Fonds Acc4135 - A. E. Arsenault fonds

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Title proper

A. E. Arsenault fonds

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  • Graphic material
  • Textual record

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  • Source of title proper: Title based on contents of the fonds

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Fonds

Reference code

CA PCA Acc4135

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1884-1995 (Creation)
    Creator
    Arsenault, Aubin Edmond

Physical description area

Physical description

.30 m of textual records
14 photographs
2 maps

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Name of creator

Arsenault, Aubin Edmond (1870-1968)

Biographical history

Aubin Edmond Arsenault was born 28 July 1870 in Egmont Bay, Prince Edward Island, the son of Senator J. Arsenault. He received his early education from St. Dunstan's University in Charlottetown and St. Joseph's University in New Brunswick. Arsenault commenced his legal studies in Charlottetown between 1893, and later worked in Summerside, leaving for a year in 1898 to pursue his legal studies in London. He began his political career as a Summerside Town Councillor in 1907. In 1908, he ran as a Conservative candidate and won a seat in the Provincial Legislature. He was elected Premier of the Province in 1917, the first Acadian to hold that position. Arsenault was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of PEI in 1921, a position held until 1945. Arsenault was instrumental in bringing many social, political and economic changes to P.E.I. He was a strong supporter of the 1919 Automobile Legislation that permitted legal operation of automobiles on Island roads, and was actively involved in the development of the tourist industry at both the local and national levels. As a founder of the Prince Edward Island Travel Bureau he served as its president between 1923 and 1939. He was also one of the founders and the first president of the Canadian Tourist Association.

As one of the executors of the Lady Wood Estate, Arsenault was interested in the plight of PEI Native People and lobbied for improved schools and other community services at the Lennox Island Indian Reserve.

Arsenault was interested in PEI history and wrote widely on the topic. One of his specific interests was in the history of the Acadians in PEI He served as President of the National Acadian Society of Canada and the US and instrumental in developing contacts between the Acadians in the Maritimes and Louisiana. In 1966 he was awarded the gold medal of the Order of Acadian Fidelity.

A.E. Arsenault married Bertha Rose Gallant in 1907 with whom he had eleven children. He died April 28, 1968 in Charlottetown.

Arsenault, Aubin-Edmond (baptisé Aubin Ignace). Avocat, premier ministre de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard et juge de la cour suprême de l'Île. Abram-Village (Î.-P.-É.), 28 juillet 1870 - Charlottetown (Î.-P.-É.), 28 avril 1968. Fils de Joseph-Octave Arsenault et de Gertrude Gaudet; marié à Berthe-Rose Gallant de Tignish; père d'Iphigénie, Cyrille, Catherine, Marie, Régis, Valerie, Patricia, Laure-Jeanne, Félice, Paula, Lois; frère de père Sylvère, Marie-Anne, Joseph Félix, Jacqueline, Bibienne, Antonin, Octave, Toussaint; aïeuls paternels : Mélème Arsenault et Bibiane Poirier; aïeuls maternels : Félix Gaudet et Marine Poirier.

École d'Abram-Village, études primaires; Collège Saint-Dunstan, 1885-1889, 1892-1893; Collège Saint-Joseph, Maîtrise ès arts; Université Laval, Doctorat en droit; bureaux des avocats McLeod, Morson et McQuarrie, études légales, 1893-1898; inscrit au barreau, 1 novembre 1898.

Bureaux de Sir Charles Russell à Londres, 1898-1899; fut chargé d'une mission importante en Afrique-Sud pendant la guerre des Boers, 1899-1900. Associé avec Neil McQuarrie, K C, Summerside, 1906; conseiller de la ville de Summerside, 1906; élu député à la Législature provinciale, 1908, 1911, 1915, 1917 et 1919; ministre sans portefeuille, 1912-1917; premier ministre et procureur général de la province, 1917-1919; chef de l'opposition, 1919-1921; juge de la cour suprême de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard, 1921-1946.

Délégué du gouvernement à la conférence provinciale à Ottawa, 1912, aux conférences interprovinciales, 1913, 1918; bureau du Tourisme à l'Île, président, 1923-1939; l'Association canadienne du Tourisme, fondateur, premier président et directeur à vie; Société nationale des Acadiens, président; Association «Canadian Good Roads », directeur, 1919; « Canadian Geographical Society », un directeur et membre; bureau du Tourisme à l'Île, instrumental à la fondation; 34e réunion annuelle de l'Association canadienne du Tourisme l'honore comme promoteur du tourisme; alors qu'il était premier ministre de l'Île, la législation de 1919 permet aux automobiles de voyager légalement sur les chemins à l'Île.

Décoré de la médaille d'or de l'Ordre de la Fidélité acadienne; doctorats honorifiques : Université Saint-Joseph et Université Laval; Société Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, président d'honneur; le premier Acadien à devenir premier ministre d'une province canadienne et le seul Acadien de l'Île, à date, à occuper ce poste.

Le juge Arsenault accompagné du R.P. André Cormier de l'Université Saint-Joseph sont les premiers des provinces Maritimes à prendre contact avec les compatriotes acadiens de la Louisiane. Depuis cette première visite, les contacts entre les Acadiens du nord et du sud ont été nombreux et fructueux. Le juge Arsenault est considéré, à juste titre, comme l'un des piliers du siècle de la renaissance chez les Acadiens. Sources : Fonds Aubin-Edmond-Arsenault; Blanchard, J. Henri, Acadiens de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard, 1956; L'Évangéline, le 11 août 1955, page 5, et le 1 novembre 1966, page 1; Arsenault, Aubin-Edmond, Memoirs of The Honourable A.E. Arsenault, Former Premier and Retired Justice Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island

Custodial history

Scope and content

This fonds is comprised of files, loose documents and photographs kept by Aubin Edmond Arsenault and his family. The fonds consists mainly of subject files containing memos, correspondence, and reports written by Arsenault relating to tourism, PEI Native People, and a variety of historical topics. A number of subject files contain material of a biographical nature including photographs of Arsenault as a young man and in a number of professional capacities. The fonds also contains drafts and a published copy of his memoirs as well as two scrapbooks of newspaper clippings of Legislative Assembly debates from April-May 1919.

The original file composition and file names given by A. E. Arsenault or his family were retained. Published material already held by the Prince Edward Island Public Archives and Records Office and material not directly related to A. E. Arsenault or Prince Edward Island was removed.

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Arrangement

Language of material

  • English

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Restrictions on access

NO RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

PERMISSION FOR USE AND REPRODUCTION IS REQUIRED FROM THE PUBLIC ARCHIVES AND RECORDS OFFICE; QUESTIONS REGARDING COPYRIGHT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER

Finding aids

Associated materials

See RG10, vol. 9, for additional Legislative Assembly scrapbooks

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Accruals

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  • English

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