Tignish's first Acadian settlers arrived around 1799 from Malpec. Hoping to distance themselves from a landowner whose rents were too high, the Arsenault, Bernard, Chiasson, Desroches, Doucet, Gaudet, Poirier and Richard families settled in the vicinity of what is today Tignish. Since it was founded, Tignish's ruling economic activities have been the fishery and agricultural sectors. Amongst this village's notable people and events are the newspaper Impartial founded in 1893 by Gilbert Buote, Sylvain Ephrem Poirier, the first Acadian priest from Prince Edward Island, as well as Stanislas Perry (Poirier), Prince Edward Island's first Acadian MLA. The connection to the Acadian culture and the French language is being reinforced by, amongst others, the recent opening of the region's French school, Prince-Ouest.