Altas Canada Français

New Brunswick

Drapeau NB
 The Acadian national flag (1884) was adopted at the second national Acadian convention, held in Miscouche, Prince Edward Island. It is the symbol for Acadians in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The three-colour flag is reminiscent of the French flag, while the yellow star represents Our Lady of Assumption, the patron saint of Acadians.


Population
Demographic Vitality

The French language
New Brunswick is divided into two large language groups. Of the 729,630 residents, two thirds have English as their mother tongue. The rest are practically all francophones. There are very few residents of the province who have a non-official language mother tongue resident in the province.

An increase in population
The number of people with French as their mother tongue has consistently increased between 1951 and 1991: from 185,110 to 243,690, reflecting the vitality of a community that has been hardly touched by linguistic assimilation. Since 1991, the size of the population having French as their mother tongue has been constant while the total population of the province has increased by only 1.8 percent.

And quite constant percentages
Acadians constitute about a third of the population of New Brunswick. Their percentage of the total population has slightly decreased since 1951. The greatest decrease was from 35.9 percent in 1951 to 33.8 percent in 1971. Since then, because of a very active community life, within a favourable political context, the percentage of franco-phones has remained between 33 and 34 percent.

Acadians are geographically concentrated in certain areas of New Brunswick. They are in the majority in 4 of 15 census divisions.

A female majority
Females are in the majority in the New Brunswick Acadian population: 124,145 females compared to 120,950 males. The ratio of females to the total, is the same, 51 percent, whether one considers franco-phones having French as their only mother tongue or bilingual francophones.

Age profil
The Acadian community of New Brunswick is old by comparison with the populations of countries with developed economies. Under 15s are only 17.6 percent of the total francophone population; those under 5 years of age are only 4.9 percent. This low percentage of youth is strongly reflected at the upper end of the age pyramid. The 30-64 year old cohort are half of the population. Those 65 and over are 11.6 percent.

The age profile of the francophone population is similar to that of the provincial population as a whole. However, changes in the numbers of youth portend future imbalance between the two groups within a relatively short term.

A people with strong roots
Nine out of ten Acadians in New Brunswick were born in the province. Those born elsewhere in Canada are just 8.8 percent of the population; the majority of those came from Quebec and the Maritimes. There are even fewer immigrants. The Acadian community of New Brunswick is strongly rooted, which is reflected in their sense of identity and belonging.

Which stays in one place
A clear majority of New Brunswick Acadians lived at the same address in 1996 as in 1991. Among the others, only 12 percent were not resident within the province. This attests to the high stability of the population. Interprovincial migration has little effect on the New Brunswick Acadian community and the effect of immigration from abroad is negligible.

French Mother Tongue Population: 243 690
English Mother Tongue Population: 471 010
Population with a knowledge of both official languages: 245 865
Other Mother Tongue Population: 12 625
Total Population: 720 000

Representative Organizations
Founded in 1973, the Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick (SAANB) is the principal spokesperson for its 20,000 members. SAANB is a member of the Société nationale de l’Acadie (SNA) and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA) du Canada . The association’s objectives include the recognition of a distinct Acadian society, the creation of French and bilingual institutions, the affirmation of French in the face of increasing assimilation, the safeguarding of rights in a context of government restructuring, the promotion of dialogue between organizations, and the elaboration of a global development plan for the Acadian community.

For several years, SAANB has led a campaign to promote French services within the province’s business community. Parfum de Francophonie is a campaign whose objectives are to encourage francophone consumers to use French as the language of communication with entrepreneurs while encouraging the latter to use French in transactions with their clients. This program, coordinated by a provincial committee, covers all regions of the province and awards businesses a rating (bronze, silver or gold) based on their ability to actively serve their clientele in French.

The large number of businesses, government services and public services which offer services in French in New Brunswick makes it difficult to produce a comprehensive directory for the province. However, the Société Pierre-Amand-Landry de Fredericton (SAANB) publishes a directory of French services in the greater Fredericton area (saanbfct@nbnet.nb.ca) and the Conseil de section Sieur Samuel de Champlain does the same for the Saint John area (saanbfct@nbnet.nb.ca).



