Atlantic Canada Acadian cultural projects to get $1M from Ottawa

The federal government is spending $1 million on dozens of projects that celebrate Acadian culture in Atlantic Canada.

Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly was in Moncton, N.B., to announce funding for 59 projects for National Acadian Day events in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The projects include the Festival acadien de Caraquet in New Brunswick and Grand-Pre 2017 in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.

Joly says the money is part of the Canada 150 Fund and will give Acadian communities the chance to showcase their culture during National Acadian Day celebrations.

Nova Scotia MP Bill Casey says his riding has one of the country’s most intact Acadian villages in Cumberland County at Beaubassin, where a park will open later this year.

National Acadian Day is celebrated on Aug. 15 and dates back to the late 1800s, but was enacted by the federal government in 2003.