What is the Acadian flag?

The Acadian flag, called le drapeau acadien, is the French tricolour of vertical blue, white, and red bands defaced with a five-pointed gold star of the Virgin Mary, the Stella Maris ('Star of the Sea'), in the upper hoist of the blue band. Acadian delegates adopted the flag at the second National Convention of the Acadians, held in Miscouche, Prince Edward Island on August 15, 1884. Father Marcel-François Richard of Saint-Louis-de-Kent, New Brunswick proposed the design.

The flag's colours come directly from the French national flag, signalling the Acadian people's French heritage even after the British conquest of Acadia in 1710. The yellow star represents Mary, Star of the Sea, the patron saint of Acadians, formally proclaimed by Pope Pius X in 1903 in response to a petition from the Maritime bishops. The same Miscouche convention adopted Ave Maris Stella as the Acadian national anthem and August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, as Acadian National Day.

Acadia was the French colony in what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and parts of Maine that lasted from 1604 to 1710. The Great Upheaval (Le Grand Dérangement) of 1755 to 1764, ordered by British colonial governor Charles Lawrence, deported about 10,000 Acadians from their homes, many to Louisiana where their descendants are the Cajuns and to France, with perhaps a third of the deported population dying. Acadians who returned or remained rebuilt their communities.

The Acadian flag flies over public buildings in francophone communities across the Maritimes, including the Université de Moncton, La Société Nationale de l'Acadie, Acadian World Congresses (held every five years since 1994), and Caraquet's Festival Acadien each August. The flag is also displayed in Louisiana and France during commemorations of the Acadian deportation and return.