History of the Acadians

Located in the Municipality of Argyle, the region of Par-en-Bas is found in Southwestern Nova Scotia. This region has a strong population of approximately 3,600 Acadians. The area encompasses 1,519 square kilometers and the population is mostly located along the coast, namely in the villages of East and West Pubnico, Argyle, Sainte-Anne du Ruisseau, Surette Island, and surrounding areas such as Tusket, Quinan, Plymouth, Wedgeport, and Butte des Comeau.

The region of Argyle is unique historically, in which the Acadians were already occupants of these lands before the Great Upheaval (the deportation of 1755-1763) and as of 1767, several families (Amirault, Belliveau, d'Entremont, d’Eon, Mius, etc.) returned to reclaim a part of the territory. The people of this region are very attached to their cultural heritage. Even today, they converse with each other using several words from their ancestral language.

Expressions such as "our eusses" - our eyebrows, or the terms used to count some tens: "septante" for seventy (70), "huitante" pronounced huiptante for eighty (80), "nonante" pronounced ‘nenante’ (90) are examples.