Other Organizations
The Forum de concertation des organismes acadiens et franco-phones du Nouveau-Brunswick
The Forum de concertation des organismes acadiens et
francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick has existed for more than 10 years and has been involved in the process of Canada-community agreements since 1995. In order to define Acadian community development priorities, this consultative structure received the mandate to define provincial priorities concerning development within the Acadian community. The Forum is under the chairmanship and management of SAANB.

The Forum is responsible for implementing the Plan de développement global de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick , a provincial plan developed according to priorities established by the thirty or so organizations that make up the Forum de concertation. The priority areas are:

  • access to means of communication;
  • improvement of health and community services;
  • consultation among organizations;
  • consolidation of the education system;
  • community development;
  • cultural and artistic development;
  • economic development;
  • human resource development;
  • strengthening of services in French;
  • enhancement of the French fact;
  • strengthening the political and constitutional framework;
  • strengthening relations with the francophonie.

The following provincial associations and institutions are part of the Forum des organismes acadiens et francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick.

Association acadienne des artistes professionnel.le.s du Nouveau-Brunswick

Association des enseignants et des enseignantes
francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick
Telephone: (506) 452-8921
Fax: (506) 453-9795
E-mail: aefnb@nbnet.nb.ca
Association des juristes d’expression française
du Nouveau-Brunswick
Telephone: (506) 853-4151
Fax: (506) 853-4152
E-amil: ajefnb@nbnet.nb.ca
Internet: www.ajefnb.nb.ca/
Association des radios communautaires acadiennes
du Nouveau-Brunswick
Telephone: (506) 861-1196
Fax: (506) 860-6721
E-mail: arcanb@nbnet.nb.ca
Association des travailleurs en loisir
du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 739-8525
    Fax: (506) 739-7568
    E-mail: lordpro@nbnet.nb.ca

Association francophone des municipalités
du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 542-2622
    Fax: (506) 783-0808

Assomption Mutuelle-Vie
    Telephone: (506) 853-6040
    Fax: (506) 853-5421
    E-mail: direction@assomption.ca

Comité des parents du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 859-8107
    Fax: (506) 859-7191
    E-mail: compar@nbnet.nb.ca

Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 857-3143
    Fax: (506) 857-9906
    E-mail: cenb@nbnet.nb.ca

Conseil provincial des sociétés culturelles

Concertation du sport francophone
    Telephone: (506) 858-3770
    Fax: (506) 858-4308

Coopérative de théâtre l’Escaouette

Les Éditions coopératives du Ven’d’est
    Telephone: (506) 548-4097
    Fax: (506) 545-6299

Fédération d’alphabétisation du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 473-4404
    Fax: (506) 473-6398
    E-mail: fanb@nbnet.nb.ca

Fédération des agriculteurs et agricultrices du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 457-2449
    Fax: (506) 457-4179

Fédération des dames d’Acadie inc.
    Telephone: (506) 546-3033
    Fax: (506) 546-6688
    E-mail: fda@nb.sympatico.ca

Fédération des guides du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 533-3888
    Fax: (506) 533-3889
    E-mail: fgnb@hotmail.com

Fédération des jeunes francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 857-0926
    Fax: (506) 388-1368
    E-mail: fjfnb@fundy.net

Fédération des scouts de l’Atlantique
    Telephone: (506) 858-0665
    Fax: (506) 858-9185
    E-mail: scoutatl@nb.sympatico.ca

Gala de la chanson de Caraquet – Festival acadien

Institut féminin francophone du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 336-8540
    Fax: (506) 395-1804

Mouvement acadien des communautés en santé
du Nouveau-Brunswick
    Telephone: (506) 727-5667
    Fax: (506) 727-0899
    E-mail: macsnb@nb.sympatico.ca

