SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Congrès mondial acadien 2024

Honourable senators, the World Acadian Congress has been held every five years since 1994. This international event celebrates the resilience, imagination and ingenuity of the Acadian people.

With its conferences, family gatherings and cultural events, the congress is an opportunity to celebrate one of Canada’s francophone populations, while enabling it to reflect on and imagine its future.

This important event brings together the Acadian diaspora from around the world in a festive yet reflective atmosphere.

Over the past 30 years, whether in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec or the States of Louisiana and Maine, the Acadian world congresses have shaped the economic, cultural and social fabrics of the communities that have hosted them. The Acadian regions of Clare and Argyle in Nova Scotia, which hosted the Congrès mondial acadien, or CMA, last August, are no exception. The economic impact of this event on the region is estimated at $20 million.

The 2024 congress was an opportunity for thousands of Acadians and friends of the Acadian people to attend inspirational gatherings like the one hosted by the remarkable Cajun artist Zachary Richard, to take part in the popular Tintamarre parade, and to leave the event with a renewed sense of solidarity and hope for the future of the Acadian people and their common language, French.

But the Congrès mondial acadien 2024 was much more than that for us parliamentarians, with several Acadian colleagues from different political parties and parliamentary groups in both houses, we took advantage of this major gathering to undertake a consultation with Acadian civil society to reflect on the Acadian people’s place in our Canadian federation and the ways in which it could be better equipped, recognized and positioned to contribute both to its own development and to that of Canada.

To encourage multi-party discourse, we presented a workshop during which researchers shared a rigorous and visionary analysis of the Acadian people’s current reality and its future.

I’m grateful to MPs Stéphane Bergeron and René Arseneault for attending the workshop and to MPs Chris d’Entremont and Darrell Samson and our honourable colleague Réjean Aucoin for their exceptional contributions to organizing the event, which was very well received by the Acadian and francophone communities.

Colleagues, the French-speaking Acadian people of North America are hardly ever named in federal constitutional and legislative texts. We still have a long way to go before we achieve full recognition for them and ensure they have all the tools they need to thrive.

That said, welcoming my compatriot, the Honourable Victor Boudreau, to this chamber and congratulating Acadian actor Robin-Joël Cool on the prestigious award he just received at the Gala des prix Gémeaux simply strengthens my resolve to advocate energetically for the interests of the Acadian people and all minorities here in this place. I also wish you, honourable colleagues, a new parliamentary session that is everything you want it to be.

Thank you. Meegwetch.