248 THEISLAND ACADIANS

policy changes in his Department pertaining to education for Acadians, Gordon Bennett, the Minister of Education stated publicly that “there are no second class Islanders. The people of this province join other Canadians across Canada in our efforts to ensure that Canadians of either founding group may, wherever feasible, have instruction in their maternal tongue*’.” However, this new and more open-minded policy indicating both understanding and good will only seemed aimed at the Evangeline Region where the “dosage” of French was increased, little by little, in the school curriculums.

The schools in the Evangeline Region, regrouped in 1963 under one school board (the first of its kind on the Island), were thus given “unoffically” a special status. The Minister of Education recognized the distinctive cultural nature of the region and the primary role that schools must play in the preservation of the French-Acadian culture. When the government decided in 1972 to consolidate all the small school boards into large administrative units, the Evangeline School Unit, because of its special status, was left intact. It became Unit 5 with French as the language for both teaching and administration.

The reorganization of the school system on the Island affected the education of Acadians differently according to the region they lived in. On the one hand, the Evangeline Unit was protected and everything done to ensure a good standard of teaching in French. On the other hand, the so-called Acadian schools in the other areas of the province found themselves in the middle of large school units. As the smaller schools were gradually closed down, the Acadian stu- dents made their way to consolidated schools where French was taught only as a second language starting in Grade 3, or sometimes even as late as Grade 7.

The restructuring of the educational system brought about other changes. The position of Inspector for Acadian Schools was eliminated and replaced by the position of French Curriculum Advisor within the Department of Education. Superintendents are now attached to school units. The Evangeline Unit thus has a francophone superinten- dent, but his jurisdiction does not extend beyond the limits of the Unit. The reorganization of the school system made it more difficult for the Acadian Teachers’ Association to meet since the teachers could not obtain leave in order to attend the meetings**. Hence, the Associ- ation held its last conference in 1971. To fill the gap, the teachers in