This letter from Father Georges-Antoine Belcourt, a French-Canadian Catholic priest serving Rustico, Prince Edward Island, illustrates the beginnings of what has been called the “Acadian renaissance.”

A century after the majority of Acadians were expelled by the British, many Acadian communities still existed in the Maritimes. They were small and scattered, however, and occupied a marginal place in the region’s economic and political life. From the 1860s onwards, certain members of the clergy and a handful of lay Acadians launched initiatives to improve the situation of this French-speaking and Catholic population.

French historian Edme Rameau de Saint-Père was one of the individuals who inspired these efforts. After publishing a study of the Acadians in 1859, he travelled to the Maritimes to meet with some of them the following year. While there, he not only collected accounts of their history, but also gave them advice. He continued to do so until his death in 1899, his advice conveyed in over 450 letters to Acadian leaders.

In the highlighted letter, Father Belcourt briefed Rameau on the progress of the Acadian renaissance program that Rameau and his interlocutors had outlined. One of their priorities was to provide the Acadians with institutions, so Belcourt recounted the achievements of the Banque des fermiers (Farmers’ Bank) he had set up, as well as those of the new Acadian educational institutions.

Another goal was to establish for Acadian communities French-speaking parishes and complete with francophone clergy. Belcourt was pleased to announce that the new priest in Bouctouche would be of French origin.

But their most important project was the colonization of new lands, so that Acadians could claim a “country” of their own, not just a string of coastal villages. Much of Belcourt’s letter therefore focused on his efforts, in conjunction with those of the Bishop of Saint John, to convince the New Brunswick government to grant land to Acadian settlers on the upper Bouctouche River. This endeavour would culminate in the founding of the village of Saint-Paul-de-Kent.