MARS 2002 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     f/y/É/y fiz f/æy a; Paf—ä—fâyz 
     
    
   
   
    
     John Eldon Green 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     C anadians observe the constant migration 
     
     of refiJgees around the world with a 
     
     certain measure of detachment. It is 
     
     something that happens elsewhere. t0 
     
     other people. from which we have been 
     
     mercifully spared. We live here in peace. 
     
     free from terrorism. unaware of its real 
     
     and lasting effects. We are comfortable. 
     
     our families safe, and our only threat is 
     
     sickness. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Imagine our reaction then if an army 
     
     suddenly invaded us this month, because 
     
     of a war in a faraway continent among 
     
     people of whom we know lirtle. speaking 
     
     a language not our own. The strange 
     
     soldiers order us from our homes at 
     
     gunpoint. permitting us nothing of our 
     
     possessions but what we can carry, and 
     
     after a forced march of many miles gather 
     
     us in fields near the administrative centre 
     
     of the lsland. All the while we protest that 
     
     we have done them no harm. and indeed 
     
     do not have the means to harm them. We 
     
     have no army. have never been warlike, 
     
     and have caused trouble t0 no one. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Finally assembled in a field without the 
     
     least shelter trom thc clements. we are 
     
     told that we will bc transportcd from the 
     
     lsland into exile w mothers and childrcn in 
     
     onc boat, l'athch and single men in 
     
    
   
   
    
     anothcr. Our destination is a mallers ol' 
     
    
   
   
    
     Indillcrcnce lo those in charge ol" our 
     
     cxpulsron, and so is our talc. As thc days 
     
     pass we live in tcrror, hoping l'or a change 
     
    
   
   
    
     of heart. even without knowing how we 
     
     would survive the coming winter if the 
     
     invaders did relent. Some of us may 
     
     escape and perhaps join up with the 
     
     invisible Mi’kmaq people who will 
     
     accommodate us, but most of us will be 
     
     shipped out, many t0 our deaths. Some of 
     
     our families will never be reunited. 
     
    
   
   
    
     This scenario is so far-fetched it is 
     
     embarrassing even to write it. yet it 
     
     describes what happened to the first 
     
     French settlers on PEI. 40 long years after 
     
     they became established here. Upwards 
     
     of 4.000 people — some say maybe 6.000 
     
     — were gathered in the fields next to the 
     
     French administrative quarters at Port-la- 
     
     Joye in late October. 1758 and deported 
     
     from the colony they had caret‘ully and 
     
     patiently built from scratch. ln due course 
     
     the British who replaccd them would 
     
     establish a fort on the site. named after 
     
     the British General responsible for thc 
     
     expulsion. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The site of Port-la-.loye and Fort 
     
     Amherst. on a picturesque point of land 
     
     across the harbour from Charlottetmvn. is 
     
     now recognized as a National Historic 
     
     Site. The breastworks for thc Fort arc 
     
     clearly visible. but it requires imagination 
     
     to rccognizc anything oî‘ Port—la-Joye. A 
     
     ncarby lnlcrprctation Ccntrc providcs a 
     
     summary of the history ot' thc timcs and 
     
     an account ol" thc expulsion. but it is a 
     
     lamc account, without a scnsc ot' thc 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘ {The stheVLo—f 
     
     _- _ Port-la-Joye» 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
            
     
        
     
        
     
        
     
         
     
        
     
        
     
       
     
       
     
        
     
       
     
         
     
       
     
         
     
        
     
        
     
        
     
         
     
        
     
        
     
         
     
        
     
         
     
        
     
         
     
        
     
       
     
        
     
         
     
          
     
         
     
    
   
   
    
     PAGE 33 
     
    
   
   
    
       Fort? 
     
     Amhersÿon a 
     
     picturesqne 
     
     . Wint-of land; 
     
     L jacrïoSs théî f 
     
     » 'harhour fmm 
     
     Charlottetom 
     
     A .:_—is now “ 
     
     recogniZed as à 
     
     National ' 
     
     Historie Site.