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VVe Island Acadîans are the lucky ones, for we stîll occupy some of the lands wbere our ancestors first Came... Witl] proud names sucli as Arsenault, Poirier, Gallant, Gaudet, Bernard, Caissîe, DesRoches and a couple

of a dozen more.

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fertilizer? Did they eat biscuits or bannock? Did they love râpure as much as I do? Were they military men? Or were they opposed t0 war and fighting? Were they active in their religion? Or just going through the motions? Were their childrcn their pride and joy? What was la Mi-Carême, or la Chandeleur? Did they have the same feelings I have, about the birth of a child, the death of a loved one? Do I have tlicir nose shape, their eye or hair colour? How tall were they? Were tliey as passionate about where they lived as I am? I know some of these questions will never be answered, until I can ask them for myself in tbe next lite. But I never tire of looking for the answcrs here and now.

There was a popular beer commer— cial a few montlis back, a young man extolling tlie virtues of being Canadian. I sometimes feel like tliat, but ratlier as an Acadian! We are not Québécois; our national day is August 15th, not lune 24th. Our flag is tbe Frencli Tricolor with tlie golden star in the blue representing our national patron saint, Our Lady of the Assumption. I personally do not speak French, but Acadians the world over spcak many different languages, for we are a people witliout a bomeland, banislied in thC 1750’5 and dispersed all over the world.

We Island Acadians are tlie luclxy ones, for we still occupy some ot the lands where our ancestors first came. Many left for only a few years, some not at all, Wltl‘l proud names such as Arsenault, Poirier, Gallant, Gaudet, Bernard, Caissie. DesRoches and a couple of a dozen more. At one time I thouglit tlmt Canadian history was boring, not at all like our neiglibours to the soutb. But my studios of the pioneers of the Acadinn parishes of Prince County have brouglit to life the exciting times

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LA PENTE SOUVENANCE

they lived in. Hard times. happy times, sad times, good times. Many Otl‘lCI'S and I are their legacy. The DNA in their bodies will match ours.

I remember reading somewhere about a young man who had a dream about going to heaven wliere he met his grandfather. They had so much to talk about, but all that the old man would ask was : «What have you done witli rny naine?» Finally the young man answered, that lie had clone nothing tliat his grandfather would be asliamed of, that lie was proud to bear the name of his grandfatlier and he would make him proud also. The grand- fatlier thanked him and walked away. And the young man woke up, back in the world. We need to be proud of our ancestors. They lived and died in a harsh environment different from ours, so that we migbt have a better life, tliat we might enjoy freedom, in a great country. There are hundreds of thousands of Acadians througliout Nortli America, from tlie Gulf of Mexico to Nunavut, from the Pacific Ocean to riglit here at home on the Atlantic coast. There are Acadians in France, and England, Spain and Italy, indeed all over tlie world. W‘ are all cousins, relatcd through tlie centuries.

With m)’ intcrest came a desire t0 record on paper events from my grandparents’ lives. I rewrote a short biography an aunt had previously written on my patcrnal grandparents, hacl it printed and now malxc it availablc for aunts and uncles and cousins to have. It was so well received tlmt I went back anotlier generation, and tlien anotheÏr. I have now started to do tlic ,lsamc for my maternal grandparcnts. Witli tlie advent of computer» I began entering my lineage into a database, in time it expanded to include brotliers and sisters of my ancestors and their cliildren. It now bas almost