Georges Island is a small, oval-shaped island that has long played a vital role in the defence of Halifax Harbour. Since its founding in 1749, Halifax has benefited from its deep-water, ice-free, year-round port, which provides a major strategic advantage. Integrated from the beginning into the city’s defence complex, Georges Island did not only have its hours of glory. Alternately a place of burial and detention, it has witnessed dark episodes in the region’s French and Acadian history. Let’s go back to 1746, when Halifax was still Chebucto Bay and Georges Island was Île de la Raquette, on a territory that the Mi’kmaq called Kjipuktuk (the great harbour) …

The dark history of Georges Island

After the capture of the Fortress of Louisbourg by the Anglo-Americans and the British in June 1745, the French government was determined to retake Île Royale and Nova Scotia. An imposing fleet of 72 ships and 7000 men was then formed, placed under the command of the Duc d’Anville. Alas, this expedition suffered a resounding failure. Penalized by disastrous weather, it was especially devastated by a typhus epidemic aggravated by scurvy due in particular to poor sanitary conditions. As for the Duc d’Anville, he died of an attack of apoplexy on his arrival in Chebucto Bay in September 1746. His remains rested for two years on Île de la Raquette, until the restitution of Louisbourg to France in 1748 by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. He now rests in the chapel of the Fortress of Louisbourg, which has been partially rebuilt.

It was in 1749, to counter the influence of Louisbourg, that the British established more than 2000 Protestant settlers in Chebucto Bay and created a large military base to protect them. They named their new colony Halifax, in honour of the 2nd Earl of Halifax, President of the Board of Trade in London, and Georges Island in honour of King George II. Nine years later, France lost Louisbourg for good, even though half of the Acadians had already been deported to the Anglo-American colonies. Between 1755 and 1763, Georges Island had been used as a place of detention, in difficult conditions, for hundreds of Acadian prisoners, awaiting their deportation to the Anglo-American colonies or England.

Today, Georges Island National Historic Site offers visitors a splendid view of the city, while hiding a dark side of the region’s history. Once a witness to the endemic weakness of the French navy, Georges Island is a sacred place for the Acadians, reviving their painful memory of the deportation. Proudly represented by their provincial institutions in the Acadian House at 54 Queen Street in Dartmouth, the Acadians of the Halifax Regional Municipality are fortunate to live in a large urban centre that is particularly Francophile. While only 2.3% of the city’s 440,000 inhabitants have French as their mother tongue, 12.2% are able to conduct a conversation in both official languages. This is a great asset to maintain the dynamism of the Conseil Communautaire du Grand-Havre which represents them.

Header image: Georges Island (author Thparkth, license CC BY-SA 3.0)

Jean-Marc Agator
Paris, France

Sources

Landry, Nicolas et Lang, Nicole ; Histoire de l’Acadie – 2e édition ; Septentrion, Sillery (QC), 2014.

Chaline, Olivier ; La puissance navale à l’épreuve de l’épidémie – Le mal de Brest 1757-1758 ; Institut de l’Océan de l’Alliance Sorbonne Université, 2021.

Statistics Canada 2021: The Halifax Regional Municipality includes the cities of Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and Halifax County. 2.3% of its 440,000 inhabitants have French as their mother tongue, but 12.2% are able to conduct a conversation in both official languages.