How can we accept that the Universite de Moncton bears

How can we accept that the Université de Moncton bears the name of the persecutor of the Acadians?

The Université de Moncton, the largest French-speaking university in Canada outside of Quebec, will review the application of those who want to change their name. More than 1,000 Acadians have signed a corresponding petition. Robert Moncton (also spelled Monckton) was the chief enforcer of the deportation of the Acadians.

In June 1755, Colonel Moncton began the destruction of Acadia by capturing the French forts Beauséjour and Gaspareau, in violation of the peace treaties signed with France. On August 8, 1755, he received orders from General Charles Lawrence to expedite the final resolution of the Acadian question:

“…since capturing the inhabitants can be very difficult, you should destroy as far as possible all the villages on the north and north-west coasts of the isthmus near Fort Beauséjour and make every possible effort to starve out those who try to hide in the forest.”*

The deportation of the Acadians is a dark period in our history.  From 1755 to 1763 about 10,000 Acadians were deported.  The village of Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia pictured here is now a National Historic Site.

Photo provided by the University of Moncton

The deportation of the Acadians is a dark period in our history. From 1755 to 1763 about 10,000 Acadians were deported. The village of Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia pictured here is now a National Historic Site.

“ethnic cleansing”

In order to force the men who had escaped into the forest to surrender as prisoners, the English executed their parents Nazi-style: “Give the absent 2 days to turn themselves in, otherwise their next of kin will be executed militarily .”

In “ethnic cleansing” operations he directed, Moncton deported more than 2,100 Acadian men, women and children from the Beaubassin, Beauséjour and Chignectou Isthmus region. He confiscated their lands and estates, burned their homes, barns and outbuildings, and confiscated their livestock.

Moncton’s efficiency earned him appointment as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia in December 1755. In this capacity he was also responsible for the deportation to England in 1758 of more than 3,000 other Acadians who had taken refuge on the island of Saint-Jean. now Prince Edward Island.

Artist's impression of the fire in an Acadian village in 1758.

Photo provided by Library and Archives Canada

Artist’s impression of the fire in an Acadian village in 1758.

Moncton’s heinous abuses constitute what is now called genocide. According to the UN definition, it is “murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and any other inhumane act committed against a civilian population before or during war or persecution for political, racial or religious reasons”.

In the seven years that the destruction of French Acadia lasted, its population dropped from 15,000 in 1755 to about 2,500 in 1762. More than a third of them, from 5,000 to 6,000, perished there.

We need an Acadian Avenue in Quebec!

The Université de Moncton isn’t the only one glorifying the memory of this heinous war criminal. In Quebec, an avenue bears his name. It goes from the Chemin Sainte-Foy to the Plains of Abraham. Moncton was James Wolfe’s deputy.

Moncton Avenue ends at Grande-Allée in the Plains of Abraham, where Moncton excelled alongside Wolfe.

Screenshot from Google Maps

Moncton Avenue ends at Grande-Allée in the Plains of Abraham, where Moncton excelled alongside Wolfe.

It is particularly infamous considering that 150 Acadian deportees fought to defend New France in 1759.

In 1999, a citizen, Richard Gervais, suggested to the mayor of Québec that he put an end to this disgrace: “I request that we rename the current Avenue Moncton “Avenue des Acadiens” for the time being. Nothing has been done.

Quebec and Acadia are among the few places in the world that accept such a situation. It is simply a matter of honor, dignity and self-respect! The Acadians finally seem determined to remove the name of their ancestor’s executioner from the university that educates their youth. How long will the odonym Moncton besmirch our nation’s capital?

* Baby, François, “Should the private Monckton be saved from oblivion?”, L’Action Nationale, August 1999.

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