Alexis Belliveau, in his search for an Acadian flag emoji to use in a social media post promoting his band on National Acadian Day last year, discovered the absence of such an emoji. Emojis are symbolic icons commonly utilized in text messages and emails to convey emotions, thoughts, and objects, with numerous variations available, including various flags.
Hailing from Moncton, N.B., Belliveau and his associate Julien Robichaud are currently preparing a proposal for the development of an Acadian flag emoji to be submitted to Unicode, a nonprofit organization headquartered in California responsible for reviewing and approving emoji concepts. Belliveau emphasized the significance of the Acadian flag as a symbol of pride and expressed the desire to have an emoji representation to enable digital expression of this sentiment.
To bolster their submission, Belliveau and Robichaud initiated an online campaign, featuring a website detailing the history and significance of Acadians, along with a petition boasting over 10,000 signatures. The duo believes that garnering substantial support will strengthen their case for the emoji’s creation and ensure its adoption within the Acadian community and beyond.
While acknowledging the absence of an official Acadian flag emoji, Belliveau highlighted people’s continued use of emoji sequences to exhibit their Acadian heritage. Nevertheless, he underscored the importance of a dedicated emoji for this purpose. Despite Unicode’s previous announcement limiting new flag emoji proposals, Belliveau remains optimistic, citing a workaround by combining existing emojis (star and the flag of France) for their proposed Acadian flag emoji.
Unicode’s criteria for approving emojis include uniqueness, global utility, versatility in meaning, and applicability in sentences. Belliveau is actively spreading awareness among Acadians worldwide and plans to formally submit the proposal in the upcoming winter season, aiming to engage Acadian communities in Louisiana, France, Quebec, and across Canada.