Home - Canada & Immigration - Canada Facts - About New Brunswick (N.B.)
The Basics of New Brunswick
One of the four Atlantic provinces of Canada, New Brunswick is home to approximately 760,000 people. Forests occupy 85 percent of the province's land mass and the province includes a number of coastal islands.New Brunswick's largest city is Saint John, while Fredericton serves as the capital. The city of Moncton is another important urban center. The province is officially bilingual; as approximately 35 per cent of the population speaks French as a first language, while most of the remaining 65 per cent are English-speaking. Though Canada is a bilingual nation, New Brunswick is the only constitutionally bilingual province in the country.
Economy and Employment
New Brunswick's natural resources have traditionally formed the center of its economy. Lumber products are one of the main exports and fishing and agriculture are also important industries. The province is home to a modern service-based economy of major financial and insurance industries. Manufacturing is an important industry and information technology has also been a growth industry for the province, and a major beneficiary of investment. The province has also enjoyed increasing tourism, which has been a major source of job creation in the last decade.Standard of Living
The low cost of living in New Brunswick means that even with a modest income, one can live a comfortable lifestyle. Housing costs and the cost of heating, power and food are among the lowest in Canada. However, average income for New Brunswick families also among the lowest in Canada. The mandatory minimum wage is also modest by Canadian standards and provincial personal income taxes are slightly above the Canadian average.New Brunswick is known for having a strong sense of community. The province is also very safe, with crime rates far below the national average.
Residential Housing
Affordable housing is readily available in New Brunswick. In addition, the average percentage of household income taken up by ownership costs is among the lowest in Canada.Education
In Canada, all citizens and permanent residents under the age of 20 are entitled to free education through the end of high school through the public school system. As a bilingual province, New Brunswick has parallel public school systems in both English and French for kindergarten right through to Grade 12. New Brunswick is a leader in the use of technology in education, and all of its public schools have internet in the classroom. The province has the highest high school graduation rate in Canada.Postsecondary education in New Brunswick is provided by four publicly funded universities. The universities in New Brunswick are of top quality, and are playing an important role in the transformation of the province's economy from natural resources to advanced service and technology. The University of New Brunswick is one of the oldest universities in Canada and has top-rated programs in engineering and computer science. Mount Allison University, located in Sackville, is consistently ranked tops amongst small universities for its education, and has produced more Rhodes Scholars per capita than any other school.
Health Care
Under Canadian Law, all provinces and territories must provide universal, publicly funded health care to all citizens and legal residents of Canada. In other words, most basic health services in Canada are offered at no direct cost to the patient. New Brunswick Medicare pays for most medically required services provided by medical practitioners. In addition to Medicare, health insurance can be purchased from major private sector insurers.History
New Brunswick was one of the first areas of Canada to be explored and settled by Europeans. French Explorer Jacques Cartier first arrived in the area that now makes up New Brunswick in 1534. French settlers would return about 70 years later to create the colony which would be known as “L'Acadie” Acadia.New Brunswick was one of the original four provinces to join Canadian confederation in 1867. Since then the divide between Anglophone and Francophone residents of this province has softened making it a truly bilingual province. New Brunswick is now in the midst of an economic transformation from resource-based to service-based.
Culture
New Brunswick has a rich cultural heritage from both its Francophone and Anglophone communities, along with the contributions of generations of immigrants from all over the world. The Acadian community retains its unique culture and dialect, and has produced some notable poets and writers.The province prides itself on cities with world-class culture and vibrant festivals while retaining a hometown hospitality.
Demographics
New Brunswick is home to approximately 730,000 residents. The province is looking to encourage immigration to fuel population growth in its cities. Today there are small but vibrant immigrant communities contributing in each of New Brunswick's major cities.French Canadians account for approximately 35 per cent of New Brunswick's population. The remainder is primarily English-speaking but claims origins not only from the British Isles but also from Germany, the Netherlands and China, for example. Almost 4 per cent of New Brunswick's population is aboriginal, primarily from the Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik nations.
Immigration
New Brunswick receives several hundred immigrants each year, a number the province seeks to increase. One way they are doing so is through the New Brunswick Provincial Nomination Program, which allows individuals who wish to live and work in New Brunswick to come to Canada sooner. The program includes streams both for individuals with job offers to work in New Brunswick, and for business applicants who wish to invest or manage businesses in the province.Government
Canada's government works on a federal system, with control over certain affairs belonging to the national government in Ottawa, and others under the control of the provincial governments. The province of New Brunswick has its own democratically-elected parliament (known as the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly). As the province and parliament are officially bilingual, the province traditionally elects bilingual leaders.Major Cities
Saint John
Saint John is the largest city in New Brunswick, with approximately 130,000 residents. Split rather evenly between English and French as working languages, Saint John is a very bilingual city.Saint John has a strong industrial base and is home to the greatest concentration of industry found on the Atlantic Coast anywhere north of New York City. In recent years the city has seen a significant amount of redevelopment that has revitalized lands formerly used by the railway.