Moving to New Brunswick

Trivia

• New Brunswick is one of the four Atlantic provinces in Canada.
• It is the third smallest province.
• The province is named for the British royal family of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
• It is called the Loyalist Province.
• New Brunswick is Canada’s only officially bilingual province.
• N.B. has a mainland and many islands.
• Fredericton is the capital city.
• flower – Purple Violet, tree – Balsam Fir, bird – Black-capped Chickadee
• motto – “Hope was restored.”

The people

• The population was 729,997 (Statistics Canada, 2006)
• Estimated population in 2008 was 747,300.
• The largest and oldest city is Saint John.
• Other major cities are Fredericton (the capital city) and Moncton.
• Many people are of French, British, Scottish and Irish origin.
• Over 32 percent of the population are Francophones.
• Other groups include native people, Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians, Italians and Asians.

Climate

• The northern half of the province has cold winters and warm summers.
• Areas near the sea have milder winters and slightly cooler summers.
• Moist air from the Atlantic Ocean produces mild weather in the winter and cool summers.
• Winter storms bring rain to the Bay of Fundy coast and snow to the interior.
• It is often foggy in the spring and early summer along the Bay of Fundy.

History

• The first people to live in N.B. include the Micmac and Malecite.
• The Micmac and Malecite hunted and fished and were guides for the French explorers.
• The French mariner Jacques Cartier visited the east coast in 1534.
• In 1604 Samuel de Champlain and the French established the first settlement.
• The French called the east coast area Acadia.
• By 1608 French settlers (called Acadians) were farming around the Bay of Fundy.
• Acadia became an English colony in 1713.
• Some of the people would not swear loyalty to England. Their homes were burned and they were sent away. Some went to Louisiana in the United States.
• Amercan settlers founded the city of Saint John (oldest city in Canada).
• In 1784 the north section of the colony became the new colony of New Brunswick.
• The lumbering industy grew. Shipbuilding was a big industry.
• The ships carried masts and other wood products around the world.
• Thousands came from Ireland after 1846 to work in the lumber industry or to farm.
• On July 1, 1867 New Brunswick became one of the first four provinces of Canada.

Water and land

• More than half of the province is surrounded by water.
• There are two coasts. The east coast faces the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Northumberland Strait; The Bay of Fundy is along the south coast.
• Many bays and inlets along the coasts provide safe harbours for boats.
• There are many rivers in the province.
• The longest river is the Saint John River ( 670 km.long).
• The Bay of Fundy between N.B. and Nova Scotia has the world’s highest tides (over 15 metres high).
• Forests (mainly black spruce and fir) cover about 85 percent of N.B.
• The Appalachian Mountains run along the western edge of the province.

Resources / industries

• N.B. is the main producer of lead, zinc, copper and bismuth in Canada.
• Gypsum, potash, antimony, silver, gold, natural gas and oil are also mined.
• There are fishing ports where more than fifty kinds of fish and shellfish are caught (scallops, shrimp, herring, lobsters, snow crabs, mussels, oysters, etc. )
• Lobster is the most valuable catch. Crab is second.
• Aquaculture farms harvest salmon, trout, arctic char, oysters and mussels.
• The main industry is forestry.
• Paper, newspaper, magazines, tissue, wooden doors and windows are made.
• There are livestock, dairy, poultry, potato and berry farms.
• The main crop is potatoes. The Saint John River Valley is called the “Potato Belt.”
• Apples, blueberries, strawberries, and cranberries are also grown.
• Fiddleheads (sprouts of the ostrich fern) are gathered in early spring for eating.

People and places

• R. Foulis invented the first steam foghorn (1860).
• Romeo LeBlanc was the first Acadian to become a Governor-General of Canada.
• Roch Voisine (song writer and singer ) won a Juno Award in 1993 for male vocalist.
• Bliss Carmen (1861-1929) was one of Canada’s best known poets.
• Sir Charles G.D. Roberts (1860-1943) was known as the Father of Canadian Poetry.
• Donald Sutherland (1934- ) is a famous Hollywood actor.
• The McCain Brothers established McCain Foods in 1957. The company is the largest producer of french fries and other oven-ready frozen food products in the world.
• Hartland Bridge – world’s longest covered bridge (390 m. or 1283 ft. long)
• Confederation Bridge (12.9 kilometres or 8 miles long ) – longest bridge in the world crossing ice-covered water. The bridge connects N.B. to Prince Edward Island.
• Magnetic Hill in Moncton – an optical illusion.
• Reversing Falls at St. John -water rushes uphill against the normal flow of the falls.
• Whale watching – off the Bay of Fundy
• Rocks Provincial Park (Bay of Fundy) – strange-shaped rocks called Flowerpot Rocks rise out of the sea