En or dans la with La Nouvelle-Écosse

Question

I would think that this would follow the rule of feminine place names getting en, but I keep hearing people say « dans la Nouvelle-Écosse » instead of « en Nouvelle-Écosse » like I would expect

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Laurel,
In metropolitan French, we would use "en Nouvelle Écosse" as per the lesson content. Having done a little bit of research (as Nova Scotia is part of Canada - and Canadian French can be slightly different in its usage), I found that "dans + [definite article] + [region]" is also used although less often.
dans la Matapédia  -  en / dans la Beauce
Here's the link from the Banque de Donnée Linguistique du Québec: Préposition devant un nom
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !