Encyclopedia
New Brunswick , is one of
Canada's three
Maritime provinces, and the only officially bilingual province in the country. Its capital is
Fredericton. The provincial Department of Finance estimates that the province's population in 2005 is 758,000 .
Geography
New Brunswick, named after the German city of
Braunschweig , is bounded on the north by
Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula and
Chaleur Bay and on the east by the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Northumberland Strait. To the south, the narrow Isthmus of Chignecto connects it to peninsular
Nova Scotia, most of which is separated from the mainland by the
Bay of Fundy. On its west, the province borders the
American state of
Maine. The boundary with the U.S. was settled during the "Aroostook War" of 1838-39, largely through the efforts of businessman and political activist John Baker. New Brunswick is one of two provinces to border a single
U.S. state.
The total land and water area of the province is approximately 70,000 square kilometres. About 80% of the province is forested, with the other 20% consisting of agricultural land and urban areas. The major urban centres lie in the south of the province. The bulk of the arable land is found in the Upper St. John River Valley, with lesser amounts of farmland found in the southeast of the province.
While New Brunswick is one of Canada's
Maritime Provinces, it differs from its neighbours both ethnoculturally and physiographically. Both
Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward Island are either wholly or nearly surrounded by water and the ocean therefore tends to define their climate, economy and culture. New Brunswick, on the other hand, although having a significant seacoast, is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean proper and has a large interior which is removed from oceanic effects. New Brunswick therefore tends to be defined by its rivers rather than its seacoast.
The major river systems in the province include the
St. John River,
Petitcodiac River, Miramichi River, St. Croix River and the
Restigouche River. The St. John River is thought to be the second longest river on the North American eastern seaboard between the
St. Lawrence River and the
Mississippi River.
New Brunswick lies entirely within the
Appalachian Mountain range, a chain of ancient, eroded mountains which have created river valleys and low, gently rolling hills throughout large parts of the province. The eastern and central part of the province consists of the New Brunswick Lowland, whereas the Caledonia Highlands and St. Croix Highlands extend along the Bay of Fundy coast, reaching elevations of 300 metres. The northwestern part of the province is comprised of the remote and more rugged Miramichi Highlands, Chaleur Uplands, and the Notre Dame Mountains with a maximum elevation at Mount Carleton of 820 metres.
10 largest municipalities by population| Municipality | 2001 | 1996 |
|---|
| Saint John | 69 661 | 72 494 |
| Moncton | 61 046 | 59 313 |
| Fredericton | 47 560 | 46 507 |
| Miramichi | 18 508 | 19 241 |
| Edmundston | 17 373 | 17 876 |
| Riverview | 17 010 | 16 684 |
| Dieppe | 14 951 | 12 497 |
| Quispamsis | 13 757 | 13 579 |
| Bathurst | 12 924 | 13 815 |
| Rothesay | 11 505 | 11 470 |
The major urban areas of the province are Metropolitan Saint John and Greater Moncton . Both of these census metropolitan areas have urban populations between 120,000 and 130,000. Greater
Fredericton has a census agglomeration population of 85,000.
The population of New Brunswick is majority English-speaking but with a substantial French-speaking minority called
Acadians . Most Acadians migrated to the area from the Vienne region of France. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada.
History
The aboriginal nations of New Brunswick include the
Mi'kmaq , Maliseet and
Passamaquoddy. The Mi'kmaq territories are mostly in the east of the province. The Maliseets are located in the northwest and the Passamaquoddy tribe is situated in the southwest, around Passamaquoddy Bay. Until the
16th century, New Brunswick was exclusively the domain of what are now termed the
First Nations.