Mouvement coopératif acadien
    Telephone: (506) 726-4000
    Fax: (506) 726-4001
    E-mail: jean-claude_roy@acadie.net

Société acadienne d’analyse politique ltée
    Telephone: (506) 858-3732
    Fax: (506) 858-4508
    E-mail: bourquc@umoncton.ca

Société des Acadiennes et Acadiens du Nouveau-Brunswick

Société des enseignants retraités
    Telephone: (506) 876-2709
    Fax: (506) 876-9804

Société des Jeux de l’Acadie
    Telephone: (506) 783-4207
    Fax: (506) 783-4209
    E-mail: sja1@nbnet.nb.ca

Théâtre populaire d’Acadie
    Telephone: (506) 727-0920
    Fax: (506) 727-0923
    E-mail: tpa@nbnet.nb.ca

Université de Moncton
    Telephone: (506) 858-4130
    Fax: (506) 858-2015
    Internet: http://www.umoncton.ca/

Community Life
Cultural and community life

The world of associations

  • Thanks to the Official Languages Act, Acadians enjoy
    a wide network of local, provincial, and regional
    associations, encompassing thousands of people
    interested in the development of different facets
    of Acadian society.

  • New Brunswick’s communities are very well organized. Several provincial organizations, supported by about one hundred regional and local organizations, work in every sector throughout the three francophone areas
    of the province.

  • One of Acadian New Brunswick’s best known features is its activity in the arts world. For several decades, Acadian creativity has been showing the region to the world. Through activities at home and abroad, Acadian writers, entertainers, and artists have gained inter-national renown.

  • The artistic and cultural community is presently
    working to produce a global development plan for
    arts and culture. In spite of many efforts over the last fifteen years, New Brunswick still does not have a definitive policy relating to development and promotion of the arts (policies on affirmation, appreciation, accessibility, training, distribution, etc.).

  • The movie-making industry in the province is growing.

  • Film makers have access to incentives (aid programs for development and production, tax credits, and an industry-support program) offered by the province through Film NB.

  • A record number of Acadian and francophone albums have appeared in the last few years.

  • Recording artists have access to incentives (infra-structure program, taping of demos, product marketing, artistic development) offered by the province through Initiative sonore NB.

  • Dozens of works by Acadian writers were published in 1998.

  • There are many professional writers in the province.

  • There are several publishing companies, including Les Éditions d’Acadie, Les Éditions Perce-neige, Les Éditions Marévi, Les Éditions Boutons d’or d’Acadie, Les Éditions de la Grande Marée.

  • There are several francophone bookstores, including La Librairie acadienne (Dieppe and Moncton), Le Bouquin (Tracadie), the Librairie Pélagie (Shippagan), the Librairie Matulu d’Edmundston.

  • There is a provincial network of public libraries.

  • More than 300 artists work in all disciplines (sculpture, painting, photography, ceramics, multimedia and graphic arts, etc.).

  • There are two professional theatre companies:
    Le Théàtre populaire d’Acadie , and Le Théâtre l’Escaouette , and several dance companies, including DansEncorps.

  • Acadian New Brunswick has a large network of
    important heritage institutions. Ten or so specialized French-language establishments portray the past, present, and future of Acadia. They include:
      - Aquarium du Centre marin (Shippagan)
      - Le Pays de la Sagouine (Bouctouche)
      - Le Village historique acadien (Caraquet)
      - Lieu historique national du Monument Lefebvre (Memramcook)
      - Musée Madawaska (Edmundston)
      - Jardins Publiques du Nouveau-Brunswick (Edmundston)
      - Centre culturel Aberdeen (Moncton)
      - Galerie d’art de l’Université de Moncton (Moncton)
      - Galerie Restigouche (Campbellton)
      - Le Fort Beauséjour (Aulac)


  • The Conseil provincial des sociétés culturelles coordinates a network of 13 cultural groups and their performances.

