Belle-Baie is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the Canadian province of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. It was formed through the

2023 New Brunswick local governance reform Local governance reform in the Canadian province of New Brunswick in was implemented on January 1, 2023. This resulted in a significant reorganization of the municipal entities in the province, including a reduction in the number of entities fro ...

History

Belle-Baie was incorporated on January 1, 2023 via the amalgamation of the former town of Beresford and the former villages of Nigadoo,

Petit-Rocher Petit-Rocher is a formerly incorporated Canadian village in Gloucester County, New Brunswick. Sitting on both Chaleur Bay and Nepisiguit Bay 20 km northwest of Bathurst, Petit-Rocher's residents are 89% Francophone. On 1 January 2023, Pe ...

and Pointe-Verte as well as the concurrent annexation of adjacent unincorporated areas. The adjacent unincorporated areas included the former local service districts of Dunlop, Laplante, Madran, Robertville, Petit-Rocher-Nord, Petit-Rocher-Sud and Tremblay, and portions of the local service districts of Bathurst, Beresford and North Tetagouche. The new town's name was initially announced as Baie-Jolie sur mer, but after negative reaction from the residents the transition committee withdrew the name and proposed Belle-Baie instead. The towns language policy for news releases to be reviewed after some residents complained they were in French only. The review is expected to be completed in Spring 2023. About 90% of the residents speak French, 70% speak english and the bilingual rate is around 68%. Census Canada has not issued information for the new municipality, but these numbers are based on Census 2021 of the municipalities that now form Belle Baie. When the Town was formed, it was designated as French speaking by the transition committee.

Geography

Belle-Baie is just north of the City of Bathurst and borders both

Nepisiguit Bay Nepisiguit Bay (from the Mi’kmaq word , which means "rough water") is located in northern New Brunswick, Canada on the southern part of the Chaleur Bay (French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or rela ...

and Chaleur Bay.

Government

The community's first municipal election was held in November 2022 as part of the

2022 New Brunswick municipal elections Municipal elections were held in the Canadian province of New Brunswick on 28 November 2022 to elect local governments in newly formed municipalities following the 2023 New Brunswick local governance reform process. The new municipalities will c ...

, with former MLA Daniel Guitard selected as its first mayor.

Attractions

One of Belle-Baie's main attractions is its beach. Renovated in the late 1990s, the beach features an observation tower overlooking the marshes, a boardwalk and change room, restroom and shower facilities. A popular tourist attraction, it is not rare to find local musicians featuring their talents at the beach on warm summer nights. Every year a carnival called "Carnaval du Siffleux" is held in Belle-Baie. Sculptures made of snow collected by ploughing parking lots are presented all around town. This is one of the many activities available to Belle-Baie residents during this carnival. However, in recent years, fewer sculptures have been seen around the time of the festival.

Notable people

Ray Frenette Joseph Raymond Frenette (April 16, 1935 – July 13, 2018) was a Canadian politician in New Brunswick. He was a Liberal representative for the riding of Moncton East in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1974 until 1998 when he reti ...

- Former Premier of New Brunswick.

References