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Thehistory of New Brunswick covers the period from the arrival of thePaleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-dayNew Brunswick were inhabited for millennia by the severalFirst Nations groups, most notably theMaliseet,Mi'kmaq, and thePassamaquoddy.
French explorers first arrived to the area during the 16th century, and began to settle the region in the following century, as a part of the colony ofAcadia. By the early 18th century, the region experienced aninflux of Acadian refugees moving into the area, after the French surrendered their claim toNova Scotia in 1713. Many of these Acadians were laterdeported from the region by British authorities during theFrench and Indian War. The resulting conflict also saw the French cede their remaining claims to continental North America to the British, including present-day New Brunswick. In the first two decades under British rule, the region was administered as a part of thecolony of Nova Scotia. However, in 1784, the western portions were severed from the rest of Nova Scotia to form the new colony of New Brunswick; partly in response to the influx ofloyalists that settledBritish North America after theAmerican Revolutionary War. During the 19th century, New Brunswick saw an influx of settlers that included formerly deported Acadians, Welsh migrants, and a large number of Irish migrants.
Efforts to establish aMaritime Union during the 1860s eventually resulted inCanadian Confederation, with New Brunswick being united with Nova Scotia and theProvince of Canada to form a single federation in July 1867. The province of New Brunswick experienced an economic downturn during the late 19th century, although its economy began to expand again in the early 20th century. During the 1960s, the government embarked on anequal opportunity program that rectified inequities experienced by the province's French-speaking population. By 1969, New Brunswick was officially designated as bilingual English and French province under theNew Brunswick Official Languages Act
TheFirst Nations of New Brunswick include theMi'kmaq,Maliseet/Wəlastəkwiyik andPassamaquoddy. The Mi'kmaq territories are mostly in the east of the province. The Maliseets are located along the length of the St. John River, and the Passamaquoddy are situated in the southwest, around Passamaquoddy Bay. Amerindians have occupied New Brunswick for at least 13,000 years.
The "Maliseet" (also known as Wəlastəkwiyik, and in French as Malécites or Étchemins (the latter collectively referring to the Maliseet andPassamaquoddy)) are aFirst Nations people who inhabit theSt. John River valley and its tributaries, extending to the St. Lawrence in Quebec. Their territory included the entire watershed of the St. John River on both sides of theInternational Boundary betweenNew Brunswick andQuebec inCanada, andMaine in theUnited States.
Wəlastəkwiyik is the name (and Maliseet spelling) for the people of the St. John River, and Wəlastəkwey is their language. (Wolastoqiyik is the Passamaquoddy spelling of Wəlastəkwiyik.) Maliseet is the name by which theMi'kmaq described the Wəlastəkwiyik to early Europeans since the Wəlastəkwey language seemed to the Mi'kmaq to be a slower version of the Mi'kmaq language. The Wəlastəkwiyik so named themselves because their territory and existence centred on the St. John River which they called the Wəlastəkw. It meant simply "good river" for its gentle waves; "wəli" = good or beautiful, shortened to "wəl-" when used as modifier; "təkw" = wave; "-iyik" = the people of that place. Wəlastəkwiyik therefore means People of the Good [Wave] River, in their own language.
Before contact with the Europeans, the traditional culture of both the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy generally involved downriver in the spring to fish and plant crops, largely of corn (maize), beans, squash, and to hold annual gatherings. Then they travelled to the saltwater for the summer, where they harvested seafoods and berries. In the early autumn they travelled upstream to harvest their crops and prepare for the winter. After the harvest, they dispersed in small family groups to their hunting grounds at the headwaters of the various tributaries to hunt and trap during the winter.
The Passamaquoddy (Peskotomuhkati or Pestomuhkati in the Passamaquoddy language) are aFirst Nations people who live in northeasternNorth America, inMaine andNew Brunswick.
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Like the Maliseet, the Passamaquoddy maintained a migratory existence, but in the woods and mountains of the coastal regions along theBay of Fundy andGulf of Maine and along theSt. Croix River and its tributaries. They dispersed and hunted inland in the winter; in the summer, they gathered more closely together on the coast and islands and farmed corn, beans, and squash, and harvested seafood, includingporpoise.
