Tyler LeBlanc is a writer and storyteller from Nova Scotia's South Shore.

Growing up, LeBlanc wasn't aware of his Acadian heritage — but a closer look at his roots uncovered a family connection to the Acadian Expulsion, where around 12,000 Acadians were deported by the British in the late-18th century.

In his first book, Acadian Driftwood, LeBlanc details the legacy and impact of the Acadian Expulsion as he pieces together historical records and archival documents about the lives of his Acadian ancestors.

Acadian Driftwood earned four nominations and won two 2021 Atlantic Book Awards.

LeBlanc spoke with The Next Chapter about writing Acadian Driftwood.

"The expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal of upwards of 15,000 people between 1755 and 1763. It was primarily from what is now known as Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. It was decreed by the colonial administration of the colony of Nova Scotia as a way of removing what was perceived to be a threatening population if England and France were to go to war, which they did not long after the events started here.

"I didn't have any idea of my connection to this story until about five years ago. I grew up, of course, with a French last name. My last name is LeBlanc, but I hadn't put much thought into it. I grew up on the south shore of Nova Scotia, where it's quite common to have a French last name or a German last name, a Dutch last name, what have you.

"It was easy to assume that my ancestry was just from France. There isn't a lot to talk about Acadian history in the public school system here, or at least there wasn't in my experience. I never thought about asking the question until I was probably in my mid to late 20s. I was working with an Acadian man in Cape Breton and he started asking me questions about my name. My absolute lack of any answer was what started my interest in why I didn't know anything about my name.

"When I started asking questions, things started to come out of the woodwork. That's when I thought, well, there's a bigger story here."

"When I came to this project, I didn't know a lot about the Acadian Expulsion. I certainly didn't know a lot of the particulars of what happened to different groups and where they were sent. Just the sheer brutality of some of the experiences: I grew up with the Atlantic Ocean near me my whole life, I've seen it at its worst, at least from shore. Then to think about being locked below the deck of a ship and sent into a late fall, early winter Atlantic, stormy ocean voyage. It was horrifying.

"There's one thing to hear that a group of people were deported, but then to think about the actual physical experience of that deportation — then to survive that, only to land in a city that doesn't want you.

"The day-to-day facts of those who survived the initial deportations shocked me. Looking at the story, as told through the eyes of the people who this event affected the most, it becomes a little bit more human."