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after a few years in order to raise a family. Some teachers left for western Canada to try their luck where teaching positions were better paid. Consequently, between 1906 and 1920, the inspector for Acadian schools complained on numerous occasions that his best teachers, both men and women, were leaving for the Prairie provinces. There was a strong demand in the west around that time for bilingual teachers to work in the newly founded French-Canadian parishes. The two world wars also caused a drain on the teaching personnel on the Island. During World War II, especially, many men and women left the teaching profession to join the army or work in factories in large industrial centres where salaries were more attractive.

The entrance exams and the language of instruction at the pro- vincial Normal School further hindered the recruitment of young teachers originating from Acadian communities. Since English only was spoken at the School, the French-speaking students had to work much harder to succeed than their classmates*’. This state of affairs was not conducive to attracting very many Acadians into teaching.

At the beginning of the century all female teachers received less pay than their male counterparts. The matter was the subject of discussion on numerous occasions during the Acadian teachers’ con- ventions. The minutes for the 1907 convention indicate the general drift of the discussion:

Mr. F. J. Buote pointed out the injustice done to female teachers, seeing that they do not receive as much pay as male teachers although they do just as much work. Rev. P.C. Gauthier is also in favour of equal pay for male and female teachers and proposed the following motion which was adopted unani- mously. Given that a distinction is made in the salary between male and female teachers in this province, be it resolved that the salary paid to female teachers be just as high as that paid to male teachers. (TR)*®

This discrimination lasted for a very long time since it was not until 1947 that female teachers finally received equal pay.

One encouragement for Acadian teachers was that, as a token of the taxpayers’ esteem, they were awarded a supplement in addition to their salary from the government. This did not happen in all provincial school districts. Alexander Anderson, Superintendent of Public Education, expressed his delight concerning the matter in his report of 1908. He wrote: “It is very satisfactory, again, to feel bound