The name Passamaquoddy is an anglicization of the Passamaquoddy word Peskotomuhkatiyik, the name they applied to themselves. Peskotomuhkat literally means "pollock-spearer", reflecting the importance of this fish.[1] Like the Maliseet, their method offishing was spear-fishing rather than angling.
The Passamaquoddy were moved off land repeatedly by European settlers since the 16th century and were eventually confined in the United States to two reservations, one at Indian Township near Princeton and the other at Sipayik, between Perry and Eastport in easternWashington County, Maine. The Passamaquoddy also live inCharlotte County, New Brunswick, and have recently acquired legal status in Canada as aFirst Nation. They are currently pursuing the return of lands in the county, including Ktaqamkuk, their name forSt. Andrews, New Brunswick which was the ancestral capital of the Passamaquoddy.
The Mi'kmaq (previously spelledMicmac in English texts) are a First Nations people, indigenous to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec and the eastern half of New Brunswick in theMaritime Provinces. Míkmaw is the name of their language and the adjective form of Míkmaq.
In 1616 Father Biard believed the Mi'kmaq population to be in excess of 3,000. However, he remarked that, because of European diseases, includingsmallpox, there had been large population losses in the previous century.
During the colonial wars the Mi'kmaq were allies with the four Abenaki nations [Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and Maliseet], forming theWabanaki Confederacy, pronounced[wɑbɑnɑːɣɔdi]. At the time of contact with the French (late 16th century) they were expanding from their Maritime base westward along the Gaspé Peninsula /St. Lawrence River at the expense of Iroquoian peoples, hence the Mi'kmaq name for this peninsula,Gespeg ("last-acquired").
They were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst, but as France lost control of Acadia in the 18th century, they soon found themselves overwhelmed by British (English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh) who seized much of the land without payment and deported the French. Later on the Mi'kmaq also settled Newfoundland as the unrelatedBeothuk tribe became extinct.
It is generally accepted byNorse scholars thatVikings explored the coasts ofAtlantic Canada, including New Brunswick, during their stay inVinland where their base was possibly atL'Anse aux Meadows,Newfoundland, around the year 1000. Wild walnut (butternut) shells found at l'Anse aux Meadows suggest that the Vikings did indeed explore further along the Atlantic Coast. Butternut trees do not now grow in Newfoundland, but recent studies suggest that due to environmental changes butternuts may have grown in Newfoundland around the year 1000-1001 AD.[2]
The first recorded European exploration of present-day New Brunswick was by French explorerJacques Cartier in 1534, who discovered and named theBaie des Chaleurs between northern New Brunswick and the Gaspé peninsula of Quebec.
The nextFrench contact was in 1604, when a party led by Pierre Dugua (Sieur de Monts) andSamuel de Champlain sailed intoPassamaquoddy Bay and set up a camp for the winter onSt. Croix Island at the mouth of the St. Croix River. 36 out of the 87 members of the party died ofscurvy by winter's end and the colony was relocated across the Bay of Fundy the following year toPort-Royal in present-day Nova Scotia. Gradually, other French settlements were destroyed andseigneuries were founded. These were located along theSaint John River and present-daySaint John (including Fort La Tour and Fort Anne), the upper Bay of Fundy (including a number of villages in theMemramcook andPetitcodiac river valleys and theBeaubassin region at the head of the bay), and St. Pierre, (founded byNicolas Denys) at the site of present-day Bathurst on the Baie des Chaleurs.
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 and this was principally because the French colonists kept to their small coastal farming communities, leaving the interior of the territory to the aboriginals. This good relationship was bolstered by a healthy fur trading economy.
A competingBritish (English and Scottish) claim to the region was made in 1621, whenSir William Alexander was granted, byJames VI & 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 British claims. France, however, gradually lost control of Acadia in a series of wars during the 18th century.
Acadia was plunged into what some historians have described as theAcadian Civil War. The war was betweenPort Royal, where Governor of AcadiaCharles de Menou d'Aulnay de Charnisay was stationed, and present-daySaint John, New Brunswick, whereCharles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour was stationed.[3]
In the war, there were four major battles. La Tour attacked d'Aulnay at Port Royal in 1640.[4] In response to the attack, D'Aulnay sailed out of Port Royal to establish a five-month blockade of La Tour's fort at Saint John, which La Tour eventually defeated (1643). La Tour attacked d'Aulnay again at Port Royal in 1643. d'Aulnay and Port Royal ultimately won the war against La Tour with the 1645 siege of Saint John.[5] After d'Aulnay died (1650), La Tour re-established himself in Acadia.
