The Acadian World Congress, or Le Congrès Mondial Acadien, is a festival of Acadian and Cajun culture and history, held every five years. It is also informally known as the Acadian Reunion. The creator of the Acadian World Congress was André Boudreau (1945 - 2005).[1]
The first congress was held in Moncton, New Brunswick in 1994, and the second was held in south Louisiana July 31-August 15, 1999. The 1999 event featured the reunions of over 80 Acadian families, three major concerts (Houma, Oak Alley Plantation, and Lafayette Cajundome), as well as academic conferences centered on economics, culture, women's issues, genealogy and genetics. The President and executive director of the 1999 event was Brian Gabriel Comeaux of Lafayette, LA.
The third congress, in 2004, was held jointly by several Nova Scotia communities in the ancestral Acadie region and celebrated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first French-speaking settlers in Canada. As in the previous gatherings, musical festivals and theatrical productions displayed Acadian culture, and academics debated the meaning of Acadia in the 21st century. Debates included the best ways of preserving Acadian culture in an overwhelmingly English area, and what exactly an Acadian is in 2004. Some Acadians in the Maritimes do not recognize more recent immigrants as true Acadians. There was also a debate about whether the descendants of Acadians, who do not speak French, qualify (see Chiac language).
The 2009 Acadian World Congress was held in the Acadian Peninsula.
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