| Edmundston | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — City — | |||
| City of Edmundston at night | |||
|
|||
| Motto: "La ville six étoiles" (French) "The six-star city |
|||
|
|
|||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Canada | ||
| Province | New Brunswick | ||
| County | Madawaska | ||
| Parish | Madawaska | ||
| Established | 1850 | ||
| City | April 1, 1952 | ||
| Electoral Districts Federal |
Madawaska—Restigouche |
||
| Provincial | Edmundston-Saint Basile | ||
| Government[1] | |||
| • Type | City Council | ||
| • Mayor | Jacques P. Martin | ||
| • Councillors |
List of Members
|
||
| Area[2] | |||
| • Land | 106.92 km2 (41.3 sq mi) | ||
| • Metro | 902.18 km2 (348.3 sq mi) | ||
| Highest elevation | 264 m (866 ft) | ||
| Lowest elevation | 151 m (495 ft) | ||
| Population (2006)[2][3] | |||
| • City | 16,643 | ||
| • Change 2001-06 | 4.2% | ||
| • Census Ranking | 232 of 5,008 | ||
| Time zone | AST (UTC-4) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | ADT (UTC-3) | ||
| Postal code(s) | E3V, E7B | ||
| Area code(s) |
|
||
| Dwellings | 7,804 | ||
| Median Income* | $42,551 CDN | ||
| NTS Map | 021N08 | ||
| GNBC Code | DALZZ | ||
| Website | www.ville.edmundston.nb.ca | ||
Edmundston /ˈɛdmʌndstən/ is a Canadian city in Madawaska County, New Brunswick.[4]
Contents |
During the early colonial period, the area was an important meeting place and hunting/fishing spot of the Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik) nation. A considerable sized village was located there around the turn of the 19th century. Formerly, the settlement was located around the falls at the confluence of the Madawaska-St. John Rivers; currently there is a federal reserve a few kilometres from Edmundston (St. Basile 10/Madawaska Maliseet First Nation). Originally named Petit-Sault (Little Falls) in reference to the waterfalls located where the Madawaska River merges into the Saint John River, the settlement was renamed Edmundston in 1851 after Sir Edmund Walker Head, who was Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick from 1848 to 1854 and Governor-General of Canada from 1854 to 1861.[5] Originally a small logging settlement, Edmundston's growth is mostly attributed to the city's strategic location.
The area was at the centre of the Aroostook War over the boundary line between the U.S.A. and what was then British North America. In the wake of this international conflict, a small fortification (Fortin du Petit-Sault) was built in anticipation of a possible attack by the Americans.[6] It was because of the boundary disputes in this area that the francophone Brayon residents on both the Canadian and American sides took to referring to the region as the Republic of Madawaska. The tradition is carried on to this day, with each mayor of Edmundston being given the title of "President of the Republic of Madawaska". In 1998, Edmundston, Saint-Basile, Saint-Jacques and Verret merged to form the City of Edmundston.
Edmundston is located at the edge of the New Brunswick "panhandle," nestled in the northeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains at the junction of the Saint John and Madawaska Rivers in the northwestern part of the province.
Edmundston is strategically situated only a few kilometres from the border with Quebec and on the border with the United States, opposite the town of Madawaska, Maine, to which it is connected by the Edmundston-Madawaska Bridge.
|
Population trend[7]
|
Mother tongue language (2006)[2]
|
| Census | Population |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 400 |
| 1911 | 1,821 |
| 1921 | 4,035 |
| 1931 | 6,430 |
| 1941 | 7,028 |
| 1951 | 10,753 |
| 1961 | 12,791 |
| 1971 | 12,365 |
| 1981 | 12,044 |
| 1991 | 10,835 |
| 2001 | 17,373 |
| 2006 | 16,643 |
Edmundston had a population of 16,643 people in 2006, which was a decrease of 4.2% from the 2001 census count (the first post-merger). The median household income in 2005 for Edmundston was $42,551, which is below the New Brunswick provincial average of $45,194.[8]
The city is 95 per cent francophone, the highest of all cities in the province. Edmundston is the third-largest majority-francophone city in North America outside Quebec and Haiti, behind Clarence-Rockland, Ontario, which has a population exceeding 20,000 and is 68 per cent francophone, and Dieppe, which has a population of 18,565 (2006 Census) and is roughly 80 percent francophone. There are higher numbers of francophones in other Canadian cities outside the Province of Quebec such as Ottawa (122,665), Sudbury (45,420), Toronto (34,900), Winnipeg (26,855), Moncton (20,425), Timmins (17,390) and Edmonton (15,715), but francophones are a minority group in those cities. Unlike most other francophones living in the Maritimes, most people living in the Edmundston area do not consider themselves Acadians other than for statistical purposes. Most of them descend from French-Canadians who originally came from Lower Canada (now Quebec) along with a few Irish immigrants to settle the area in the century between 1820 and 1920, and absorbed the small group of Acadians who had arrived earlier. Nor do they consider themselves Québécois despite their heritage, mainly due to the politicization of Quebec-specific issues they do not feel concerned with. The local accent (colloquially called "l'accent brayon") is quite unique.
