Acadians say the series has completely ignored them and their "fundamental contribution to the creation of this country," the Acadian Federation of Nova Scotia said in a statement.

Critics in Quebec say the depiction of the French in the first episode is less favourable and at times offensive compared to the depiction of the British.

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Explorer Samuel de Champlain, for example, is shown in a diplomatic meeting wearing "filthy" clothes, which would have been unlikely even by the day's standards of hygiene.

Two other leading figures, Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart des Groseilliers, are shown in a meeting with British noblemen in England wearing rough-hewn furs, while the British are dressed in finery and wigs.

British General James Wolfe is portrayed as a dashing and self-assured military leader –while the historical record shows he was anxious and "tortured" by self-doubt, Mr. Turcot said. Also, after Gen. Wolfe scales the bluffs to the Plains of Abraham – which are as high as Niagara Falls, according to the show – he emerges on the battlefield with his clothes clean.

"It is appalling that the Prime Minister of Canada gave his support to this series by pleading for national unity in the opening," Mr. Turcot says in a letter co-signed by three other academics that was sent to The Globe and Mail. The series in fact perpetuates prejudices, the group says.

The academics note that the on-air specialists and celebrities featured in the episode are all anglophones except for two: Dancer Louise Lecavalier and ultimate-fighting star Georges St-Pierre, who offers the