Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil, Acadian 'resistance' leader who massacred British settlers, is being honoured with a plaque

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The reason Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil (1702-65) wasn’t commemorated with a Parks Canada plaque until last week might have something to do with his history of raiding and scalping British colonists.

Beausoleil, an Acadian born into the dying days of Acadia, didn’t take too kindly to British rule. The Brits took much of the territory in 1713, snapping up New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the resolution of the War of the Spanish Succession. So, in adult life, Beausoleil did what he could to terrorize the new owners of the land.

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Parks Canada’s sanitized version paints a picture of a tragic fighter up against the English machine. Beausoleil, in the mid-18th century, “became a leader of the Acadian resistance and defiance against British rule.” He “conducted bold raids” against settlements and the British military. He commanded a privateering vessel for the French and “avidly defended his compatriots, helping them to escape deportation and inspiring them to resist.”

He was captured once and for all by the British in 1760 during the Seven Years’ War. When the war ended in 1763, he didn’t recognize British rule and left the place for Haiti, along with other Acadians, and later left for his final resting place of Louisiana.

It all sounds nice and good, only, there’s a dark side. Distilling the scholarly work of historians, Wikipedia’s contributors fill out the details of Beausoleil’s........

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