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List of counties of New Brunswick

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Counties of New Brunswick
LocationProvince of New Brunswick
Number15
Populations10,998 (Queens) – 163,576 (Westmorland)
Areas1,461 km2 (Saint John) – 12,843 km2 (Northumberland)
Government
Subdivisions

The Canadian province of New Brunswick has a historical system of 15 counties originating in the British tradition of local courts for civil and judicial administration, officiated by magistrates who presided over the counties.

Eventually, the push for responsible government would see the municipal system replace the magistracy and in 1877 it was made mandatory that the province's county courts of sessions would municipalize.[1][b]

With the "sweeping reforms" of the Robichaud government's New Brunswick Equal Opportunity program, county municipalities ceased to function in 1966 and their councils were dissolved.

Today, the county are legally defined by the Territorial Division Act.[3] While no longer administrative divisions,[4] they continue to define a regional community and have many legacy functions and applications.

New Brunswick county are used by statistics Canada as the basis for census divisions; their parishes are the basis for rural census subdivisions. They figure prominently in residents' sense of place and continue as significant threads in the Province's cultural fabric (i.e., most citizens always know which county they are in).

History

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Origin

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The partitioning of Nova Scotia at the close of the American Revolutionary War was discreetly attributed by the British to the distance between the St. John river communities and the administrative centre at Halifax.[5] The arrival of American Loyalist refugees saw the population in the colony grow abruptly, with many directed to Sunbury county's Wolastoq/Saint John river.

Initially, when Nova Scotia's authorities established counties for the first time in 1759, the vast territory of former Acadia to the north of Kings County was erected as Cumberland, until in April 30, 1765, when the county was sectioned for the residents of the townships along the coastline and in the lower Saint John River valley.[6] The new county was called Sunbury.

It would not be until 24 May 1770 that a boundary would be established between the two counties. Sunbury’s western boundary was described as starting at the head of the St. Croix River, following the north line to the Saint John River and then to the southern Canadian border. This description actually overlapped a part of Maine’s territory, as you would have needed to go far west, towards the area near the source of the Chaudière River. On the east the boundary with Cumberland ran north by the magnet from a point 20 miles up from Mispec.[7] No further changes would be made until 1785, when the recently partitioned New Brunswick province's government established new counties.[8]

Creation

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New Brunswick was created on June 18, 1784.[9] The province was divided into eight counties by decree of Governor Carleton: Charlotte, Kings, Northumberland, Queens, Saint John, Sunbury, Westmorland and York. In January 1786, the first session of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly was held in Saint John, at which the MLA’s passed An Act for the better ascertaining and confirming the Boundaries of Several Counties within this Province, and for subdividing them into Towns or Parishes.[10] As the council worked on developing the original county lines, they desperately needed maps of the province, which, at the time, they seemingly lacked. As a result, they relied on two maps by Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres from 1780, the best candidates for a map of New Brunswick at the time.[11] As the new boundaries were established, the former counties of Cumberland and Sunbury were disregarded, with the exception of the starting point of the boundary between Westmorland and Northumberland counties, which shared a resemblance to the old boundaries, though this might have been a coincidence.[12]

The county lines were strategically drawn to align with the watersheds, a logical decision given that New Brunswick's settlements were developed along waterways.[13] Additionally, the counties were able to be divided into three groups: the Bay of Fundy, the Saint John River and the North Shore.[14]

Counties were not replaced with another form of regional local government. Instead, many small village municipalities were created, with the surrounding predominantly rural areas financing local services and facilities through local service districts until the reform of local governance in 2023.