  • There is local cultural programming in all areas
    of Acadia.

  • The three community education centres provide
    cultural programming.

  • There are about thirty festivals, the major ones being the Festival acadien de Caraquet, La Foire Brayonne (Edmundston), the Festival du Homard (Shediac), the FrancoFête (Moncton), and the Fête du 15 août (in most Acadian communities).

  • There are a number of specialized cultural festivals: the Festival international de musique baroque (Lamèque), Symposium d’art actuel (Moncton), Ruée vers l’Art (Tracadie), Festival des vins du monde (Moncton), Festival des vins français (Caraquet), Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie (Moncton).

  • Annual galas include the Gala de la chanson de Caraquet, the GALA FM en Acadie in Moncton, and the Gala de l’entrepreneur de l’année.

Communications
Communications

Newspapers

  • Newspapers were one of the first means of communication for Acadians. From Valentin Landry’s Moniteur acadien , founded in 1867, through L’Évangéline , and up to
    L’Acadie nouvelle , founded in 1988, newspapers have constantly reflected the evolution and the empowerment of New Brunswick Acadians.

  • L’Acadie nouvelle , a daily provincial newspaper, has a press-run of 20,000 and is distributed from Caraquet. Provincial coverage and distribution are assured through
    a trust fund created jointly by the federal government and the province.

  • There are five weekly newspapers serving the province:
      - Le Madawaska (Edmundston)
      - La Cataracte (a bilingual publication – Grand-Sault)
      - L’Étoile (South-East)
      - L’Aviron (Campbellton)
      - Le Moniteur acadien (Shediac)
      - Le Front ( a student newspaper – Moncton)

      Magazines
      - Égalité , a magazine of political analysis
      - Revue de l’université de Moncton
      - The magazine Éloize
      - Info-Affaires , a monthly


Radio
  • New Brunswick is served by the public radio stationsCBAF (FM), CBC Radio One, covering the province; some areas have access to CBAL or CBC Radio Two.

  • There are two private stations serving the northern and the north-western of New Brunswick: CKLE and CJEM/CKMV.

  • A network of Acadian community radio stations has been operating for about ten years within the framework of the Association des radios communautaires acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick (ARCANB). There are seven members now broadcasting or in development. They are: CKRO, Radio Péninsule ; CFAI, Radio Coopérative des Montagnes ; CFJU, Radio des Hauts Plateaux ; CJSE, Radio Beauséjour ; CIMS, Radio Restigouche : CKUM, r@dio j (Université de Moncton) projet de Radio Fredericton Inc.

  • The head office of the Union des radios communautaires de l’aire francophone (URCAF) has been located in Moncton since the summer of 1999.


Television
  • Radio-Canada, Télévision Atlantique is available everywhere in New Brunswick. Daily news programs, as well as other programs dealing with provincial and regional issues, are produced by and broadcast from the Radio Canada station in Moncton.

  • The Réseau de l’information (RDI), TFO, TV5, and several Quebec stations are available by cable. Since 1999, TVA has produced some programs locally. TVNB provides community programming.


New communication and information technology
  • New Brunswick has an impressive network of Centres d’accès communautaire à Internet, known as NB Branché.

  • There are informatics training centres such as the Centre de l’excellence en informatique du collège communautaire de Bathurst , and Web-master and multimedia production programs at the Collège communautaire de Dieppe .

  • In 1996, the Centre international pour le développement de l’inforoute en français (CIDIF) was opened in Edmundston.

  • Many Internet sites have been developed and there are many businesses dealing with new technologies.

  • New Brunswick Acadians have been « connected » for several years. Most organizations, municipalities, and other groups concerned with the development of the Acadian community use the Internet in their communications.

  • Acadie-Net is a site sponsored by the Mouvement coopératif acadien . Its objective is to provide a single comprehensive site with social, cultural, economic and community information about Acadia and Acadians.

  • In November 1999 there were more than 120 Internet sites with Acadian content; nearly 80 of them were in New Brunswick.