TheMaliseet from their headquarters atMeductic on the Saint John River, participated in numerous raids and battles against New England duringKing William's War.
One of its provisions of theTreaty of Utrecht of 1713, which formally ended theQueen Anne's War, was that the French surrendered any claim to peninsular Acadia to the British Crown. All of what later became New Brunswick, as well as "Île St-Jean" (Prince Edward Island) and "Île Royale" (Cape Breton Island) would remain under French control. A number of Acadians that resided within Nova Scotia fled to these French-controlled peripheries of Acadia as a part of theAcadian Exodus.
The bulk of the Acadian population now found itself 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 atBeaubassin (Tantramar) and the nearby region of Shepody, Memramcook, and Petitcodiac, which they called Trois-Rivière,[6] as well as in the Saint John River valley at Fort la Tour (Saint John) and Fort Anne (Fredericton).
To defend the area, the French builtFort Nashwaak,Fort Boishebert,Fort Menagoueche in Bay of Fundy, and in the southeastFort Gaspareaux andFort Beauséjour. The latter was captured by British andNew England troops in 1755, followed soon after by theExpulsion of the Acadians. Although continental Acadia remained under French control, peninsular Acadia passed into British hands with theTreaty of Utrecht (1713), but the new owners were slow to occupy their new possession. Until the definitive peace in the Americas occasioned by theTreaty of Paris (1763), the region was subject to low-grade contention.
The Maliseet from their headquarters atMeductic on the Saint John River, participated in numerous raids and battles against New England duringFather Rale's War. DuringFather Le Loutre's War, a conflict between the Acadian and Mi'kmaq militias, and the British, numerous raids and battles occurred on theIsthmus of Chignecto.
Prior to 1755, Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour.[7] During theFrench and Indian War, the British sought both to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia.[8]
After theSiege of Louisbourg (1758), the second wave of theExpulsion of the Acadians began. Monckton was sent on theSt. John River Campaign and thePetitcodiac River Campaign, commander Rollo accomplished theIle Saint-Jean Campaign, and Wolfe was sent on the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign. In theGulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758), the British wanted to clear the Acadians from the villages along the Gulf of St. Lawrence to prevent any interference with the Siege of Quebec (1759).[9] Fort Anne fell during the St. John River Campaign and following this, all of present-day New Brunswick came under British control. France ultimately lost control of all of its North American territories by 1760. In theTreaty of Paris (1763), which put a close to the wider hostilities between Britain, France and Spain, was recognised the eviction of France from North America.
After theSeven Years' War, most of what is now New Brunswick (and parts of Maine) was incorporated into the colony of Nova Scotia asSunbury County (county seat –Campobello). New Brunswick's relative location away from the Atlantic coastline hindered new settlement during the immediate post war period. There were a few notable exceptions, such as the founding of "The Bend" (present-day Moncton) in 1766 by Pennsylvania Dutch settlers sponsored byBenjamin Franklin's Philadelphia Land Company.[citation needed]
Other American settlements developed, principally in former Acadian lands in the southeast region, especially around Sackville. An American settlement also developed at Parrtown (Fort la Tour) at the mouth of the Saint John River. English settlers fromYorkshire also arrived in the Tantramar region near Sackville prior to theRevolutionary War.
TheAmerican Revolutionary War had a direct effect on the New Brunswick region, with several conflicts occurring in the region including theMaugerville Rebellion (1776), theBattle of Fort Cumberland,Siege of Saint John (1777) and theBattle at Miramichi (1779). Significant population growth would not occur until after theAmerican Revolution, when Britain convinced refugee Loyalists fromNew England to settle in the area by giving them free land. Some earlier American settlers in New Brunswick actually favoured the colonial revolutionary cause.[10] In particular,Jonathan Eddy and his militia harassed and laid siege to the British garrison at Fort Cumberland (the renamed Fort Beausejour) during the early parts of the American Revolution. It was only after the arrival of a relief force fromHalifax that the siege was lifted.
