<P> 1977, official opening of the Acadian Historic Village in Caraquet, New Brunswick . </P> <P> Born 1929 in Bouctouche, Antonine Maillet is an Acadian novelist, playwright, and scholar . Maillet received a BA and MA from the Université de Moncton, followed by a Ph. D. in literature in 1970 from the Université Laval . Maillet won the 1972 Governor General's Award for Fiction for Don l'Orignal . In 1979, Maillet published Pélagie - la - Charrette, for which she won the prix Goncourt . Maillet's character "La Sagouine" (from her book of the same name) is the inspiration for "Le Pays de la Sagouine" in her hometown of Bouctouche . </P> <P> In 2003, at the request of Acadian representatives, a proclamation was issued in the name of Queen Elizabeth II, acting as the Canadian monarch, officially acknowledging the deportation and establishing July 28 as a day of commemoration . The day of commemoration is observed by the Government of Canada, as the successor of the British Government . </P> <P> The Fédération des Associations de Familles Acadiennnes of New Brunswick and the Société Saint - Thomas d'Aquin of Prince Edward Island has resolved that December 13 each year shall be commemorated as "Acadian Remembrance Day" in remembrance of all Acadians who died as a result of the deportation . The date December 13 was chosen to commemorate the sinking of the Duke William and the nearly 2000 Acadians deported from Île - Saint Jean who perished in the North Atlantic from hunger, disease and drowning in 1758 . The event has been commemorated annually since 2004 and participants mark the event by wearing a black star . </P>

Who are the acadians and what happened to them