The Royal Proclamation of 2003, formally known as Proclamation Designating 28 July of Every Year as "A Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval", Commencing on 28 July 2005, is a document issued in the name of Queen Elizabeth II acknowledging the Great Upheaval, Britain's expulsion of French-speaking Acadians from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, beginning in 1755.
Historical background
The proclamation's origin dates back to a 1763 petition submitted to King George III by Acadian exiles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Because the King never responded to the petition, Warren A. Perrin, a Cajun attorney and cultural activist from Erath, Louisiana, in the 1990s resurrected the petition and threatened to sueElizabeth II, as Queen in Right of the United Kingdom, if the British government refused to acknowledge the illegality of the Grand Dérangement. After 13 years of discussions, Perrin and his supporters in the United States and Canada persuaded the Government of Canada to issue a royal proclamation acknowledging the historical fact of the Great Upheaval and consequent suffering experienced by the Acadian people. The document itself was signed by Adrienne Clarkson, then Governor General of Canada.
A Proclamation Whereas the Acadian people, through the vitality of their community, have made a remarkable contribution to Canadian society for almost 400 years;
Whereas on 28 July 1755, the Crown, in the course of administering the affairs of the British colony of Nova Scotia, made the decision to deport the Acadian people;
Whereas the deportation of the Acadian people, commonly known as the Great Upheaval, continued until 1763 and had tragic consequences, including the deaths of many thousands of Acadians – from disease, in shipwrecks, in their places of refuge and in prison camps in Nova Scotia and England as well as in the British colonies in America;
Whereas We acknowledge these historical facts and the trials and suffering experienced by the Acadian people during the Great Upheaval;
Whereas We hope that the Acadian people can turn the page on this dark chapter of their history;
Whereas Canada is no longer a British colony but a sovereign state, by and under the Constitution of Canada;
Whereas We, in Our role as Queen of Canada, exercise the executive power by and under the Constitution of Canada;
Whereas this Our present Proclamation does not, under any circumstances, constitute a recognition of legal or financial responsibility by the Crown in right of Canada and of the provinces and is not, under any circumstances, a recognition of, and does not have any effect upon, any right or obligation of any person or group of persons;
And Whereas, by Order in Council P.C. 2003-1967 of 6 December 2003, the Governor in Council has directed that a proclamation do issue designating 28 July of every year as "A Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval", commencing on 28 July 2005;
Now Know You that We, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council for Canada, do by this Our Proclamation, effective on 5 September 2004, designate 28 July of every year as "A Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval", commencing on 28 July 2005.
Of All Which Our Loving Subjects and all others whom these Presents may concern are hereby required to take notice and to govern themselves accordingly.
At Our Government House, in Our City of Ottawa, this tenth day of December in the year of Our Lord two thousand and three and in the fifty-second year of Our Reign.