With the arrival of the Loyalist refugees in Parrtown (Saint John) in 1783,[11] the need to politically organize the territory became acute. The newly arrived Loyalists felt no allegiance to Halifax and wanted to separate from Nova Scotia to isolate themselves from what they felt to be democratic and 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."[12] These views undoubtedly were exaggerated but there was no love lost between the Loyalists and the Halifax establishment and the feelings of the newly arrived Loyalists helped to sow the seeds for partition of the colony.
The election of 1786 was bitterly contested and pitted two concepts of loyalty to the Empire against one another: loyalty to the King and his appointed governors, and loyalty to the King with local affairs handled by the locals. Hundreds who protested a rigged election and signed a petition to call another election were arrested for sedition: the issue of what loyalty meant was at the centre of Canadian 19th century politics.[13] This event replicated the pre-1775 behavior and attitude of both Tories and Whigs in the southern 13 Colonies who protested their loyalty to the King and pride in belonging to the British Empire while insisting on their rights as British subjects, local rule and fair governance.[14]
The British administrators of the time, for their part, felt that the colonial capital (Halifax) was too distant from the developing territories to the west of theIsthmus of Chignecto to allow for proper governance and that the colony of Nova Scotia therefore should be split. As a result, the colony of New Brunswick was officially created with SirThomas Carleton the first governor on August 16, 1784.
New Brunswick was named in honour of the British monarch,King George III, who was descended from theHouse of Brunswick (Haus Braunschweig in German, derived from the city ofBraunschweig, nowLower Saxony). Fredericton, the capital city, was likewise named for George III's second son,Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. This was, however, despite local recommendations to be called 'New Ireland'.[15]
The choice of Fredericton (the former Fort Anne) as the colonial capital shocked and dismayed 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 and for over a century was one of the dominant communities inBritish North America. Saint John in 1787–91 was home to the former American generalBenedict Arnold, who defected to the British army. He was an aggressive businessman who sued a great deal and had a negative reputation by the time he quit and went to London.[16]
Loyalists carried traditions of slavery with them to New Brunswick, and many brought slaves with them when they left the American colonies.[17] By the end of the 18th century some had started to challenge the practice, and theNew Brunswick Supreme Court was presented with twofreedom suits in 1799.[18] After nearly a year, the court issued a split decision inR v Jones and declined to hearR v Agnew, allowing slavery to continue.[19] But public opinion had begun to turn, and by 1820 slavery was essentially extinct in New Brunswick.[20] It was officially abolished in the colony by the BritishSlavery Abolition Act 1833.[21]
Some 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 outside of the established British communities in what would later become incorporated ranges of the province.
TheWar of 1812 had little effect on New Brunswick proper. There was, however, some action on the waters of the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine by privateers and small vessels of the British navy.[22] Forts such as theCarleton Martello Tower in Saint John and the St. Andrew's Blockhouse on Passamaquoddy Bay were constructed, but no action was seen. Locally, New Brunswickers were on good terms with their neighbours in Maine as well as the rest of New England, who generally did not support the war. There was even one incident during the war where the town ofSt. Stephen lent its supplies of gunpowder to neighbouringCalais, Maine, across the St. Croix River, for the localFourth of July Independence Day celebrations.
That being said, New Brunswick's contribution to the war effort in Upper Canada was significant in terms of troop contribution. In the winter of 1813, the locally mustered104th Regiment of Foot (New Brunswick), the only regular regiment in the British Army raised outside the British Isles at the time, marched overland from Fredericton toKingston, an epic journey documented in the war diary ofJohn Le Couteur. Once in Upper Canada, the 104th fought in some of the most significant actions of the war, including theBattle of Lundy's Lane, theSiege of Fort Erie and the raid onSacket's Harbour.