Economy
The economy

  • The traditional pillars of the Acadian economy in New Brunswick were fishing, forestry and agriculture. Acadians organized financial institutions for themselves through the cooperative movement and an insurance company. Acadian entrepreneurs are present in the services and production sectors. Today business ventures are turning towards information technology and communications.

  • The tourist industry is also flourishing. In 1997, the province welcomed nearly one and a half million visitors who spent 850 million dollars, much of it in Acadian regions. Eco-tourism and cultural tourism bring in a lot of tourist dollars in spite of a short summer season.

  • Faced with the difficulties of the 1930s, New Brunswick Acadians created the Acadian cooperative movement. The Fédération des Caisses populaires acadiennes, founded in 1946, has 209,000 members and posts assets of 1.4 billion dollars. The Mouvement des caisses populaires acadiennes consists of 32 cooperatives, 77 caisses populaires and 11 service centres.

  • The Conseil économique de Nouveau-Brunswick (CENB) includes 1,100 entrepreneurs from all the Acadian and francophone regions. Because of the economic influence of its members, CENB is an important lobby group with government.

  • The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) works with a number of local economic development agencies to encourage new small and medium-sized businesses, which are the driving force behind the local economy. This collaboration with the Commissions de développement économique régionale (CDER) and the Corporations locales de développement des entreprises (CLDE), as well as the presence of numerous Chambers of Commerce in Acadian regions of the province, are signs of a significant upswing in the region’s economy.

  • Acadian small and medium-sized businesses are developing at a remarkable rate. In the Acadian region of Shediac-Kent alone, nearly three-quarters of businesses are owned by Acadians; more than 60 percent of these businesses have five or fewer employees.

  • The number of Acadian entrepreneurs rose from 554 in 1983 to more than 994 in 1992, an increase of more than 70 percent in less than 10 years.

    An under educated francophone population
    More than 48 percent of New Brunswick Acadians have not completed high school compared to 40 percent of the population as a whole. At the other end of the educational spectrum, relatively few have attended university. Only 17.4 percent of francophones have gone to university: lower than the provincial average.

    This reflects the reality of resource – dependent rural regions where most New Brunswick francophones are found.

    New Brunswick today has 8,640 Acadian business owners, representing 7.5 percent of the francophone workforce. Many of these independent business owners employ others, and thus give work to francophones and to other residents of New Brunswick.

    Francophone sectors of employment
    A large proportion of New Brunswick Acadians work in goods producing industries: mainly agriculture, fishing and forestry, but also processing industries where there is significant representation within the workforce.

    Francophones are relatively numerous in the public services sector. over 27 percent of the Acadian labor force is in public administration, education, health and social services. They are entering other tertiary sectors. More than 15 percent work in wholesale and retail trades and the province’s francophones are beginning to become involved in the area of financial services, and business services, etc.

    Occupations
    Job distribution by occupation gives a complementary picture of the economic life of francophones in New Brunswick.

    Two areas clearly dominate: sales and services which employs more than one in four francophones; and trades transportation and equipment operation which employs 17.9 percent of the labor force. Incomes are generally low in these two employment sectors. However, this is balanced by the impressive number of francophone managers and administrators.

    Income mostly from employment
    The Acadian community of New Brunswick receives 70.1 percent of its income from employment. However, government transfers – unemployment insurance, old age pensions, etc. – make up 23.6 percent of total income. This implies that a certain segment of the population is somewhat dependent on government assistance.

    However, relatively low
    At $19,187 the average income of the province’s francophones is lower than the provincial average of $20,750. This is partially attributable to the high rate of employment in the goods producing industries sector where incomes are relatively low.

    Four francophones in ten have incomes of less than $10,000 or no income whatsoever. This diminishes the community’s financial resources. Only 10 percent of Acadians have incomes greater than $40,000.

    The average annual income of New Brunswick francophones is $19,187. It is clearly lower than the average provincial income of $20,755. Income varies widely according to region.

