National Acadian Day

Celebrated on August 15th, National Acadian Day is a day to recognize and celebrate the contributions made by the Acadians to the Canadian cultural fabric. Acadia’s history is rooted in the French settlers who colonized parts of the Maritimes which today encompasses New-Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Today, Acadians are a diverse population of French-speaking and English-speaking descendants of the early settlers. The Acadian culture remains vibrant in maritime provinces and can be described as energetic, creative, and resilient.  

Some of my most vivid memories as a child come from celebrating Acadian Day in New Brunswick. While I was raised in Ontario, I am a proud Acadian and spent many summers on the east coast exploring my home province, the nature it offers, and my Acadian culture.   

One of the ways that this day is celebrated is with the Tintamarre, which I have had the opportunity to participate in. While one of the newer Acadian Day traditions, the Tintamarre has become a staple in these celebrations. The streets fill with blue, white, red, and hints of yellow as participants and spectators don the Acadian flag's colours. The Tintamarre, rooted in French tradition, often takes place in the form of a parade where people in costume travel the streets and mark a sad or joyful event by making noise. The sadness and reflection of the Tintamarre come from the Great Upheaval, the deportation of the Acadians. The joy marks a celebration of its survival. I fondly remember being perched on our float while surrounded by family, friends, and community. Together, we composed a symphony of sounds that, to many would sound merely like a racket, but in the noise, you could hear our resilience, pride, and culture.  

It is also important to recognize that while Canada unites us, some many stories and histories need to be recognized and honoured individually to better understand the diversity that exists around us. Canada as we know and understand it today, is a combination of different histories woven together to compose a story of many parts, with the history of Acadia being one of those. While the history of Acadia exists within the history of Canada, it remains its own story. 

Reflecting on my own Acadian identity, one steeped in settler-colonialism, I think of the other stories that remain untold through our histories, which often go unrecognized. Historical accounts of Acadia often describe its relationship with Indigenous communities as one of collaboration and shared hardship, and while this is a central component of the story, it is only part of that relationship. French settlers enslaved both Indigenous and African peoples as part of colonization. As Acadians or any other persons with a settler-colonial background living in Canada, we can hold space for both. We can have pride in our identities, while also acknowledging, recognizing, and talking about the hurtful process of colonization which continues to proliferate the Canadian landscape.   

Employers can see Acadian Day as an opportunity to educate workers and staff on a part of Canadian history that is often not shared. Many of my friends and teammates outside of the Maritimes would not know about Acadians if not for me. We can also take the opportunity to learn more about these complex histories and engage in dialogue around our cultural differences. Here are a few ways employers can support their staff on Acadian Day, and further explore our cultural differences:  

• Provide educational opportunities for employees. There are many ways to do this such as providing online resources such as blogs or YouTube videos making sure to emphasize stories from the identities you wish to highlight whether this be Acadians, or any other cultural moment. You can also seek out educational opportunities such as speakers, webinars, or instructor-led training on the topics you’re looking to expand on as an organization.  
• Open the dialogue. Create safer spaces for employees to engage in open dialogues and to ask questions. How can we, as an organization, support Acadians on this day while acknowledging the colonial roots of this identity? How can we encourage conversations that foster diversity and create space to learn from one another? 
• Support your workforce in better understanding and engaging in cultural differences. There are numerous tools and measures that can help you and your organization to gain more insight into how you engage with and interact with cultural differences. We know that to have inclusive cultures, we need to be proficient in interacting with cultural differences. One tool available is the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). A cross-cultural assessment of intercultural competence, this tool helps to identify an individual or group’s development orientation. With the assistance of a Qualified Assessor, this tool will support individuals in developing actionable ways to shift one's cultural perspective and appropriately adapt behaviour to cultural differences and commonalities.  

A day like Acadian Day offers an opportunity to expand our knowledge of cultural differences and to seek to understand ourselves and each other better. Organizations have a responsibility to engage in these complex dialogues and provide opportunities for individuals to learn about Canada's histories, engage in conversations around its complexities, and support staff in better understanding cultural differences.  

If you are looking to better support your organization in expanding or learning about cultural differences, contact us at info@ccdiconsulting.ca. For more information on the services we offer, visit our website.

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References

Heritage, C. (2023, June 12). National Acadian Day. Canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/celebrate-canada/acadian-day.html   

Heritage Minutes: Acadian Deportation. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/9F23fgzNbO4 

Millette, D. (2015). Tintamarre. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tintamarre  

Marsh, J. H. (2013, September 4). Acadian Expulsion (the Great Upheaval). The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-deportation-of-the-acadians-feature 

Radio-Canada. (2020, August 7). Le tintamarre rappelle au monde l’existence des Acadiens. Radio-Canada.ca. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1251578/tintamarre-acadie-histoire-archives   

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2023, June 14). Acadia | Historical Region, National Park & French Colony. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Acadia