A statue of Evangeline (inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem), is a centrepiece at Grand-Pré National Historic Site/Parks Canada
Grand-Pré National Historic Site has a new management plan.
Reviewed every 10 years, management plans are a requirement of the Parks Canada Agency Act and guide the management of national historic sites, national parks and national marine conservation areas.
The site is in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, 53 miles northwest of Halifax, on the Minas Basin, an inlet of the Bay of Fundy. Its updated plan outlines a long-term vision for the site as well as the following key strategies:
Key Strategy 1: It hopes to be an attractive, world-class historic site.
Key Strategy 2: It hopes to be a place of remembrance for the Acadian community and a place of learning for all.
Key Strategy 3: It plans to see Mi'kmaq, partners and collaborators working in synergy towards a shared vision.
The plan includes objectives and targets aimed at strengthening the connection that Acadians from far and wide have to the internationally recognized site, as well as increasing collaboration with local communities, and specifically increasing opportunities to connect with Mi'kmaw culture.
The plan was prepared based on input from:
Acadian groups and key partners such as la Société Promotion Grand-Pré; Mi'kmaw leadership and communities in Nova Scotia, namely through Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn (KMKNO).
Landscape of Grand-Pré Incorporated.
Tourism industry representatives.
Local communities and residents, as well as the wider public.
Through this plan, Parks Canada will protect an important example of cultural heritage in Canada, engage and collaborate with Indigenous peoples, and provide an opportunity for Canadians to experience and discover history in new and innovative ways.
Grand-Pré commemorates Grand-Pré area as a centre of Acadian settlement from 1682 to 1755 and the Deportation of the Acadians from 1755 until 1762.
In designating Grand-Pré as a national historic site in 1982, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada also recognized the strong attachment that remains to this day among Acadians throughout the world to this area, the heart of their ancestral homeland.
Grand-Pré is part of the Landscape of Grand-Pré UNESCO World Heritage site. The site, lands, marshes, a series of dikes and Cape Blomidon (a significant Mi'kmaw landscape feature) can be appreciated from the Landscape of Grand Pré View Park on a nearby hilltop.
