By Canadian Press

Acadian group in N.B. praises life of Jackie Vautour, who resisted expropriation

Feb 8, 2021 | 12:43 PM

FREDERICTON —
New Brunswick’s Acadian Society is paying tribute to Jackie Vautour as a symbol of the francophone minority’s resistance to unjust expropriation of their lands.

The 92-year-old Vautour died on Sunday after being hospitalized with liver cancer and pneumonia.

He was known for battling against the federal expropriation of land from Acadian families to create Kouchibouguac National Park in the late 1960s.

Alexandre Cedric Doucet, president of the Acadian Society, said in an interview today that Vautour never gave up on his battle to remain on his family’s land, and he became a symbol that inspired the generations that followed.

About 250 families were displaced from villages on New Brunswick’s eastern shore to create the park, which was authorized under the signature of Jean Chretien, who at the time was minister of Indian affairs and northern development.

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Vautour received a settlement in 1987 but remained in his cabin in the park, and over the past decades he had challenged the expropriation in the courts.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2021.

The Canadian Press