Record international immigration and an historic movement of people from Ontario were the two major factors tipping New Brunswick population over 800,000 earlier this year, new estimates show.
In March, Statistics Canada’s “real time” population clock for New Brunswick struck the 800,000 mark, which was seized on by Premier Blaine Higgs as an important moment for the province.
“People across the country and around the world are seeing the value, the opportunity and the reward of choosing to live here,” he tweeted at the time.
On Wednesday, Statistics Canada released more information about what caused the surge in population, including the arrival of a record 6,581 immigrants into New Brunswick in the year between April 1 2021 and March 31, 2022.
In a scene that has become common in New Brunswick, Grand Manan residents turned out at the island airport earlier this month to welcome an immigrant Ukrainian family. Martha Eaton made two signs reading ‘Welcome to Grand Manan,’ one in English and one in Ukrainian. (Grand Manan Safe Harbour/Facebook)
It’s the largest number of people from other countries to arrive in New Brunswick in a single 12 month period since records began in 1932.
Mohamed Bagha is the managing director of the Saint John Newcomers Centre, which helps immigrants settle into the community.
He said it is a much larger job now than when he began in 2013 and New Brunswick was attracting fewer than 200 immigrants per month.
“We have been doubling almost every year,” said Bagha .
There “are challenges” with large numbers, he said, but immigrants themselves are generally “ecstatic” to come to Canada and have been well received in a province not as used to seeing newcomers as some others.
Mohamed Bagha is managing director of the Saint John Newcomers Centre and says for the most part New Brunswick has been welcoming of the record number of immigrants arriving, but he worries about the supply of housing for everyone. (Kirk Pennell/CBC)
“I think it’s getting much, much better,” said Bagha, “There’s a more positive attitude in communities.”
Immigrants added significantly to New Brunswick’s population in the last year but even as they were arriving the province experienced a second but equally historic wave of Canadians moving east.
During the year ended in March, Statistics Canada figures show 10,540 people from Ontario alone came to New Brunswick, in search of more space, cheaper housing or a change in their lifestyle.
It was the largest influx into New Brunswick from a single province in any 12 month period since records for that began in 1952.
Hayley Burrell moved to New Brunswick from London, Ontario., at the beginning of the pandemic As a real estate agent, she said most of her 2021 clients were people coming from Ontario like she did. (Hayley Burrell/ Facebook)
And because only 3,005 New Brunswick residents moved in the other direction back to Ontario during the same period, the province gained a net amount of 7,535 people in the exchange.
Movements between other provinces and New Brunswick were mostly a wash, but between the record Ontario migration and the record international immigration happening at the same time, population growth in New Brunswick over the year was more than double the Canadian average.
It is a stunning development in a province that experienced no population growth at all for 12 years between 1997 and 2010 .
“People are looking at New Brunswick in a new light,” said Higgs in a press release issued in March to mark the arrival of the province’s 800,000th citizen.
“Our province has much to offer and people are taking notice and taking advantage of the opportunities they see here.”
Fredericton’s U-Haul rental location was regularly jammed with trucks and trailers over the last year as thousands more people moved into New Brunswick than out. (Shane Fowler/CBC)
Effects of the rapid growth, however, have been two-sided.
Many arrivals include younger families who are helping to counteract the province’s rapidly aging population and fill gaps in the labour market.
New Brunswick’s school enrolment increased by nearly 2,000 this year with gains in five of the province’s eight districts. And births, which have been in a seven decade decline in New Brunswick since peaking in 1948 even ticked up slightly,
But there have been problems, too.
When New Brunswick’s population hit 800,000 in March, Premier Blaine Higgs announced it on Twitter. The surge was driven by international immigrants and Ontarians moving east. (Blaine Higgs / Twitter)
So many people arriving at once has left housing in short supply with the cost of renting an apartment or buying a home escalating rapidly in the last year, if either can be found at all.
“Housing is a huge, huge problem right now,” said Bagha of difficulties immigrants are having finding adequate and affordable places to live.
“Right now, New Brunswickers have opened their doors, giving them space in their houses but eventually finding space will be a challenge.”
It’s a looming problem that needs attention quickly.
On Wednesday, Statistics Canada was estimating New Brunswick’s population is already up to 804,855 since March, an increase of 20,700 over the past 18 months.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
