What was the “Great Upheaval”?
- The Great Depression of the 1930s
- The Rebellions of 1837–38
- The Yukon Gold Rush of the 1890s
- The deportation of more than two-thirds of Acadians between 1755 and 1763
Answer: The deportation of more than two-thirds of Acadians between 1755 and 1763
The “Great Upheaval” is the name for the deportation of more than two-thirds of the Acadians from their homeland between 1755 and 1763, during the war between Britain and France. The Acadians survived this ordeal and kept their own identity.
Learn more: Acadians and Quebecers
- The Acadians descend from French colonists who began settling in what are now the Maritime provinces in 1604.
- Between 1755 and 1763, during the war between Britain and France, more than two-thirds of the Acadians were deported.
- This deportation is known as the “Great Upheaval”.
- The Acadians survived, kept their identity, and Acadian culture is now a flourishing part of French-speaking Canada.
- Most Quebecers descend from 8,500 French settlers of the 1600s and 1700s and keep a unique identity, culture and language.
- In 2006 the House of Commons recognized that the Quebecois form a nation within a united Canada.
- One million Anglo-Quebecers have a 250-year heritage in Quebec.