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PAGE 6 M. RENTE. souvemnce

The Honourable Michel Bastarache

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As all of you know. Acadia was definitively ceded to England in l7l3. Normally. according to international law, this was a conquest. which means that all of the private laws then applicable in Acadia should have been preserved until changed by the new legislative institutions. But this was not the case. In fact England then considered Acadia to be uninhabited and introduced all of the laws of England as of I719. At that time. Nova Scotia was under military rule: in essence and by virtue of the Royal prerogative. the Go— vernor and his Council legislated and executed the laws. The effect of this was to exclude all Acadians from social and political life. even though they formed the great ma- jority of the population. because the introduction of English law in the colony also meant an introduction of all the anti-Catholic laws that created legal incapacities for them. Among these laws you will recognize the Parlia- mentary Test Ac! of 1678 and the Conventicle Act of 1664. All this to say that all private French laws were abrogated and that the Catholic population was from that point on without legal status and without knowledge of the law that was to affect them in the future.

The Treaty of Utrecht did not protect the Acadians. The seigneurial régime introduced by the French to regulate private property was tolerated for a time. but in fact inha- bitants were requested to move to Cape Breton which remained under French rule. A letter of Queen Anne guaranteed property rights and pennitted the practice of the Catholic religion to those who stayed. But soon after. Governor Cornwallis limited the scope of that promise by declaring that the right to leave was limited to one year and that all property of those who left would be confiscated. He also indicated that property rights were protected only so long as the land owners were willing to swear allegiance. Modem authors who have studied this have all concluded that the decisions of Governors Cornwallis and Murray were unconstitutional under British law.

ln practice. the British first tolerated the refusal to swear allegiance in order to preserve social peace. They worried about an uprising given the percentage of the population that was Acadian. In 1730. however. Governor Philipps persuaded the Acadians to swear allegiance by guaranteeing their neutrality. In 1749. the system collapsed. From then on English legislation would be applied strictly. The Acadians could not hold any public office. An order of mobilization cancelled the guarantee of neutrality. State religion was imposed. Members of the Catholic Church were prevented from performing any public act or to teach in schools. All

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this was illegal because it was contrary to the promises of Queen Anne. No tribunal was disposed to hear a case and secure the application of the rule of law. All of the boats belonging to Acadians, as well as their arms, were confis- cated. In I755. the order to swear allegiance was reim— posed. This was also illegal. Then came the deportation order which itself was illegal because it was contrary to British public law and was passed without the vote of a Legislative Assembly.

After the Deportation and the return of the Acadians, which began in I758, very repressive local legislation was adopted and implemented. The Royal commission given to Cornwallis extended the application of anti-papist En- glish legislation to the colony without need for legislation within the Colony. The deportees were not legally per— mitted to return to their lands or to recover their property until the Treaty of 1763. but even then return was permit— ted only in settlements of l0 families or less. which ex— plains why Acadians are so dispersed even today. and land ownership was restricted because of the necessity of disa- vowing the Catholic Church to hold land. All land titles registered prior to 1755 were burned for fear that Acadians would try to reclaim their lands. Those who found refuge in what was to become New Brunswick after 1755 were considered illegal aliens. New laws creating further legal incapacities for Catholics were adopted to deal with them. They could not hold any lands and all of their belongings could be confiscated. Residence in the ten'itory was subject to swearing allegiance. The papist clergy was expelled. An act adopted in 1759 abolished all subsisting property rights of Acadians.

The régime began to crumble in 1783. In I784. New Brunswick was creaied. the legislature beginning to adopt laws in I786. In I791. New Brunswick abolished all laws received from Nova Seotia. then in force, but i‘etained laws received directly from England. including those dealing with papists. In l769, Prince Edward Island was created. lt continucd to apply the laws ot‘ Nova Scotia until modified by the provincial legislature.

Catholics must therel‘ore still swear allegiance in order to hold land, to hold an elected office. etc. Moreover. they are prevented from marrying because the Anglicnn religion is recognized to the exclusion of all others. In l79l, these measures are abandoned regarding marringe: in lBlO regar— ding voting rights: in l829 regarding the right to hold a public office. ln l834. Catholic priests recover the right to celebrate marriages. lu si r n n‘y “0—0”. v' ‘

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