At a brief ceremony in Miscouche today, Education Minister Gordon MacInnis signed an agreement integrating the Acadian Museum with the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation.
"We are very pleased to become partners in the protection and interpretation of our Island Acadian and Francophone heritage," said the Hon. Gordon MacInnis whose portfolio includes culture and heritage. "The Acadian Museum is testimony to the cultural survival of a people whose history in this province dates back to 1720. This agreement acknowledges the museum’s provincial nature and the distinctive place it has in the heritage landscape of PEI."
Today’s agreement follows a year of negotiations between the Department of Education, the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation and the Acadian Museum. Minister MacInnis also thanked the following individuals for their efforts in working with the Department to reach this agreement: Mr. Wilfred Arsenault, Chair of the Acadian Museum, Mrs. Cécile Gallant, Executive Director of the Acadian Museum, Mrs. Connie Ings, past chair PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation, Mr. Paul H. Schurman, PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation Chair and Mr. Chris Severance, Executive Director PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation. As a branch site of the PEI
Museum and Heritage Foundation, the Acadian Museum will now have the same rights and privileges as the other six provincial museum sites in the province.
Founded in 1964 by the Island Acadian community, the Acadian Museum has been instrumental in the conservation and promotion of Prince Edward Island’s rich Acadian heritage for over thirty years.