Chronicles of a Spy in Acadia: The People and the Priest

Foreword

This episode is the second in a three-episode series of “Chronicles of A Spy in Acadia,” a student-produced podcast researched, written, recorded and edited by the students of Brock University’s History 4P11 class.

The podcast series centers on Atlantic colonial Canada in the 18th century by looking at the events through the eyes of a real-life historical spy: Thomas Pichon.

This episode focuses on the ordinary people of Acadia, the Acadians and the Indigenous Mi’kmaq, and how their lives were shaped and changed by those in positions of power, like the French agent Abbé Le Loutre. Aspects of life, religion, Indigenous relations, and acts of destruction are examined through the words of the titular spy, Thomas Pichon. It also explores Pichon’s opinions and beliefs about the subjects of discussion, allowing us to understand the interviewee as well as the topics of the episode.

Filled with quotations from Pichon’s genuine letters and memoirs published after his death, listeners get a chance to not only see the true thoughts and motivations of Pichon as he betrayed France and the Acadians, but also to better understand the events that made Canada into the country it is today.

Links

Beaubassin: On the Edge of Empires

@CBCNovaScotia Centuries-old cannonballs detonated in Gagetown, N.B. (Tweet) Nov. 19, 2021.

Brock University Department of History

Student podcast gives voice to Acadian spy, Brock News, Jan. 27, 2022.

Sources

Crowley, T.A. “Biography: PICHON, THOMAS, Thomas Tyrell,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, University of Toronto, 1979.

Webster, John Clarence. Thomas Pichon “The Spy of Beausejour,” An Account of His Career in Europe and America with Many Original Documents. Translated by Alice Webster. Shediac, NB: 1937.

Credits

Interviewer 1- Yannick
Interviewer 2- Micayla
Narrator- Erin
Ghost of Thomas Pichon- Dexter