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Deputy Prime Minister John Manley says goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II as she leaves the Ottawa airport upon her arrival in the nations capital Saturday. Photo: Jonathan Hayward/CP
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Canadian Press
Ottawa — It was the second awkward moment the Queen was to face Saturday when she arrived in Ottawa for the last leg of her 12-day Golden Jubilee tour of Canada. But there were no signs of tension between the monarch and Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, one of Canada's most outspoken anti-monarchy critics, as they shook hands on the runway.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Queen was heckled by an Acadian woman as she did a brief walkabout prior to a government luncheon in her honour in Moncton. The woman was part of a group requesting a royal acknowledgment of the expulsion of Acadians in New Brunswick, regarded by many Francophones as an early form of ethnic cleansing. Smiling broadly, Mr. Manley talked animatedly with the Queen as she emerged with the Duke of Edinburgh from the Canadian Forces jet at the city's Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. Mr. Manley's anti-monarchy statements just two weeks ago sparked an uproar among politicians and royal well-wishers alike who demanded that he be replaced as the Queen's host for the first portion of her visit to the nation's capital. On Sunday, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien takes over the responsibility at a morning multi-faith Thanksgiving celebration on Parliament Hill and later at the National War Memorial. The royal couple also has a full day of activities Monday, before flying back to London on Tuesday morning. The jet transporting them from New Brunswick touched down in Ottawa around 4:20 p.m. EDT, about 10 minutes earlier than expected. Within minutes, they were whisked away for dinner at Rideau Hall, the official residence of the Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson. The Queen left New Brunswick in mid-afternoon Saturday after a 25-hour visit to the province that included the usual walkabouts and receptions, but not the apology some Acadians had hoped for. Before leaving, the Queen unveiled a plaque marking the official opening of a terminal at Greater Moncton Airport and its new designation as an international airport. The airport is located in the town of Dieppe, a predominantly Acadian community. Fewer than 400 people showed up for the airport dedication, although tour organizers had been expecting thousands. Dozens of school buses sat empty in the parking lot. Stephane Bergeron, a Bloc Quebecois MP of Acadian descent, came to Dieppe with hopes that the Queen would say something about the expulsion of his ancestors 250 years ago. He said that he believes she said nothing during her New Brunswick visit because of controversy surrounding a request by Acadian groups for a royal acknowledgment of the expulsion. "We just ask the Crown to recognize that some wrongs have been done to this people," said Mr. Bergeron, who tried unsuccessfully last year to get the House of Commons to endorse a motion requesting a royal acknowledgment of the expulsion. During an afternoon walkabout, Marie-Claire Dugas waved an Acadian flag within metres of the monarch and shouted: "Give me back the land you stole from my ancestors in 1755!" The Queen didn't flinch or look in Ms. Dugas's direction, but walked quickly into a downtown hotel where the luncheon was held. The decision by 18th-century British governors to remove an entire ethnic population — the French-speaking Acadians — from the colony of Nova Scotia had consequences that resonated for generations. It's believed about 11,000 Acadians were deported from what is now the Maritimes between 1755 and 1758. It's estimated another 3,000 hid in the forests of Atlantic Canada and Quebec. Others sailed south to Louisiana where, over the centuries, they lost their language and much of their culture in the huge U.S. melting pot.
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