Acadian center on `fast track’

WASHINGTON — Maine House Speaker John L. Martin expressed optimism Tuesday that Congress is moving on a “fast track” to pass legislation that would seek ways of protecting the unique Acadian culture of Aroostook County’s St. John River Valley.

The bill was strongly endorsed Tuesday by members of the state’s congressional delegation during a public hearing before the House Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands. It was passed by the Senate earlier this summer.

Congress currently is bogged down in deliberations regarding the federal deficit. If the schedule of holiday recesses is followed, lawmakers have only seven or eight more weeks to conclude action on its legislative docket.

Martin, the state’s leading politician of French ancestry, expected little difficulty in persuading the House to pass the Maine Acadian Culture Preservation Act because the measure does not call for immediate federal funding.

Assuming passage of the bill by both chambers of Congress this year, the establishment of a proposed cultural center could take place within the next two years, Martin said.

The Acadian bill, which is sponsored by all four members of Maine’s congressional delegation, would establish an eight-member commission to advise the U.S. Park Service on the selection of historical sites, data, artifacts and objects associated with the Acadian exodus to Maine during the early 18th century.

It also would authorize the National Park Service to acquire up to 20 acres for an Acadian cultural center. One possible site is Notre Dame du Mont-Carmel in Lille, a church that is being restored by the Maine Historical Preservation Society, with matching funds from an anonymous Canadian donor.

The state Legislature last year approved a $150,000 grant to the University of Maine at Fort Kent to house Acadian cultural archives.

Martin expressed hope that the restoration of Acadian cultural sites would spur tourism in northern Aroostook County.

“Other than the natural beauty of the region, or visits with family, there is not much reason for tourists to return to the St. John Valley,” Martin said.

Over the past 20 years, he said, festivals and activities centered around the region’s Acadian cultural history have improved tourism in the region. He pointed out that more than 2,000 persons attended the annual Acadian Festival earlier this summer.

The forced exodus of French settlers from their homeland in Canada’s Maritime provinces was detailed in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, “Evangeline.”

One of the reasons that the Acadian bill is on a fast legislative track is the strong bipartisan support it is receiving from both Republican and Democratic members of Maine’s congressional delegation.

“It is important that the culture and history of this people be celebrated and preserved before it is lost to future generations,” said Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell.

Sen. William S. Cohen testified, “Once a fact of our history is lost, it cannot be retrieved. And we are diminished as a consequence.” Cohen said that the preservation of disappearing cultures is of equal importance to saving “endangered species” within the animal kingdom.

“The cultural forces of modern America,” Rep. Olympia J. Snowe warned, “imperil the vital legacy of Acadian culture. Yet, if we allow Acadian heritage to be lost, we Mainers lose a part of ourselves as well.”

Rep. Joseph E. Brennan said, “It would be a loss not only to Acadians, but to Maine and our nation, if we were to allow such a rich cultural heritage to be forgotten.”