INTRODUCTION

As Canada's only officially bilingual province, New Brunswick retains – in demographic, geographical, linguistic and cultural terms – the duality of the Acadian and Loyalist groups who were the first European immigrants to settle in the Maritime region. About two-thirds of the population is English-speaking; the remainder speak French as a first language. The French-speaking population is concentrated along the northern and eastern sides of the province, from Grand Falls to the Quebec border, along the north shore, and south towards Nova Scotia along the Gulf of St Lawrence coast. The English-speaking population lives mainly in the area bounded by Maine and the Bay of Fundy, extending eastward to Sussex and Sackville and north to the Miramichi watershed. In each of these two areas there are also communities where the ‘other’ language predominates. Linguistically, the province maintains separate school systems for the two groups, although every school district enrols children from both groups. Each district also offers instruction in English or French as a second language, either through the popular French immersion programmes or in classes where the language is taught as a subject. Similarly, at the post-secondary level, the Université de Moncton attracts primarily francophone students, while the student population at the University of New Brunswick and Mount Allison and St Thomas Universities is mainly anglophone; the same may be said of the many community colleges in the province.