Christianity is the dominant religion of the city's inhabitants, with most residents being Roman Catholics. Moreover, Edmundston gives its name to the episcopal see of the region. Edmundston covers four Catholic parishes. Protestant denominations established in city include the Anglican Church of Canada, the United Church of Canada, the United Pentecostal Church International and a French Christian Church called Église de l'Espoir d'Edmundston. A relatively small number (±100) of Muslim immigrants and converts live in Edmundston and the surrounding area, practicing in their own community centre or mosque.[9]
| Climate data for Edmundston | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −7 (19) |
−6 (21) |
0 (32) |
7 (44) |
15 (59) |
21 (69) |
24 (75) |
23 (73) |
18 (64) |
11 (51) |
2 (35) |
−4 (24) |
8.4 (47.2) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −18 (0) |
−17 (1) |
−10 (14) |
−2 (28) |
3 (37) |
8 (46) |
11 (51) |
10 (50) |
6 (42) |
1 (33) |
−4 (24) |
−13 (8) |
−2.3 (27.8) |
| Precipitation cm (inches) | 8 (3) |
6 (2.5) |
6 (2.2) |
6 (2.4) |
8 (3.2) |
10 (4.1) |
11 (4.2) |
9 (3.6) |
9 (3.6) |
9 (3.5) |
9 (3.4) |
7 (2.7) |
98 (38.4) |
| Source: Weatherbase [10] | |||||||||||||
Forestry is one of the city's major industries, with several sawmills and paper plants in the vicinity, the largest being the Twin Rivers pulp mill, formerly owned by Fraser Papers. The Edmundston pulp mill is paired with a Fraser paper mill directly across the Saint John River in Madawaska, Maine, through which liquified pulp slurry is piped - the only such installation anywhere along the Canada-United States border.
An illuminated sign and plastics manufacture owned by Pattison Sign is also important to the city's economy.
Every June, Edmundston plays host to the Festival Jazz et Blues d'Edmundston (the Edmundston Jazz and Blues Festival).
Every year in August, there is a large cultural festival in Edmundston called the Foire Brayonne. The festival is one of the biggest French themed festivals held in Canada east of the province of Quebec.
Edmundston hosts two provincial historial sites:
Other tourist attractions include Les Jardins de la République, an 18-hole golf course, a pedestrian downtown with a number of retail stores, restaurants, Bed and Breakfasts and a hotel. There is also a convention centre in downtown, the Museum of The Automobile and Madawaska Historic Museum.
The New Brunswick Botanical Garden is in suburban Saint-Jacques, on seven hectares with over 80,000 plants, making it the largest arboretum east of Montreal.
The offices of the Member of Parliament for the federal riding of Madawaska—Restigouche (Bernard Valcourt), and the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the provincial riding of Edmundston-Saint Basile (Madeleine Dubé) is located in downtown Edmundston.
The city has two francophone K-8 schools, an anglophone K-12 school, a francophone high school, a community college campus affiliated with the New Brunswick Community College, and a university campus affiliated with the University of Moncton.
Edmundston is served by five newspapers: Le Madawaska, L'Étoile - Édition La République, L'Acadie Nouvelle, The Telegraph Journal and Info Weekend), two local radio stations (CJEM-FM, CFAI-FM) and a regional bureau of Radio-Canada.
The area also receives the French Canadian newspapers Le Journal de Québec and Le Soleil which will cover notable events in the region.
| Dégelis Quebec |
||||
| Baker Brook | Rivière-Verte | |||
| Edmundston | ||||
| Saint-Hilaire | Madawaska, Maine United States |
|
|||||||||||