:30 a.m. at Port-La-Joye-Fort-Amherst.
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