New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

is one of Canada's three

Maritime provinces The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of ...

and the only bilingual province in the country. The provincial Department of Finance estimates that the province's population in 2006 was 729,997 of which the majority is English-speaking but with a substantial French-speaking minority of mostly

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

origin. First Nations in New Brunswick include the

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

and Wolastoqiyik (

Maliseet The Wolastoqiyik, (, also known as the Maliseet or Malecite () are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the Indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their terri ...

). The first European settlers, the Acadians are descendants of French settlers and also some of the

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

Acadia Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...

, a French colony in modern-day Nova Scotia. The Acadians were expelled by the British in 1755 for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to King George II which drove several thousand Acadian residents into exile in North America, the UK and France during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

. (Those American Acadians who wound up in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, and other parts of the American South, are referred to as

Cajuns The Cajuns (; Louisiana French language, French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French people, Louisiana French ethnic group, ethnicity mainly found in t ...

, although some Cajuns are not of Acadian origin.) In time, some Acadians returned to the Maritime provinces of Canada, mainly to New Brunswick, due to the British prohibiting them from resettling their lands and villages in what became Nova Scotia. Many of the English-Canadian population of New Brunswick are descended from

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

who fled the American Revolution. This is commemorated in the province's motto, ''Spem reduxit'' ("hope was restored"). There is also a significant population with Irish ancestry, especially in Saint John and the Miramichi Valley. People of Scottish descent are scattered throughout the province, with high 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.

Population history

''Source:

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

Population geography

City Metropolitan Areas

Cities and towns

Ethnic origin

The information in the following table contains data from the 2021 Candidan census conducted by Statistics Canada. Of the 233,000 New Brunswickers whose mother tongue is French, the great majority are Acadians. Most have indicated their ethnic origin as French and not as Acadian, so that the number of Acadians shown is much smaller.

Visible minorities and Indigenous peoples

Languages

Compared to other provinces, New Brunswick has a relatively even split of English and French-speakers. As a comparison, the minority language communities of Ontario and Quebec (

Franco-Ontarian Franco-Ontarians ( or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2021, according to the Government of Ontario, ther ...

s and

English-speaking Quebecer English-speaking Quebecers, also known as Anglo-Quebecers, English Quebecers, or Anglophone Quebecers (all alternately spelt Quebeckers; in French ''Anglo-Québécois'', ''Québécois Anglophone'') or simply Anglos in a Quebec context, are a ...

s respectively) make up less than 10% of those provinces' populations. With both official language communities so strongly represented, New Brunswick is home to English and French-language hospitals, media, schools and universities. The province also has a high proportion of people that speak both languages, with 246,000 people, or 33.2% of the population speaking English and French (though Francophones make up two-thirds of those who are bilingual). Language policy is a perennial issue in New Brunswick politics and society. Recurring debates have arisen in regards to duality (the system of parallel English and French-speaking public services), interpretation of the provincial bilingualism policy and specifics of implementation. The extent of the provincial policy on bilingualism means that a new row is never far off in the New Brunswick news cycle. Francophones advocate for full funding of French-language public services and fair representation in public sector employment, while Anglophones fear that the system of duality is financially inefficient, its extent is not worthwhile and that the provincial government's targets for bilingualism in public employment are hurting their chances to work for the government, as Anglophones are less likely than Francophones to be proficient enough in both official languages to use them in employment. The province's bilingual status is enshrined in federal and provincial law. The Canadian Constitution makes specific mention of New Brunswick's bilingual status and defines the spirit of implementation as one based on community and individual rights (in contrast with the constitutional protections for the other provinces that is limited to individuals). The

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The ''Char ...

has a number of New Brunswick specific articles and makes specific mention of New Brunswick in each section relating to language. Of particular interest is Article 16.1, which declares that New Brunswick's Anglophone and Francophone communities have equal rights and privileges, including community-specific cultural and educational institutions, Article 18.1, declaring bilingual publication of the Canadian Parliament's works and laws and Article 18.2, specifying that the New Brunswick Legislature will publish its works in English and French. Article 16.1's distinction of linguistic community is important in that it recognizes not only the rights of individuals to use their language, but also demands that the two official language communities have their specific institutions upheld. In 2012, New Brunswick Francophones scored lower on the

Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 24 countries of cognitive and workplace skills. The main aim is to be able to ...

than their Anglophone counterparts.

Knowledge of languages

The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the

2021 Canadian Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...

, and lists languages that were selected by at least 0.5 percent of respondents.

Mother tongue

New Brunswick's official languages are shown in bold. Figures shown are for the number of single-language responses and the percentage of total single-language responses. During the 19th century Gaelic was also spoken in Campbellton and Dalhousie. The language died out as a natively-spoken language in the early 20th century. The

2011 Canadian census The 2011 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population on May 10, 2011. Statistics Canada, an agency of the Canadian government, conducts a nationwide census every five years. In 2011, it consisted of a mandatory short form ...

showed a population of 751,171. Of the 731,855 single responses to the census question concerning mother tongue, the most commonly reported languages were:Detailed Mother Tongue (186), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) (2011 Census)
/ref> Note: "n.i.e.": not included elsewhere There were also 45 single-language responses for Gujarati; 135 for Niger-Congo languages n.i.e.; 70 for Creole; 95 for Non-verbal languages (Sign languages); 115 for Japanese; 30 for Indo-Iranian languages n.i.e.; 5 for Somali; 20 for Sinhala (Sinhalese); and 40 for

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

. New Brunswick's official languages are shown in bold. (Figures shown are for the number of single language responses and the percentage of total single-language responses.)

Religion

Migration

Immigration

The 2021 census reported that

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

(individuals born outside Canada) comprise 44,125 persons or 5.8 percent of the total population of New Brunswick.

Recent immigration

The

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...

counted a total of 16,040 people who immigrated to New Brunswick between 2016 and 2021.

Interprovincial migration

New Brunswick has typically experienced less emigration than its size and economic situation would suggest, probably because of the low rate of emigration of its francophone population. ''Source: Statistics Canada''

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demographics Of New Brunswick

New Brunswick society