    Education
    Education and training

    • New Brunswick is the only Canadian province to have a bilingual education system. Education in French is available everywhere in the province.

    • Education in French, from kindergarten to twelfth grade, is accessible in all Acadian areas.

    • There are 143 French-language schools, including nursery, elementary and high schools.

    • Annual Semaine de la fierté française in francophone schools in New Brunswick

    • Université de Moncton and its campuses in Moncton, Shippagan and Edmundston

    • Centre international de Common law en français

    • Centre de recherche et de développement en éducation

    • Centre de recherche en linguistique appliquée

    • Centre international de développement de l’inforoute en français (CIDIF)

    • Network of four francophone community colleges (Bathurst, Edmundston, Campbellton and Dieppe)

    • École des pêches du Nouveau-Brunswick Caraquet)

    • Various private colleges in all areas

    • Provincial distance-education network

    • The idea of community education centres was born in New Brunswick. These centres serve as meeting places for the communities around them, and offer socio-cultural, artistic, and community programming. They also offer certain commercial services. There are community education centres in Fredericton, Saint John and Miramichi.

    • Twenty-four community training centres spread throughout 40 communities (Télééducation NB)

    Health
    Health and social services

    • At present, eight hospital corporations administer the various hospitals in New Brunswick, and in the near future the provincial government is expected to announce reforms. In principle, francophones in New Brunswick have the right to services in French everywhere in the province. However, equal access to health services in French throughout the province is not yet a concrete reality.

    • The Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick (SAANB) currently holds regional health forums and a provincial forum will oversee the establishment of a Table de concertation des intervenantes et intervenants de la santé du Nouveau-Brunswick. During these forums, participants evaluate services and discuss the needs of the population. A more in-depth study is expected to be conducted this fall, and the results will be compared with those of a similar study in 1985-1987 on the opportunities to live a healthy life in French in New Brunswick.

    Legislation and government services
    Federal government

    • In 1998, 42.8 percent (2,230 positions) of posts in the federal public service in New Brunswick were designated bilingual. That same year, New Brunswick had 1,877 francophone federal public servants, representing 36.1 percent of all federal employees in the province.


    Gouvernement provincial
    • New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada. The province’s policy on official languages is based on the Official Languages Act of 1969, articles 16 to 20 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and on the Loi reconnaissant l’égalité des deux communautés linguistiques of 1981 (Loi 88). All residents and organizations can (in theory) communicate in French with any department, institution or government agency, without exception. In 1990, there were 3,589 francophone civil servants in the provincial public service, representing 33 percent of all provincial government employees. (However, since then, in accordance with new regulations enacted by the government at the time, it is no longer possible to obtain a linguistic profile of the provincial public service.).

    • The Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick (SAANB) and the Association des juristes d’expression française du Nouveau-Brunswick (AJEFNB) are of the opinion that the provincial government should revise and amend the Loi reconnaissant l’égalité des deux communautés linguistiques of 1981. They argue that this law is obsolete, and that a classification system for language rights would allow for a wider-reaching law with more recourse to appeal. This claim is supported by the Forum de concertation des organismes acadiens du Nouveau-Brunswick (which represents about 30 organizations).


    Municipalities
    • Although there is no law or policy guaranteeing municipal services in French, there are several municipalities which offer services essentially in French. They are members of the Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick (AFMNB). The association was founded in 1989 and encompasses 42 municipalities. Other municipalities offer services in both official languages.


    Legal services
    • New Brunswick provides services in both official languages for both criminal and civil cases, and also for administrative tribunals. Francophone jurists have their own association, the Association des juristes d’expression française du Nouveau-Brunswick (AJRFNB). In addition, the Université de Moncton offers a common law program in French.

    Linguistic Vitality
    French remains the language of the family
    In 1996, 222,441 New Brunswick residents said they spoke French most often at home, compared with 199,080 who did so in 1971.

