Bathurst
City
Looking north at Bathurst waterfront, with Holy Family church in background.
Coat of arms
Motto:  See What Awaits You
Bathurst Location within New Brunswick.
Coordinates: 47°37′N 65°39′W / 47.62°N 65.65°W / 47.62; -65.65
Country	Canada
Province	New Brunswick
County	Gloucester
Parish	Bathurst
Settled	1600s
Town	1912
City	1966
Electoral Districts    Federal	Acadie—Bathurst
Provincial	Bathurst East-Nepisiguit-Saint-Isidore Bathurst West-Beresford
Government [1]
• Type	City Council
• Mayor	Kim Chamberlain
• Councillors	List of Members Stephen J. Brunet Dale Knowles Jean-François Leblanc Rickey Hondas Michael Willett Penny Anderson Stephen Legacy Mike Skerry Darryl Branch
Area [2]
• Land	91.62 km2 (35.37 sq mi)
• Urban	69.85 km2 (26.97 sq mi)
• Metro	2,087.97 km2 (806.17 sq mi)
Highest elevation	62 m (203 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population  (2021)[2]
• City	12,157
• Density	132.7/km2 (344/sq mi)
• Urban	18,154
• Urban density	260/km2 (700/sq mi)
• Metro	30,424
• Metro density	15/km2 (40/sq mi)
• Change 2016-2021	2.2%
• Dwellings	6,445
Time zone	UTC-4 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-3 (ADT)
Postal code(s)	E2A
Area codes	506 Area exchanges: 226 252 254 255 265 350 416 480 496 498 499 500 513 527 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 655 828 881 984 989
Highways Route 8 Route 11 Route 134 Route 180	Route 315 Route 322 Route 430
NTS Map	21P12 Bathurst
GNBC Code	DAFQX[3]
Website	bathurst.ca

Bathurst (/ˈbætərst/) is a city in northern New Brunswick with a population of 12,157 ^[4] and the 4th largest metropolitan area in New Brunswick as defined by Census Canada with a population of 31,387 as of 2021.^[5] The City of Bathurst overlooks Nepisiguit Bay, part of Chaleur Bay and is at the estuary of the Nepisiguit River.^[6]

On January 1, 2023, Bathurst annexed parts of the local service districts of the parish of Bathurst, Big River, New Bandon-Salmon Beach,^[a] and North Tetagouche.^[7][8] The names of communities in the annexed areas remain in use for address purposes. Revised census figures based on the 2023 local governance reforms have not been released.

Geography

Bathurst is situated on Nepisiguit Bay, which is part of Chaleur Bay, at the mouth of four rivers: the Nepisiguit River, the Middle River, Little River, and the Tetagouche River. Two spits of land, Carron Point and Alston Point, form the enclosure for the harbour. Youghall Beach Park^[9] lies to the north of town.^[10] Bathurst is located 90 km south of Dalhousie, and 90 km north of Miramichi.

The refuse facility of Bathurst is located south of the city, in Allardville. The so-called Red Pine solid waste facility provided by the Chaleur Regional Service Commission serves, in addition to Bathurst, municipalities all over north-eastern New Brunswick. The city's sewage treatment plant is located within the harbor, at the northern end of Riverside Drive, behind the Canadian Tire. City water comes from the Middle River.

Several of the salt marshes around Bathurst Harbour play host to a Chaleur Bay-specific butterfly: the Maritime Ringlet, which flies late July to late August.^[11]

Attractions

• La Promenade Waterfront is cluster of shops, art, boutiques, a visitor information centre, and an outdoor pavilion that hosts a variety of activities throughout the year. There are boardwalks with views of the Nepisiguit Bay.
• Youghall Beach Park offers swimming, volleyball, and windsurfing. The Bathurst Marina is also located next to the beach.
• Bathurst has a pair of golf courses.
• Bathurst Hospitality Days is a week-long festival with many activities for the young and old. It includes four nights of concerts, featuring a mix of classic rock, Acadian and maritime music.
• Bathurst Chamber Music Festival is an annual week-long classical music festival which features over 30 emerging musicians and composers from around Canada and abroad. It was created to help build appreciation, as well as to create a necessity for classical music within the community.
• Bathurst is home to the Acadie–Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
• Bathurst is home to the Bathurst Bears of the Eastern Canadian Basketball League.^[12]

Government and politics

Bathurst has a Mayor–council form of government, with seven at-large councillors. Elections are held quadrennially in May, as are all since 2004 local governments in New Brunswick. Mayor Fongemie won over a field of four candidates with 3,064 votes; the next candidate garnered 1,831 votes.^[13] In 2016, 21 candidates put their names on the ballot.^[14] The minimum number of votes needed for election was 2,347. Councillor Stever won more votes than the Mayor.^[13]

At the 2014 New Brunswick general election, 4,367 residents of Bathurst West-Beresford elected Brian Kenny, while 4,431 residents in Bathurst East-Nepisiguit-Saint-Isidore chose Denis Landry. Both are member of the New Brunswick Liberal Association, and both are cabinet ministers in the Brian Gallant government.

Bathurst is a part of the Acadie—Bathurst federal riding, and represented since 2015 in the House of Commons of Canada by Liberal Party of Canada member Serge Cormier.