In 1819, the shipAlbion left Cardigan for New Brunswick, carrying the first Welsh settlers to Canada; on board were 27 Cardigan families, many of whom were farmers.[23]
The Maine-New Brunswick frontier had not been defined by theTreaty of Paris (1783) which had concluded theRevolutionary War. The border was contested, and frequently this fact was taken advantage of by people on both sides of the border to engage in a livelysmuggling trade, especially on the waters ofPassamaquoddy Bay. The illicit trade inNova Scotiagypsum resulted in the so-called "Plaster War" of 1820.[24]
By the 1830s competing lumber interests and immigration meant that a solution was required. The situation actually deteriorated sufficiently enough by 1842 that the governor ofMaine called out his militia. This was followed by the arrival of British troops in the region shortly thereafter. The entire debacle, referred to as theAroostook War, was bloodless – unless one counts the mauling by bears at theBattle of Caribou – and thankfully, cooler heads prevailed with the subsequentWebster-Ashburton Treaty settling the dispute. Some local residents in the Madawaska region did not care much one way or the other as to who would actually win control of the area. When one resident ofEdmundston was asked by arbitrators which side he supported, he replied "theRepublic of Madawaska". This name is still used today and describes the northwestern corner of the province.
Throughout the 19th century,shipbuilding, beginning in the Bay of Fundy with shipbuilders likeJames Moran inSt. Martins and soon spreading to theMiramichi, became the dominant industry in New Brunswick. The shipMarco Polo, arguably the fastest clipper ship of her time was launched from Saint John in 1851. Noted shipbuilders likeJoseph Salter laid the foundations of towns such asMoncton. Resource-based industries such as logging and farming were also important to the New Brunswick economy, despite disasters such as the1825 Miramichi fire. From the 1850s 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.
Immigration in the early part of the 19th century was mostly from the west country of England and fromScotland, but also fromWaterford, Ireland having often come through or having lived in Newfoundland prior.
A large influx of Catholic settlers arrived in New Brunswick in 1845 fromIreland as a result of theGreat Famine. They headed to the cities of Saint John orChatham, which to this day calls itself the "Irish Capital of Canada". Established Protestants resented the newly arrived Catholics. Until the 1840s, Saint John, the major city of New Brunswick, was a largely homogenous, Protestant community. Combined with a decade of economic distress in New Brunswick, the immigration of poor unskilled labourers triggered a nativist response. TheOrange Order, until then a small and obscure fraternal order, became the vanguard of nativism in the colony and stimulated Orange-Catholic tension. The conflict culminated in the riot of 12 July 1849, in which at least 12 people died. The violence subsided as Irish immigration declined.[25]
In the years between 1815, when vast industrial changes began to disrupt the old life-styles in Europe, andCanadian Confederation in 1867, when immigration of that era passed its peak, more than 150,000 immigrants from Ireland flooded into Saint John. Those who came in the earlier period were largely tradesmen, and many stayed in Saint John, becoming the backbone of its builders. But when theGreat Famine raged between 1845 and 1852, huge waves of Famine refugees flooded these shores. It is estimated that between 1845 and 1847, some 30,000 arrived, more people than were living in the city at the time. In 1847, dubbed "Black 47," one of the worst years of the Famine, some 16,000 immigrants, most of them from Ireland, arrived atPartridge Island, the immigration and quarantine station at the mouth of Saint John Harbour. However, thousands of Irish were living in New Brunswick prior to these events, mainly in Saint John and theMiramichi River valley.
After the partitioning of the British colony of Nova Scotia in 1784 New Brunswick was originally named New Ireland with the capital to be inSaint John.[26]
TheMiramichi River valley, received a significant Irish immigration in the years before theGreat Famine. These settlers tended to be better off and better educated than the later arrivals, who came out of desperation. Though coming after the Scottish and the French Acadians, they made their way in this new land, intermarrying with the Catholic Highland Scots, and to a lesser extent, with the Acadians. Some, likeMartin Cranney, held elective office and became the natural leaders of their augmented Irish community after the arrival of the famine immigrants. The early Irish came to the Miramichi because it was easy to get to with lumber ships stopping in Ireland before returning to Chatham and Newcastle, and because it provided economic opportunities, especially in the lumber industry. They were commonly Irish speakers, and in the eighteen thirties and eighteen forties there were many Irish-speaking communities along the New Brunswick and Maine frontier.[27]
The Irish language survived as a community language in New Brunswick into the twentieth century. The 1901 census specifically enquired as to the mother tongue of the respondents, defining it as a language commonly spoken in the home. There were several individuals and a scattering of families in the census who described Irish as their first language and as being spoken at home. In other respects the respondents had less in common, some being Catholic and some Protestant.[28]
New Brunswick was one of the four original provinces of Canada that entered into Confederation in 1867. TheCharlottetown Conference of 1864 had originally been intended only to discuss aMaritime Union of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, but concerns over theAmerican Civil War as well asFenian activity along the border led to an interest in expanding the geographic scope of the union. This interest arose from theProvince of Canada (formerlyUpper andLower Canada, laterOntario andQuebec) and a request was made by the Canadians to the Maritimers to have the meeting's agenda altered.