    Thus French is securely established as a language of use in the province. It is the principal language spoken in New Brunswick Acadian homes. This linguistic transfer from generation to generation contributes to its vitality, even though, throughout New Brunswick, even in traditional Acadian strongholds, the young are more and more in direct contact with English.

    Knowledge of French is more and more widespread
    In New Brunswick, the number of people who know French, (alone or with English) has grown by more than 50 percent since the 1950s. Today, more than 310,000 people, or 42.7 percent of the province’s population, are able to speak French. If knowledge of French is not yet the lot of the majo-rity, it is true that since 1971, the number of people who know French has grown from 237,100 to 311,175. This indicates that French and the Acadian culture are attractive to the residents of New Brunswick and the province thus has the asset of a growing francophile population.

    An increase in the index of linguistic continuity
    Although they are a minority of the population, New Brunswick’s Acadians are in the majority in certain areas. This concentration has considerably slowed linguistic assimilation. Those having French as a mother tongue have a high index of linguistic continuity. The percentage of families of inter-marriage is low.

    From 1971 to 1996, the index of linguistic continuity remained constant at between 92 and 93 percent.

    In 1996, 15 percent of francophone families of New Brunswick were of intermarriage.

    History
    Acadia began at the very beginning of the 17th century, when about a hundred French families settled along the banks of the Baie française (Bay of Fundy). Gifted with a rare sense of community, the Acadians slowly developed their own unique culture, in a new environment, where life’s bounty was based primarily on agriculture. Their numbers grew, reaching approximately 16,000 people by 1755.

    The region was hotly disputed. Acadia fell to the British in 1713 and Acadians became subjects of the British Crown. Deeming the Acadians to be too prolific and incapable of loyalty to the British Crown, in 1755, the British Governor, with the support of the Governor of Massachusetts, decided to deport the Acadians to the American Colonies. Several Acadian families fled to present-day New Brunswick. Other families joined with them after returning from exile. They settled on generally poor land, where they farmed and raised cattle; and also worked to some extent in fishing and wood cutting. In the minority, the Acadians of New Brunswick were also economically backward as they were forced to colonize new lands with a minimum of resources and without access to capital.

    The Acadian communities which reestablished themselves around the village parishes, were isolated in the northern and eastern part of the province. Although the isolation impeded their ability to benefit from the market economies that were then in full swing, in return, it allowed survival of the Acadian culture. With the aid of religious communities, Acadians built schools, convents, and hospitals. Acadian nationalism emerged during the period 1860-1890. It was preceded by the imposition of severe restrictions on Catholic education and some economic prosperity. La Société nationale L’Assomption , later renamed the Société nationale des Acadiens was founded in 1881. The establishment of the first college at Memramcook in 1864, and of a French language newspaper ( Le Moniteur acadien) in Shediac in 1867, gave new life to New Brunswick’s Acadia.

    Under the government of the elected Acadian Premier, Louis J. Robichaud, New Brunswick was officially declared bilingual following the passing of the Official Languages Act of 1969.

    Founded in 1973, the Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick (SAANB), has 20,000 members. The introduction of bilingualism within the Department of Education and the long struggle for French language school boards were the fruits of the first years of effort. The law on the equality of New Brunswick’s two linguistic communities was passed in 1981 and enshrined in the Canadian Constitution in 1993. The Congrès mondial acadien and the eighth Sommet de la Francophonie in 1999 confirmed a new sense of pride of belonging of the Acadian community.

    Geography
    The Acadian community of New Brunswick had 242,408 people of French mother tongue in 1996. These francophones constituted 33.2 percent of the province’s population.

    Acadians are mostly located along the coasts from Cap Pelé to Miscou and in the interior as far as Saint-Jacques. There are three areas of high concentration: Madawaska, the Acadian Peninsula in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the province. The seven counties of Gloucester, Kent, Madawaska, Northumberland, Restigouche, Victoria and Westmorland are home to 93.5 percent of the province’s francophones. Four of these counties have a majority of francophones with the percentages varying from 62 to 94 percent.