Early European settlement
The first known European exploration of present-day New Brunswick was by
French explorer
Jacques Cartier in 1534, who discovered and named the
Baie des Chaleurs between northern New Brunswick and the Gaspe peninsula of Quebec. The next French contact was in 1604, when a party led by Pierre Dugua and
Samuel de Champlain sailed into Passamaquoddy Bay and set up a camp for the winter on an island at the mouth of the St. Croix River. 36 out of the 87 members of the party died of
scurvy by winter's end and the colony was relocated across the
Bay of Fundy the following year to Port Royal in present day
Nova Scotia. Gradually, other French settlements and seigneuries were founded along the
Saint John River, including one by
Charles de la Tour, and the upper Bay of Fundy, including a number of villages in the
Memramcook and Petitcodiac river valleys and St. Pierre, at the site of present-day Bathurst on the
Baie des Chaleurs. The whole region of New Brunswick were at that time proclaimed to be part of the royal French colony of Acadia. The French maintained good relations with the First Nations during their tenure.
The first
British claim to New Brunswick was in 1621, when Sir William Alexander was granted, by
James I, all of present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and part of Maine. The entire tract was to be called '"Nova Scotia", Latin for "New Scotland". Naturally, the French did not take kindly to the English claims. France however gradually lost control of Acadia in a series of wars during the 18th century.
One of its provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, which formally ended the
War of the Spanish Succession, was the surrender of peninsular Nova Scotia to the English crown. All of what would later become New Brunswick, as well as "Île St-Jean" and "Île Royale" would remain under French control.
The bulk of the Acadian population now found themselves residing in the new British colony of Nova Scotia. The remainder of Acadia including the New Brunswick region was only lightly populated, with major Acadian settlements in New Brunswick only found in the
Beaubassin ,
Memramcook, and Petitcodiac regions as well as at Fort la Tour and Fort Anne .
During the
Seven Years' War , the British extended their control to include all of New Brunswick.
Fort Beausejour was captured by an English force commanded by Lt. Col.
Robert Monckton at the very beginning of the war in 1755. Acadians from the nearby Beaubassin and Petitcodiac regions were subsequently expelled just as had the Acadians from peninsular Nova Scotia been deported earlier the same year. Other skirmishes followed and Fort Anne fell in 1759. Following this, all of present day New Brunswick came under British control. France ultimately lost control of its North American empire after the Battle of the
Plains of Abraham in
Quebec in 1759.
A British colony
After the Seven Year's War, most of what is now New Brunswick were incorporated into Sunbury County in the colony of Nova Scotia. New Brunswick's relative location away from the Atlantic coastline hindered new settlement during the immediate post war period; although there were some notable exceptions such as the founding of "The Bend" in 1766 by Pennsylvania Dutch settlers sponsored by
Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia Land Company. Other American settlements developed, principally in former Acadian lands in the southeast region, especially around
Sackville. Some American settlement also occurred at Parrtown at the mouth of the Saint John River. English settlers from
Yorkshire also settled in the Tantramar region near Sackville prior to the
Revolutionary War.
Significant population growth would not occur until after the
American Revolution, when Britain convinced refugee Loyalists from
New England to settle in the area by giving them free land. . In particular, Jonathan Eddy and his "rangers" harassed and laid siege to the British garrison at Fort Cumberland during the early parts of the American Revolution. It was only after the arrival of a relief force from
Halifax that the siege was lifted.
With the arrival of the Loyalist refugees in Parrtown in 1783, the need to organize the territory politically became acute. The newly arrived Loyalists felt no allegiance to Halifax and wanted to separate from Nova Scotia to isolate themselves from the democratic, republican influences existing in that city. They felt that the government of Nova Scotia represented a Yankee population which had been sympathetic to the American Revolutionary movement, and which disparaged the intensely anti-American, anti-republican attitudes of the Loyalists. "They [the loyalists]," Colonel Thomas Dundas wrote from Saint John, New Brunswick, December 28, 1786, "have experienced every possible injury from the old inhabitants of Nova Scotia, who are even more disaffected towards the British Government than any of the new States ever were. This makes me much doubt their remaining long dependent." [Clark 150-51]
The British administrators of the time, for their part, felt that the colonial capital was so distant from the developing territories to the west of the Isthmus of Chignecto that the colony of Nova Scotia should be split. The Province of New Brunswick was therefore officially created by Sir Thomas Carleton on August 16, 1784.
