In Canada’s political system, the Senate has acquired the reputation of a “safe haven” for members of French-speaking minority communities. Often marginalized in electoral battles for seats in the House of Commons, francophones can enjoy an alternative form of parliamentary representation thanks to the appointment of a senator. 

After Confederation, when a vacancy arose in the Senate, the institutional network lobbied the federal government for an appointment. This strategy worked, as evidenced by the appointment of New Brunswicker Pascal Poirier to the Senate in 1885. Prince Edward Island’s francophone community was also briefly represented in the Senate by Conservative Joseph-Octave Arsenault, between 1895 and 1897. In the 20th century, the Island’s Acadians mobilized on numerous occasions to have one of their own appointed to the Senate.

Senatorial appointments periodically captured the attention of activists. In 1925, the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal requested the appointment of an Acadian from Prince Edward Island. The campaign intensified in the 1940s. The following documents bear witness to the pivotal role played by the Conseil de la vie française en Amérique (CVFA) in this regard. The CVFA supported the appointment of French-speaking senators since it promoted bilingualism in the federal public service. Its leaders coordinated the efforts of various players in the institutional network and created links between nationalist activists and newspapers. While newspapers such as Le Droit and Le Devoir put forward demographic arguments, L’Action catholique of Quebec City criticized politicians who were slow to accede to the request. All in all, a “fine campaign,” in the words of L’Évangéline (quoted in Le Devoir, June 2, 1945).

What’s striking is the extent to which the 1970s campaign for the appointment of a French-speaking senator from Prince Edward Island fell off the radar of Quebec nationalists. By then, the CVFA had lost its relevance, and many national organizations, such as the Sociétés Saint-Jean-Baptiste, had redirected their activism towards the struggle for the independence of Quebec.

In the end, the campaigns of the 1940s and 1970s came to nothing. As a small consolation, the Mackenzie King government recommended the appointment of Joseph Bernard as Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island in the spring of 1945. However, it wasn’t until 1999 that another Island Acadian - Melvin Perry Poirier - was appointed to the Senate.