New Brunswick

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This article is about the Canadian province; for the city in New Jersey, see New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Template:Canadian province or territory New Brunswick (French: Nouveau-Brunswick, German: Neubraunschweig) is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces, and the only officially bilingual province (French and English) in the country. Its capital is Fredericton. The provincial Department of Finance estimates that the province's population in 2005 is 758,000 (New Brunswickers).

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Geography

New Brunswick 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 (the other being Alberta) 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.

There are several major river systems in the province including the St. John River, Petitcodiac River, Miramichi River, St. Croix River and the Restigouche River. The St. John River is considered to be the second longest river on the North American eastern seaboard lying 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 (Saint John, Quispamsis, Rothesay) and Metropolitan Moncton (Moncton, Riverview, Dieppe). Both of these census metropolitan areas have urban populations between 120,000 and 130,000. Greater Fredericton (the provincial capital) has a census agglomeration population of 85,000.

The population of New Brunswick is majority English-speaking but with a substantial (35%) French-speaking minority called Acadians (from "Acadia", the former name of this region during the French colonial period). Most Acadians migrated to the area from the Vienne region of France. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada.

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History

The aboriginal nations of New Brunswick include the Mi'kmaq (Micmac), 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.

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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 (Sieur de Monts) 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 and the upper Bay of Fundy region as well as along the North Shore of New Brunswick through the remainder of the 17th century. These settlements included Fort La Tour (present-day Saint John), a number of villages in the Memramcook and Petitcodiac river valleys and St. Pierre, (founded by Nicolas Denys) at the site of present-day Bathurst. The whole region of New Brunswick (as well as Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and parts of Maine) 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 King 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 "Ile St-Jean" (Prince Edward Island) and "Ile Royale" (Cape Breton Island) 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 Tantramar, Memramcook, and Petitcodiac regions as well as at Fort la Tour (Saint John) and Fort Anne (Fredericton).

During the Seven Years' War (1756-63), the British extended their control to include all of New Brunswick. Fort Beausejour (near Sackville) 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 (across from present-day Fredericton) 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.

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A British colony

After the Seven Year's War, most what is now New Brunswick (and parts of Maine) 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" (present day Moncton) 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. (It should be noted that most of the pre-existing settlers in New Brunswick actually favoured the American rebels, and it is conceivable that, if a little better organized, New Brunswick could have been the "fourteenth colony"). In particular, Johnathan Eddy and his "rangers" harassed the British garrison at Fort Cumberland (the renamed Fort Beausejour) during the early parts of the American Revolution.

With the arrival of the Loyalist refugees in Parrtown (Saint John) in 1783, the need to organize the territory politically became acute. The colonial capital (Halifax) was so distant, the British Crown decided that the colony of Nova Scotia should be split. The Province of New Brunswick was 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 (Saint John). The reason given was because Fredericton's inland location meant it was less prone to enemy (i.e. American) 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 (and in many ways self imposed) 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 the Miramichi, was the dominant industry in New Brunswick, although resource-based industries such as logging and farming were also important. In the latter part of the century, several railways were built across the province, making it easier for these inland resources to make it to markets elsewhere.

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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 interest in expanding the geographic scope developed in the Province of Canada (formerly Upper and Lower Canada, later Ontario and Quebec) 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.

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Cities

New Brunswick has eight officially incorporated cities, listed here in descending order by population:

See also a List of communities in New Brunswick.

Image:Sjnb-skyline.jpg Image:Restigouche River.JPG

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 (35%) 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.

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Politics

New Brunswick has a unicameral legislature consisting of 55 seats. The governing party normally 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 (the vice-regal representative) 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. The current governing party is the Progressive Conservatives and the current Premier is Bernard Lord.

There are two dominant political parties in New Brunswick, the Liberal Party and the Progressive Conservative Party. The New Democratic Party has held seats in the Legisaltive Assembly, but has never been overly popular with the electorate. 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 than in 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 current Premier Bernard Lord (Progressive Conservative) is touted as a potential leader of the Conservative Party of Canada should Prime Minister Stephen Harper withdraw from politics. 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.[1]

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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 (dominated by the resort town of St. Andrews), 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.

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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:

  • The University of New Brunswick 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 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 it's university designation in 1998. At present, the only degrees available are in Arts and Ministry.

Both the University of New Brunswick and Mount Allison University are considered to be part of Canada's informal "Ivy League". Both UNB and U de M have Schools of Law and also offer a wide range of graduate programs.

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People

The Acadians are survivors of the Great Expulsion (1755) which drove several thousand French residents into exile in North America, the U.K. 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 (hope was restored). There is also a significant population of Irish ancestry, especially in Saint John and the Miramichi Valley. People of Scottish descent are scattered throughout the Province with higher concentrations in the Miramichi and in Campbellton. A small population of Danish origin may be found in New Denmark in the northwest of the province.

First Nations in New Brunswick include the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet.

See: Famous people from New Brunswick

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Media outlets

New Brunswick has four daily newspapers. Three of these dailies are anglophone: The Daily Gleaner based in Fredericton, the Times & Transcript based in Moncton and The Telegraph Journal, which publishes both Saint John and provinicial editions. The provincial French-language daily is L'Acadie Nouvelle, based in Caraquet. There are also a number of weekly newspapers which are local in scope and based in the provinces smaller towns and communities.

The three English-language dailies and the majority of the weeklies are owned and operated by Brunswick News, a subsidiary of J.D. Irving which also owns two radio stations. The other major media group in the province is Acadie Presse, which publishes L'Acadie Nouvelle and prints some of the smaller papers in the province, including the largest student paper - and Canada's oldest - the University of New Brunswick's The Brunswickan.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has various news bureaus throughout the province, but its main anglophone television and radio operations are centred in Fredericton. The CBC French service is based in Moncton. Global Television maintains its New Brunswick base in Saint John with news and sales bureaus in Fredericton and Moncton. CTV is based in Moncton but has news bureaus in Fredericton and Saint John.

There are many private radio stations in New Brunswick with each of the three major cities having a dozen or more stations. Most smaller cities and towns also have one or two stations.

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Demographics

Racial composition

  • 96.4% White
  • 2.3% Aboriginal
  • 0.5% Black
  • 0.8% all others

Religious profile

The Catholic Church is the largest denomination because of the large French and Irish populations. The three largest Protestant denominations in New Brunswick are: United Church of Canada and the Baptist and Anglican churches.

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Facts

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Map

Image:Nbmap.png

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See also

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Literature

  • L. W. Bailey and D. R. Jack, Woods and Minerals of New Brunswick, (Fredericton, 1876)
  • A. R. C. Selwyn and G. M. Dawson, Descriptive Sketch of the Physical Geography and Geology of the Dominion of Canada, (Montreal, 1884)
  • A. B. Willmott, The Mineral Wealth of Canada, (London, 1898)
  • William Kingsford, History of Canada, (London, 1887-98)
  • M. H. Perley, On the Early History of New Brunswick, (St. John, 1891)
  • James Hannay, History of New Brunswick, (St. John, 1909)
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External links

Provinces and territories of Canada Image:Flag of Canada.svg
Provinces: British Columbia | Alberta | Saskatchewan | Manitoba | Ontario | Quebec | New Brunswick
Nova Scotia | Prince Edward Island | Newfoundland and Labrador
Territories: Yukon | Northwest Territories | Nunavut

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