New Brunswick was named in honour of the British monarch,
King George III, who was descended from the
House of Brunswick .
Fredericton, the capital city, was likewise named for George III's second son, Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York.
The choice of Fredericton as the colonial capitol shocked the residents of the larger Parrtown . The reason given was because Fredericton's inland location meant it was less prone to enemy attack. Saint John did, however, become Canada's first incorporated city. Saint John also found itself home to the American traitor
Benedict Arnold, whose shady local business dealings meant that local Loyalists also came to revile him.
Some of the deported Acadians from Nova Scotia found their way back to "Acadie" during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They settled mostly in coastal regions along the eastern and northern shores of the new colony of New Brunswick. There they lived in relative isolation as they tried to maintain their language and traditions.
The
War of 1812 had little effect on New Brunswick. Forts such as the Carleton Martello Tower in Saint John and the St. Andrews Blockhouse were constructed, but no action was seen. Locally, New Brunswickers were on good terms with their neighbours in Maine and the rest of New England. There was even one incident during the war where the town of
St. Stephen lent its supplies of gunpowder to
Calais, Maine, across the river, for the Fourth of July Independence Day celebrations.
Further north along the Maine-New Brunswick border, the boundary was disputed. Officials in
London and
Washington, D.C. stated their claims, but many local residents did not care one way or the other, even after they were pushed to state their preference by British magistrates. When one resident of Edmundston was asked which side he supported, he replied "the Republic of Madawaska". The name is still used today and describes the northwestern corner of the province. The boundary dispute, known as the Aroostook War, was settled in 1842.
Immigration in the early part of the 19th century was mostly from the west country of England and from
Scotland, but also from
Waterford, Ireland often having come through or lived in Newfoundland prior. A large influx of settlers came to New Brunswick in 1845 from
Ireland as a result of the
Potato Famine. Many of these people settled in Saint John or Chatham, which to this day calls itself the "Irish Capital of Canada". The Catholic population often clashed with the existing Protestant residents, coming to a head with a gun battle in Saint John in 1849.
Throughout the 19th century,
shipbuilding, both on the
Bay of Fundy shore and on the
Miramichi, was the dominant industry in New Brunswick. The
Marco Polo, arguably the fastest clipper ship ever built was launched from Saint John in 1851. Resource-based industries such as logging and farming were also important to the New Brunswick economy. From the 1850's through to the end of the century, several railways were built across the province, making it easier for these inland resources to make it to markets elsewhere.
Moncton, previously a sleepy agricultural community and later a shipbuilding centre became the railway hub for the colony and later for the entire
Maritime Provinces. Moncton would subsequently grow rapidly and would challenge Saint John for economic dominance.
New Brunswick in Canada
New Brunswick was one of the four original provinces of Canada formed with Confederation in 1867. The
Charlottetown Conference of 1864 was initially intended only to discuss a Maritime Union of New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward Island, but, given the American Civil War and British interest in avoiding a repeat in its remaining colonies, interest in expanding the geographic scope developed in the Province of Canada and the meeting's agenda was altered. Many residents of the Maritimes wanted no part of this larger Confederation, for fear that the region's needs would be overshadowed by those of the rest of the country. Many politicians involved - such as
Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley; New Brunswick's best-known
Father of Confederation found themselves without a seat after the next election.
Following Confederation, New Brunswick suffered the effects of an economic downturn. New national policies and trade barriers as a result of Confederation disrupted the historic trading relationship between the Maritime Provinces and New England. The situation in New Brunswick was worsened by the Great Fire of 1877 in Saint John and by the decline of the wooden sailing
shipbuilding industry. Finally, the global recession sparked by the Panic of 1893 significantly affected the local export economy. Many skilled workers moved west to other parts of Canada or south to the
United States, but as the 20th Century dawned, the province's economy began to expand again. Manufacturing gained strength with the construction of several cotton mills across the province and, in the crucial forestry sector, the
sawmills that had dotted inland sections of the province gave way to larger pulp and paper mills. Nevertheless, unemployment remained relatively high and the
Great Depression provided another setback. Two influential families, the Irvings and the
McCains, emerged from the depression to begin to modernize and vertically integrate the provincial economy.
