Coastal Zone Canada 2025 Conference information, including program and abstracts, can be found here
Abstract
French settlers first arrived in Mi’kma’ki in the early seventeenth century. To increase agricultural production, their descendants – the Acadians – drained the Bay of Fundy’s tidal wetlands using dykes and aboiteaux. From 1755 to 1758, thousands of Acadians were deported to British colonies and Europe, forming the Acadian diaspora. Today, approximately 364 km of Acadian dykes remain in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture does not currently possess the ability to maintain and raise all dykes to withstand the projected impacts of a changing climate. Several coastal adaptation options have been proposed, including managed dyke realignment, which combines coastal retreat and tidal wetland restoration. Decision-makers are thus in the awkward position where they must not only decide which lands to protect and which lands to restore, but also who is a stakeholder and who is not. The purpose of this research is to determine whether Acadian diasporans (1) remain culturally linked to the Bay of Fundy dykelands, (2) are beneficiaries of ecosystem services co-produced with the Bay of Fundy dykelands, and (3) are stakeholders in managed dyke realignment decisions in the Bay of Fundy dykelands. Acadian diasporans were interviewed and surveyed at Grand-Pré National Historic Site and at the Congrès mondial acadien in August 2024. The results indicate that Acadian identity is complex, Acadian diapsorans are beneficiaries of non-material ecosystem services, and that Acadian diasporans are heavily divided over whether they believe they are stakeholders in managed dyke realignment decisions in the Bay of Fundy.
Citation
Legault, A., & Sherren, K. (2025). Acadian diaspora connections to Nova Scotia dykeland and tidal wetland landscapes. Coastal Zone Canada Conference, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, 9-11 June 2025.
Related Blog Post
Khan, J., Legault, A., MacDonald, B.H., Manuel, P., Margeson, M., Martinez Calderon, D., Webster, A., & Wells, P.G. (2025, July 30). Strengthening Coastal Resilience and Relationships: Reflections on the 2025 Coastal Zone Canada Conference. EIUI Blog. https://eiui.ca/strengthening-coastal-resilience-and-relationships-reflections-on-the-2025-coastal-zone-canada-conference/