Petition
Whereas the last Acadian and French-speaking MLA to be elected for the riding of Inverness was 100 years old, in 1925;
Whereas the Acadian regions of Clare, Argyle, and Richmond were granted a protected riding in 1992;
Whereas Justice Muise of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, in his November 2024 decision, ruled that the 2019 Electoral Boundaries Commission had not provided sufficient justification for its refusal to recommend an exceptional riding for Chéticamp and the surrounding area;
Whereas, according to Justice Muise, the said Commission had not treated Chéticamp and the surrounding area on an equal footing with Clare, Argyle, and Richmond, the three other founding Acadian communities following the deportation.
Whereas, according to Justice Muise, the Commission was aware that the Acadian region of Chéticamp would not benefit from effective representation in the proposed recommendations, which violates section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the ''Charter'').
Whereas Justice Muise declared that section 3 of the Charter had been violated, giving the Province 20 months to redo its work.
Whereas the Province established a new Commission whose ''primary mandate is to recommend electoral boundaries to ensure effective representation of the Acadian region of Chéticamp and surrounding areas.";
Whereas Doyle's Bridge on East Margaree Road is a natural physical divide between the Acadian region and the so-called English, Scottish, and Irish region of the rest of the county. We believe that this constituency as proposed would ensure effective representation, which would finally give us the opportunity to elect an Acadian as a provincial member of Parliament, something that has not happened since 1925.
Consequently, we, the undersigned, request that the boundaries of the said protected constituency be established from the northern limit of Meat Cove to Doyle's Bridge on East Margaree Road on the southeast side of the Margaree River. This constituency encompasses the vast majority of Acadians and Francophiles residing in the Inverness constituency and includes all the Acadian communities of La Prairie, Petit Étang, Chéticamp, Belle Marche, Plateau, Point Cross, Grand Étang, St. Joseph du Moine, Belle Côte, East Margaree, and Butte des Arseneault. In addition, this constituency would include the English communities of Pleasant Bay and Meat Cove, which have and still do business with Chéticamp.