The
Acadians, who had mostly fended for themselves on the northern and eastern shores, were traditionally isolated from the English speakers that dominated the rest of the province. Government services were often not available in French, and the infrastructure in predominantly French areas was noticeably less evolved than in the rest of the province. This changed with the election of premier
Louis Robichaud in 1960. He embarked on the ambitious Equal Opportunity Plan in which education, rural road maintenance, and health care fell under the sole jurisdiction of a provincial government that insisted on equal coverage of all areas of the province. County councils were abolished with rural areas outside cities, towns and villages coming under direct provincial jurisdiction. The 1969 Official Languages Act made French an official language, on par with English. Linguistic tensions rose on both sides, with the militant Parti Acadien enjoying brief popularity in the 1970s and anglophone groups pushing to repeal language reforms in the 1980s, but tensions had all but disappeared by the 1990s.
Cities
New Brunswick has eight officially incorporated cities, listed here in descending order by population:
...
See also a List of communities in New Brunswick.
Saint John is a port city, with heavy industry in the form of pulp and paper, oil refineries, and drydocks, all owned by the family of the late K.C. Irving. The Irving family also controls much of the province's economy and three of its four daily English language newspapers.
Saint John is conventionally written out in full, to distinguish it from
St. John's, the capital of
Newfoundland and Labrador, with which it is commonly confused by those outside of the
Atlantic Provinces.
Moncton is the second largest city in New Brunswick and its metropolitan area is the fastest growing urban population in the province. It is principally a transportation, distribution, commercial and retail centre. Moncton has a sizeable francophone Acadian minority and is considered by the Acadians to be their unofficial "capital". The majority of Moncton's recent growth is traced to economic policies which has led to depopulation in the northeastern area of the province.
Fredericton, in addition to being the capital of the province, is a genteel university town, and home to the
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Theatre New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame, and other amenities, including Christ Church Cathedral, whose foundation is the oldest in
Canada or the
United States. Fredericton is nicknamed the "City of Stately Elms". It has boasted of the largest stand of elms outside of
Central Park since
Dutch Elm Disease devastated this species in the early
twentieth century.
Politics
New Brunswick has a
unicameral legislature consisting of 55 seats. The governing party is the party that wins the most seats in the provincial election. Elections are held at least every five years but may be called at any time by the
Lieutenant Governor on consultation with the Premier of the day. The government may also fall at any time if it loses a vote of non-confidence. The Premier is the leader of the party that holds the most seats in the legislature. As of September 18, 2006, the Liberals hold the majority with 30 out of 55 seats, making
Shawn Graham the Premier-elect of New Brunswick.
There are two dominant political parties in New Brunswick, the
Liberal Party and the
Progressive Conservative Party. While consistently polling approximately 10% of the electoral vote since the early 1980s, the
New Democratic Party have elected few members to the Legislative Assembly. From time to time, other parties such as the
Confederation of Regions Party have held seats in the legislature, but only on the strength of a strong protest vote. As such, New Brunswick essentially operates as a two-party system.
The dynamics of New Brunswick politics are notably different from those of other provinces in Canada. The lack of a single dominant urban centre in the province means that government has to be responsive to issues affecting all areas of the province. In addition, the presence of a large francophone minority dictates that consensus politics is necessary, even when there is a majority government present. In this manner, the ebb and flow of New Brunswick provincial politics tends to parallel the situation on the federal stage more closely than in any other province.
