Alexis Belliveau, in search of an Acadian flag emoji for a social media post promoting his band on National Acadian Day, discovered the absence of such an emoji. Emojis are symbolic icons used in text messages and emails to convey emotions, ideas, and objects, with hundreds of flags among thousands of available emojis.
Hailing from Moncton, N.B., Belliveau and Julien Robichaud are currently preparing a proposal for an Acadian flag emoji to be submitted to Unicode, a California-based non-profit organization that reviews and sanctions emoji suggestions. Belliveau emphasized the significance of the Acadian flag as a source of pride and the desire to express this cultural identity digitally through an emoji.
In a bid to bolster their submission, Belliveau and Robichaud have initiated an online campaign, which includes a website detailing Acadian history, the flag’s significance, and a petition gathering over 10,000 signatures. Belliveau stressed the importance of community support in demonstrating the potential widespread use of the proposed emoji.
Despite the absence of an official Acadian flag emoji, Belliveau highlighted that individuals have creatively expressed their Acadian pride using sequences of existing emojis. These sequences include various combinations symbolizing the Acadian flag. While Unicode has outlined strict criteria for approving emojis, Belliveau remains optimistic and plans to rally Acadian communities worldwide to support the proposal, with intentions to formally submit it in the upcoming winter.