The tricolour flag would become the flag of Acadia, with the addition of a star in the papal colour on the blue section. Therefore, I suggest, and I submit to the delegates of this Convention, the following design for the national flag. However, I would like Acadia to have a flag that reminds it not only that its children are French, but that they are also Acadian. For us, Acadians, this flag tells us simply that we are French and that our motherland is France, just as the Irish flag reminds the Irish of their origins and homeland. The tricolour flag is the flag of France, of which we are descendants, and this flag has the right to fly for international convenience worldwide. I do not want to disparage the suggestions made, but I cannot agree with those who claim that we must choose a flag that is completely different from that which represents our motherland. But we must have a national flag flying over our heads on our meeting days and national celebrations. The banner of the Assumption, naturally, will be carried with religious patriotism at the head of our religious processions. In the speech that accompanied the presentation of his flag, Father Richard explained the symbolism and the ideology:Īn army needs a standard. The flag that Father Richard put forward to the participants was the French tricolour (blue, white and red), with the blue stripe featuring a yellow star in the papal colour, representing devotion to Mary. Image: The Canadian Press/ photographer Andrew Vaughan./figcaption> The World Acadian Congress at the National Historic Site of Grand Pre, in Nova Scotia, August 15, 2004. During this convention, he proposed the model of the flag we know today. As the chair of the third commission in charge of reviewing the choice of a flag, he had already thought over the project for several years. The idea for the Acadian flag is attributed, among others, to Father Marcel-François Richard, a born-and-bred Acadian who championed education and agriculture, as well as the affirmation of the Acadian people. On 15 August 1884, during the second National Convention in Miscouche, Prince Edward Island, the matter of national symbols was raised: Acadia still needed a national anthem and a flag. Certain attendees favoured Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, 24 June, because it was the day of celebration for French Canadians nevertheless, the desire to be distinct from the rest of Canada’s francophones prevailed. This decision, however, was not unanimous. It was during this first convention that 15 August, the feast of the Assumption, was chosen as the Acadian national holiday. This identity project was established and took shape during the first National Convention of the Acadians, held in Memramcook, New Brunswick, in 1881, where thinkers, members of the clergy and the elite, as well as Acadian nationalists, gathered. It was thanks to the growing influence of leaders from the Acadian elite and clergy that Acadians succeeded in designing an initial social project with the goal of affirming the history, culture and characteristics of this group of people who lived during a period of significant growth in Canada. The latter was also motivated by the problems Acadians faced under rule by a majority anglophone government and by the fear, for some, of their own identity becoming lost with all of Canada’s francophones being lumped together under a Québécois banner. For Acadians, this wish stemmed from the demographic, cultural and political development associated with the Acadian Renaissance. From the 1880s to the early 20th century, francophone Canadians displayed a strong desire to establish their own identity on the national stage.
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