Bathurst is the county seat of Gloucester County, New Brunswick. As such it is home to the county court house and houses much of the province's regional administration.

Education

Primary

• École Place-des-Jeunes (6 - 8)
• Superior Middle School (6 - 8)
• Académie Assomption (K - 5)
• École Cité-de-l'Amitié (K - 5)
• Terry Fox Elementary School (K - 5)
• Parkwood Heights Elementary School (K - 5)

Secondary

• Bathurst High School (BHS): in English, grades 9 - 12 are taught at BHS. The school district is known administratively as "Anglophone North Subdistrict 3",^[15] and Sheila Rogers was acclaimed to it in May 2016.^[16]
• École Secondaire Népisiguit (ESN): in French, grades 9 - 12 are taught at ESN. The school district is known administratively as "Francophone Nord-est - Subdistrict 4",^[17] and Danny Comeau was acclaimed to it in May 2016.^[16]

Post-secondary

Post-secondary education in French is located at the Bathurst campuses of College communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick (CCNB-NBCC). Although some few courses are offered in English at night school, many Anglophones study elsewhere; the nearest campus of NBCC lies at Miramichi.

Health sector

Chaleur Regional Hospital looks after the needs of the community at 1750 Sunset Drive Bathurst, E2A 4L7, in the north of town. It was given in 2013 a rating of 'A+' by the CBC's The Fifth Estate programme in a national survey of 66 hospitals.^[18][19]

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Bathurst had a population of 12,157 living in 5,824 of its 6,445 total private dwellings, a change of 2.2% from its 2016 population of 11,897. With a land area of 91.62 km² (35.37 sq mi), it had a population density of 132.7/km² (343.7/sq mi) in 2021.^[2]

Historical Census Data - Bathurst, New Brunswick^[25][26]

Year Pop. ±% 1871 600 —     1901 1,044 +74.0% 1911 960 −8.0% 1921 3,327 +246.6% 1931 3,300 −0.8% 1941 3,554 +7.7%	Year Pop. ±% 1951 4,453 +25.3% 1961 5,494 +23.4% 1971 16,674 +203.5% 1981 15,705 −5.8% 1986 14,683 −6.5% 1991 14,409 −1.9%	Year Pop. ±% 1996 13,815 −4.1% 2001 12,924 −6.4% 2006 12,714 −1.6% 2011 12,275 −3.5% 2016 11,897 −3.1% 2021 12,157 +2.2%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Language

Bathurst is officially bilingual, (English and French) with English, French, Irish and Scottish heritage. The city is also home to Míkmaq natives, with the Pabineau First Nations (Kekwapskuk) community located on the outskirts of the city.

Canada Census Mother Tongue - Bathurst, New Brunswick^[25]

Census		Total		French				English				French & English				Other
Year		Responses		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %
2021		11,740		5,520	1.69%	47.01%		5,470	3.11%	46.59%		410	60.78%	3.49%		330	3.49%	2.81%
2016		11,470		5,615	4.18%	48.95%		5,305	1.05%	46.25%		255	10.87%	2.22%		290	52.63%	2.52%
2011		11,865		5,860	6.5%	49.39%		5,585	2.6%	47.07%		230	4.2%	1.94%		190	31.0%	1.60%
2006		12,385		6,265	1.0%	50.58%		5,735	4.7%	46.31%		240	28.4%	1.94%		145	107.1%	1.17%
2001		12,625		6,205	6.3%	49.15%		6,015	8.7%	47.64%		335	19.6%	2.65%		70	12.5%	0.55%
1996		13,570		6,625	n/a	48.82%		6,585	n/a	48.53%		280	n/a	2.06%		80	n/a	0.59%

Community organizations and churches

Bathurst has many community-based organisations, including:

• Synergies Chaleur^[27]
• Royal Canadian Legion, Branch No. 18
• New Brunswick Association for Community Living^[28]
• Maison Doucet Hennessy House^[29] (an architectural heritage project)
• St. George's Anglican Church^[30]
• Holy Family Catholic Church^[31]
• Bathurst Pastoral Charge First United Church^[32]
• Evangel Bathurst Church^[33]

Legend of the Phantom Ship

The Bay of Chaleur is known for its phantom ship legend, which dates back more than two centuries.^[34] The story claims that a sail ship burned in the waters north of the city - possibly from the Battle of the Restigouche - and that the ghost of the vessel and its crew is visible on the water in certain weather and light conditions to this day. Though some believe it is a ghost ship from the Battle of the Restigouche, others believe it is merely caused by heat waves, reflections, or hallucinations. A drawing of a ghost wielding an anchor and two menacing sailors could be seen on the city's old welcome sign.^[35]

Climate

In spite of its coastal position, Bathurst experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with vast seasonal differences in temperature. Summers are warm and humid. Winters are often cold, windy and snowy. Spring and Fall bring chilly to warm temperatures. In fall, late heat waves known as "Indian summer" are a common occurrence.

During winter, snow generally stays on the ground from December until April.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Bathurst was 37.4 °C (99.3 °F) on 27 June 2003.^[36] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −37.2 °C (−35 °F) on 9 January 1887 and 19 January 1925.^[37][38]