Explore & Community
The Acadian Community in PEI: Three Centuries in the Evangeline Region
Nearly half the Evangeline region still speaks French, 300 years after Acadian families fled deportation and resettled here illegally on land they didn't yet own. Here's how that history shapes the region today.
1. How the Region Actually Began
Acadian families first settled what is now the Évangéline region after being forced off land in the Malpeque Bay area, land they had farmed for roughly 30 years before a colonial landowner, Colonel Harry Compton, acquired it in 1804. Relations deteriorated over time, and a group of tenants abandoned that land entirely, resettling further west on Lot 15 without any legal title, founding La Roche (Baie-Egmont) and Le Grand-Ruisseau (Mont-Carmel) simply because the new land appeared unoccupied and uncared for. The region was officially founded in 1812, named after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem commemorating the 1755 Acadian Deportation, when roughly 7,000 Acadians across the wider region were forcibly removed to American colonies.
2. The Region Today, By the Numbers
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Population (Évangéline region) | ~3,452 |
| Population speaking French at all | 47% |
| Population speaking French as first language | 35% |
| Median age | 48 (well above PEI's overall median) |
| Population aged 65+ | 24% |
Some villages within the region carry this even further: over 80% of Abram-Village residents speak French, alongside 66% in Wellington and 70% in Lot 15.
3. Six Regions, One Coordinating Body
PEI's Acadian and Francophone community isn't confined to Évangéline alone. It spans six regions: West Prince, Évangéline, Summerside-Miscouche, Rustico, Charlottetown, and Eastern Kings. The Société acadienne et francophone de l'Île (SAF'Île) coordinates across all six through local committees, ensuring French-language services and cultural programming reach francophones and francophiles at every life stage, from early years centres through French-language schools to services for seniors.
4. An Aging Community Actively Recruiting Newcomers
Évangéline's demographic profile, a median age of 48 and 24% seniors, means the region has a genuine, stated interest in attracting younger francophone families. It participates in the federal Welcoming Francophone Communities initiative specifically to support the settlement of French-speaking newcomers, and immigrants already account for about 4.5% of the local workforce, a small but real foothold given the region historically attracted very few immigrants at all.
5. What Makes This Different From the Other Community Portraits
Every other community in this series arrived recently, within living memory, often through the PNP or a refugee pathway. The Acadian community's presence predates Canadian confederation itself. This isn't a newcomer story, it's PEI's oldest continuously French-speaking population, and the appropriate tone toward it is recognition of deep roots, not a "welcome to the Island" framing.
6. Where to Learn More or Connect
Collège de l'Île, PEI's French-language community college, is based in Wellington, in the heart of the Évangéline region, and is a practical starting point for francophone newcomers seeking French-language education or community connection.