Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval in Canada
Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval in Canada is held on July 28. The Royal Proclamation of 2003 is a document issued in the name of Queen Elizabeth II acknowledging the Great Upheaval (or Great Expulsion or Grand Dérangement), Britain's expulsion of French-speaking Acadians from Nova Scotia, beginning in 1755. This event in the third decade of the month July is annual.
The Acadian story begins in France; the people who would become the Cajuns came primarily from the rural areas of the Vendee region of western France. In 1604, they began settling in Acadie, now Nova Scotia, where they prospered as farmers and fishers.
On July 28, Canadians mark the Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval, a sad chapter in the history of the Acadian people. On this day in 1755, British authorities ordered the deportation of French settlers living on lands in New France, which we know today as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Some Acadians are well known as writers, politicians, artists, musicians, and performers. Other Acadians are connecting with their identity through North American French, or through genealogy, beginning with their last name.