The Post-War Period 253 
     
    
   
   
    
     GREAT STRIDES 
     
    
   
   
    
     Once the Official Languages Act was passed, the government set 
     
     up programs to develop a bilingual country. These programs, adminis- 
     
     tered by the Secretary of State, had a notable effect on the federal 
     
     civil service, arts and culture, school instruction in the official lan- 
     
     guages, and French language minority groups. All these programs af- 
     
     fected the Acadians on Prince Edward Island in one way or another, 
     
     although it was the program for the support of French minorities that 
     
     had the greatest impact. It was called the Social Action Directorate 
     
     and was designed to provide French minority groups with the neces- 
     
     sary tools for their cultural growth. Funds and technical assistance 
     
     were granted to representative organizations to help them meet their 
     
     objectives. Youth movements and projects involving cultural and social 
     
     activities also benefited from the same program. 
     
    

    
     The Saint Thomas Aquinas Society was recognized by the Secretary 
     
     of State as the official organ of the Acadian community on Prince 
     
     Edward Island and the organization with which it would collaborate 
     
     in order to implement the program for socio-cultural action. The 
     
     Society thus received grants that enabled it to maintain permanent 
     
     administrative headquarters and to expand its activities. Up to that 
     
     point the work had always been done by volunteers. The Society set 
     
     out immediately to make the Acadian public aware of the need to 
     
     preserve and support French life in the province. According to the 
     
     philosophy of the Secretary of State in the area of social and cultural 
     
     development, this was considered to be an extremely important ap- 
     
     proach: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Activities that revitalize groups will enable the minority to fight against apathy 
     
     and indifference, the main causes of assimilation. (TR)*° 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Saint Thomas Aquinas Society hired its first cultural 
     
     animateur in 1970. One year later, permanent headquarters were 
     
     opened. The resurgence stimulated by this unprecedented support 
     
     on the part of the government had been long-awaited in some Acadian 
     
     circles. The Saint Thomas Aquinas Society, with the help of its cultural 
     
     animateur, Antoine Richard, visited all the Acadian communities on 
     
     the Island in order to involve as many people as possible in the