APeriod of Transition 155 
     
    
   
   
    
     convention to analyze their situation. The organizers created a special 
     
     committee for the Acadian delegates. 
     
    

    
     Led by the Honourable Joseph-Octave Arsenault, the Island dele- 
     
     gation was comprised of nine men chosen during public meetings 
     
     which had been organized in the parishes'®. At the first of these parish 
     
     assemblies, held in Egmont Bay, the Honourable Arsenault explained 
     
     why an Island delegation should attend the Saint-Jean-Baptiste conven- 
     
     tion. He felt that a great deal would be gained. Solutions might even 
     
     be found for pressing problems like the lack of land for the younger 
     
     generation. The Moniteur Acadien summarized his remarks: 
     
    
   
   
    
     It is there, under national banners, that we the Acadian people, will find the 
     
     strength and resources to gain respect for our rights which have been ignored 
     
     for too long, and to preserve the integrity of our national character and the 
     
     language we love and that our mothers taught us; in short, everything that is 
     
     of concern to our nation: religion, education, science, industry, and coloniza- 
     
     tion. He made us realize that we could benefit from joining our Canadian 
     
     brothers to form one national family. Above all, the Honourable Arsenault 
     
     emphasized the question of colonization. Since this issue is on the programme 
     
     of the convention, it would be very much in our interest to be well represented, 
     
     if only to discuss a subject that concerns us so much; our properties are already 
     
     too small and we shall soon be forced to seek settlements elsewhere for our 
     
     children, and that will certainly be in Canada. (TR)!”’ 
     
    
   
   
    
     At the close of the meetings the Acadian delegates at the conven- 
     
     tion in Quebec decided to hold their own convention the following 
     
     year in Memramcook “to address the general concerns of the Acadians” 
     
     (TR)'8. An organizing committee was appointed immediately. It was 
     
     comprised of leading Acadian politicians including Joseph-Octave Arse- 
     
     nault and Stanislas F Perry from Prince Edward Island. 
     
    

    
     The purpose of this historical gathering was voiced with clarity 
     
     in the committee’s manifesto announcing the first national convention 
     
     for Acadians: 
     
    
   
   
    
     [It is] to cement the unity that is absolutely essential in order for French 
     
     Acadians to assert themselves as a strong and dynamic people, a friend of 
     
     progress and seriously concerned about its future. For too long we appear to 
     
     have been ignored. Force has taken precedence over privilege. The time has 
     
     come to assert our rights to a just equality that the straightforward and practical 
     
     side of our conquerors will not be able to refuse much longer. (TR)'7°