List

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County[15] Shire town[15] Established[16] Origin[16] Etymology Population (2021)[17] Population (2016)[17] Change[17] Land area (km2)[17] Population density (per km2)[17] Map
Albert County Hopewell Cape
(Now part of Fundy Albert) 		1845 Erected from Westmorland County Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. 30,749 29,158 +5.5% 1,806.23 17.0
Carleton County Woodstock 1831 Erected from York County Thomas Carleton, the first Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. 26,360 26,178 +0.7% 3,309.06 8.0
Charlotte County Saint Andrews 1785 One of the original 8 counties. Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III. 26,015 25,428 +2.3% 3,418.24 7.6
Gloucester County Bathurst 1826 Erected from Northumberland County Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, fourth daughter of King George III. 78,256 78,444 −0.2% 4,734.30 16.5
Kent County Richibucto
(Now part of Beaurivage) 		1826 Erected from Northumberland County Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, father of Queen Victoria. 32,169 30,475 +5.6% 4,550.38 7.1
Kings County Hampton 1785 One of the original 8 counties. To express loyalty to The Crown. 71,184 68,941 +3.3% 3,482.35 20.4
Madawaska County Edmundston 1873 Erected from Victoria County The Madawaska River, derived from a Maliseet word meaning unknown. 32,603 32,741 −0.4% 3,454.97 9.4
Northumberland County Newcastle
(Now part of Miramichi) 		1785 One of the original 8 counties. The Northumberland Strait 45,005 44,952 +0.1% 12,843.39 3.5
Queens County Gagetown
(Now part of Arcadia) 		1785 One of the original 8 counties. To express loyalty to The Crown and after early settlers from Queens, Long Island, New York. 10,998 10,472 +5.0% 3,681.05 3.0
Restigouche County Dalhousie
(Now part of Heron Bay) 		1837 Erected from Gloucester County The Restigouche River, derived from the Mi'kmaq name meaning five-fingered river. 30,700 30,955 −0.8% 8,566.82 3.6
Saint John County Saint John 1785 One of the original 8 counties. The Saint John River. 76,558 74,020 +3.4% 1,461.05 52.4
Sunbury County Burton 1785[c] One of the original 8 counties. Viscount Sunbury, the courtesy title of George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax. 27,864 27,644 +0.8% 2,692.97 10.3
Victoria County Andover
(Now part of Southern Victoria 		1850[d] Erected from Carleton County Queen Victoria 18,312 18,617 −1.6% 5,492.85 3.3
Westmorland County Dorchester
(Now part of Tantramar) 		1785 One of the original 8 counties. The county of Westmorland in North West England. 163,576 149,623 +9.3% 3,659.74 44.7
York County Fredericton 1785 One of the original 8 counties. Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, second son of George III. 105,261 99,453 +5.8% 8,095.10 13.0

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Parishes are the normal subdivision. Saint John, Fredericton, and the town of Grand Falls are also included in the Territorial Division Act, all with different boundaries than the municipalities have today. Fredericton was originally a parish, while Grand Falls Parish and the town are legally separate.
  2. ^ Courts gained the ability to voluntarily incorporate in 1851;[2]
  3. ^ The original Sunbury County was erected by Nova Scotia in 1765 to include all of New Brunswick west of the Petitcodiac River settlements; the New Brunswick version was created by letters patent after the other seven original counties of the province.
  4. ^ The Act erecting Victoria County was passed in 1844 but did not receive royal assent until 1850.

References

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  1. ^ "Local Government of Canada, 1915 - New Brunswick". Canda Year Book Historical Collection. Statistics Canada - Government of Canada. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  2. ^ 14 Victoriæ Cap. XXXVIII; the act was not ratified until August that year and was published in the 1852 Acts of the General Assembly, pp. 149–160.
  3. ^ "CHAPTER T-3 Territorial Division Act". Government of New Brunswick. 30 June 1998. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Municipalities Act, SNB 1966(1), c 20, p.192". Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  5. ^ Bell, David (2013). Loyalist Rebellion in New Brunswick: A Defining Conflict for Canada's Political Culture. Halifax, NS: Formac Publishing Company Ltd. p. 98. ISBN 1-4595-0277-9.
  6. ^ "Glimpses of the Past - XXXVI – THE COUNTY OF SUNBURY". Caren Secord Geneology. Saint Croix Courier. September 29, 1892. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  7. ^ Ganong 1901, p. 226.
  8. ^ Ganong 1901, p. 227.
  9. ^ Bell, David (2013). Loyalist Rebellion in New Brunswick: A Defining Conflict for Canada's Political Culture. Halifax, NS: Formac Publishing Company Ltd. p. 98. ISBN 1-4595-0277-9.
  10. ^ Ganong 1901, p. 413.
  11. ^ Ganong 1901, pp. 413–414.
  12. ^ Ganong 1901, p. 414.
  13. ^ Ganong 1901, p. 415.
  14. ^ Ganong 1901, pp. 416–417.
  15. ^ a b "Territorial Division Act". Government of New Brunswick. June 30, 1998. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  16. ^ a b "Provincial Archives of New Brunswick". archives.gnb.ca.
  17. ^ a b c d e Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (9 February 2022). "Population and dwelling counts: Canada and census divisions". www150.statcan.gc.ca.

Further reading

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Ganong (1901). A monograph of the evolution of the boundaries of the province of New Brunswick.

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