Keys to History

The Parti acadien, a provincial political party, was founded in 1972 by intellectuals in northeastern New Brunswick. Among the notable founding members were André Dumont, Jean-Pierre Lanteigne, Louise Blanchard, Euclide Chiasson, Lorio Roy and Germaine Moreault. These men and women managed to express publicly, in the political arena, ideas that sometimes ran counter to those of the established Acadian élite, thus advancing the social debate in Acadie.

Rural French-speaking regions of the province were often the poor relations in the New Brunswick economy. Economic development could be seen mainly in the more urban areas with majority English-speaking populations: Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton. The Parti acadien was meant to be the people's party, the party of farmers, loggers, fishermen, plant workers, the unemployed and welfare recipients in the French-speaking parts of the province.