Following Confederation, the naysayers were proven right and New Brunswick (as well as the rest of the Maritimes) suffered the effects of a significant economic downturn. New national policies and trade barriers that had been created as a result of Confederation disrupted the historic trading relationship between the Maritime Provinces and New England. In 1871, the legislature sent a delegation to Ottawa in order to renew on "better terms".[29] The situation in New Brunswick was exacerbated by theGreat Fire of 1877 in Saint John and by the decline of the wooden sailing shipbuilding industry. The global recession sparked by thePanic of 1893 significantly affected the local export economy. Many skilled workers lost their jobs and were forced to move 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 textile mills across the province and, in the crucial forestry sector, thesawmills that had dotted inland sections of the province gave way to largerpulp and paper mills. Nevertheless, unemployment remained relatively high and theGreat Depression provided another setback. Two influential families, theIrvings and theMcCains, emerged from the depression to begin to modernize andvertically integrate the provincial economy.
After Canada joinedWorld War II, 14 army units were organized, in addition toThe Royal New Brunswick Regiment,[30] and first deployed in theItalian campaign in 1943. After theNormandy landings they deployed to northwestern Europe, along withThe North Shore Regiment.[30] TheBritish Commonwealth Air Training Plan, a training program for ally pilots, established bases in Moncton,Chatham, andPennfield Ridge, as well as a military typing school in Saint John. While relatively unindustrialized and before the war, New Brunswick became home to 34 plants on military contracts from which the province received over $78 million, while other production centre contributed to all areas of the war effort.[30]
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had promised no conscription, asked the provinces if they would release the government of said promise. New Brunswick voted 69.1% yes. The policy was not implemented until 1944, too late for many of the conscripts to be deployed.[30] New Brunswick sustained 1808 fatalities between the Army, RCAF, and RCN.[31]
The Acadians, who had mostly fended for themselves on the northern and eastern shores since they were allowed to return after 1764, 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 francophone areas was noticeably less evolved than in the rest of the province. This changed with the election of premierLouis Robichaud in 1960. He embarked on the ambitiousEqual 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. Teachers were awarded equal rates of pay regardless of enrollment.
County councils were abolished with the rural areas outside cities, towns and villages coming under direct provincial jurisdiction. The 1969New Brunswick Official Languages Act made French an official language, on par with English. Linguistic tensions rose on both sides, with the militantParti Acadien enjoying brief popularity in the 1970s andAnglophone groups pushing to repeal language reforms in the 1980s, led by theConfederation of Regions Party. Linguistic tensions had mostly evaporated by the 1990s. However, these tensions resurfaced around 2018 with the creation of thePeople's Party of Canada.[32]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(December 2023) |
Throughout the early 2020s, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, New Brunswick grew significantly in population,[33][34] largely throughinterprovincial migration, mainly fromOntario, andimmigration.[35] As of a 2023 estimate, the province has seen higher population growth in the previous 24 months than in the past 29 years. In 2022, according toStatistics Canada analyst Patrick Charbonneau, New Brunswick experienced its highest population growth recorded in a single year since itsConfederation in 1867. The following year, New Brunswick broke that record.[35] Population increase in New Brunswick has led to the province's median age falling for the first time in over 50 years.[36]
In 2023, asignificant local governance reform resulted in the amalgamation of severallocal service districts in the province.[37]
General:
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{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)–The Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley atGoogle Books{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)–Reports on the Sea and River Fisheries of New Brunswick atGoogle Books{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)–Report of the "Better Terms" Delegation of New Brunswick atGoogle Books| Year list (Timeline) | |
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