    The Acadians of New Brunswick generally live in the many small rural communities within the interior. There francophones are found in sizable majorities; however, the communities are separated from each other by the stretches of forest or by wholly anglophone corridors as in the Miramichi Valley, or by zones consisting of francophone and anglophones such as the Moncton area. Some urban centres have become centres of French life. These include Edmundston in Madawaska, which is 91 percent francophone, and Bathurst, and Moncton/Dieppe, which, respectively, have a 49 and a 39 percent francophone population.


    Sources
    The short community history notes were taken in large part from the Web site produced by the Comité national de développement des ressources humaines de la francophonie canadienne. A text by Philippe Falardeau, entitled Hier la francophonie, published by the FCFA in the context of Dessein 2000 was also a source of inspiration. Finally, several texts compiled by Joseph Yvon Thériault in Francophonies minoritaires au Canada - L’État des lieux, recently published by Éditions de l’Acadie, were used.

    All statistics used in producing the profiles come from Statistics Canada.

    Four sources were used:

    1. Data on mother tongue, French spoken in the home and knowledge of French, 1951 to 1996, were taken from Louise Marmen and Jean-Pierre Corbeil (1999), Languages in Canada. 1996 Census. Canadian Heritage and Statistics Canada. New Canadian Perspectives. Catalog number C99-980110-4F. (Marmen and Corbeil, 1999.)

    2. Data on linguistic continuity (ratio of the number of persons speaking French in the home and the number of persons with French as their mother tongue) and francophone intermarriage rates were taken from the work by Michael O’Keefe (1998), Francophone Minorities: Assimilation and Community Vitality. Canadian Heritage. New Canadian perspectives. Catalog number
      C98-980021-0F. (O’Keefe, 1998.)

    3. Data on non-official mother tongues come from E-Stat 1998, an optical compact disk published under catalogue number 10F017XCB (WIN).

    4. All other data were taken from Portrait des communautés de langues officielles au Canada published by Statistics Canada in the form of an optical compact disk with catalogue number C94F0010XCB. This disk provided data on ethnic origin and on the francophone population by sex, age, birthplace, mobility, education, occupation and income (Statistics Canada, 1998).


    Depending on the source used, the population under consideration varies slightly. The method used to distribute the bilingual population is the main reason for these discrepancies. Both Marmen and Corbeil and O’Keefe distribute multiple responses among declared languages. For example, for persons declaring English and French as mother tongues, half of the responses are added to the « French » category and half to the « English » category. For those who declared French and a non-official language as their mother tongues, half of the responses are classed as « French » and the other half as « Non-official language ». The E-Stat diskette does not distribute multiple responses and presents all categories of responses in detail. In Portrait des communautés de langues officielles au Canada, only multiple responses relating to English-French bilingualism are broken out. Persons declaring French and a non-official language as mother tongues were all counted as having French as their mother tongue. Those declaring French, English and a third language as mother tongues were all classed as bilingual English-French. The populations considered here - whether French mother tongue or French and English mother tongues - are thus slightly larger.

    The figures on the francophone population will vary depending on whether or not they include francophones who also declared English as their mother tongue. Most of the tables and graphs presented in this profile concern only persons whose only mother tongue is French, who make up the great majority of francophones in all areas. The French mother tongue map, 1996, covers all francophones, including half of bilingual francophones. This map, produced by André Langlois, is based on data contained on the diskette Portrait des communautés de langues officielles au Canada. It is taken from the Atlas du développement des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada, which may be found on the Internet at: http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~andrelan/atlas/.

    Information on community life was supplied by the Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick which was invited to supplement two existing portraits: one of the francophone community in New Brunswick, produced by Heritage Canada and presently available on its Web site, and an older one prepared in 1990 by the Fédération des francophones hors Québec (as the FCFA was called at the time) and published in a document entitled État des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada.

    Modification: {ts '2008-07-31 00:00:00'}

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