Over the course of the last 50 years, there has been a distinct tendency for the province to elect youthful dynamic leaders and give them long tenures with strong majorities. All recent leaders have been bilingual. This combination of attributes tends to make New Brunswick Premiers influential players on the federal stage. The former Premier Bernard Lord is touted as a potential leader of the
Conservative Party of Canada should Prime Minister
Stephen Harper withdraw from politics. Another former Liberal Premier
Frank McKenna had been considered to be the front-runner to succeed Prime Minister
Paul Martin but he chose in the end not to run.
Economy
New Brunswick has a modern service based economy dominated by the finance, insurance, health care and educational sectors and this is based out of all three of the principal urban centres. In addition to the above, heavy industry is found in Saint John, Fredericton is dominated by government services, universities and the military and Moncton is a retail, transportation and distribution centre with important rail and air transportation facilities. The rural primary economy is best known for
forestry,
mining, mixed
farming and
fishing. The most valuable crop is potatoes, while the most valuable fish catches are
lobster and
scallops. Tourism is becoming increasingly important, especially in the Passamaquoddy region , and in the southeast of the province, centred by Moncton and
Shediac. The largest employers are the Irving group of companies, several large multinational forest companies, the Government of New Brunswick, and the
McCain group of companies.
Education
New Brunswick has a complete network of English and French language public schools serving from kindergarten to high school. There are also several private secondary schools having either secular or religious affiliations. One example being the Rothesay Netherwood School near Saint John.
The New Brunswick Community College system has campuses in all regions of province. There is a comprehensive system of both French and English campuses offering basically parallel programs. Each campus however tends to have areas of concentration to allow for specialization. There are also specialized training colleges that are private and not part of the NBCC system. An example of this would be the Moncton Flight College.
There are four publicly funded secular universities in the province. These include:
...
was founded as King's College in
Fredericton in 1785 with Anglican affiliation. Today it is a medium-sized public English comprehensive university with its principal campus in Fredericton and a satellite campus in
Saint John and a student body of about 12,000. It is the oldest public post-secondary education institution in
North America.
- St. Thomas University was founded in Chatham in 1910 with Catholic affiliation. Today it is a small public English undergraduate university located in Fredericton with a student body of about 3,000. The university's liberal arts program is complemented by professional programs in education and social work.
- Mount Allison University was founded in Sackville in 1839 with Methodist and subsequently United Church affiliation. Today it is a small public English undergraduate university with a student body of about 2,200 still located in Sackville. Faculties include Arts, Science, Commerce, Music and Fine Arts. The Maclean's magazine survey of Canadian universities has ranked Mount Allision as one of the best in the undergraduate university category since the survey was begun. Mount Allison produces a Rhodes Scholar about once every two years on the average, and was the first university in the British Empire to grant a Bachelor's degree to a woman.
- The Université de Moncton system was founded in 1963 and is comprised from founding Catholic colleges which were located in Memramcook, Bathurst and Edmundston. Today it is a medium-sized public French comprehensive university with its principal campus in Moncton and satellite campuses in Edmundston and Shippagan. The student body is about 5,500.
There are also two private universities with religious affiliations in the province. These are:
- Atlantic Baptist University, located in Moncton, is a small liberal arts university with a student body of over 700. The school was founded in 1949, became degree granting in 1970 and received its full university designation in 1996. Degrees are offered in Arts, Science, Education and Religious Studies. The school is operated by the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches.
- St. Stephen's University, located in St. Stephen, is a very small non denominational religious based university. The school was founded in 1975 and received its university designation in 1998. At present, the only degrees available are in Arts and Ministry. cheese and fries are good in canada but not in italy.
People
First Nations in New Brunswick include the
Mi'kmaq and Maliseet. The first European settlers, the
Acadians, are today survivors of the
Great Expulsion which drove several thousand French residents into exile in North America, the UK and France for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to
George III of Great Britain during the
French and Indian War. American Acadians, who wound up in
Louisiana and other parts of the American South, are often referred to as
Cajuns.
Many of the English-Canadian population of New Brunswick are descended from
United Empire Loyalists who fled the American Revolution. This is commemorated in the province's motto,
Spem reduxit . There is also a significant population of
Irish ancestry, especially in Saint John and the
