As census numbers showed a decline in New Brunswick’s overall population, the small town of Campbellton saw one of the sharpest declines in Canada, losing almost 10 per cent of its population since 2011.
“Being a resident here, we know the decline, because all of our friends have left and not come home,” Mayor Stephanie Anglehart-Paulin told Global News in a phone interview.
“We have an aging demographic here, everybody comes back to retire, more than stay to live.”
READ MORE: Census 2016: New Brunswick 1st province since 2006 to see population decline
Anglehart-Paulin said the average age of residents of Campbellton is about 55 years old. There are only 400 school aged children in the town.
Anglehart-Paulin said the young people leave Cempbellton for jobs either elsewhere in the province or elsewhere in the country, only returning to take care of aging family members who still call the town home.
“And if you look at the Moncton demographic, all our kids are in Moncton,” she said. Moncton saw a 4.0 per cent increase in its population in the 2016 census.
“They left slowly because of the economy, and they’ll come back once we get it kick started again, I’m sure of that.”
Loss of industry contributing to loss of people
Anglehart-Paulin said people have been steadily leaving the region since about the mid-1990s, when the area of Campbellton and neighbouring Dalhousie lost several families after major industries closed up shop, including paper mills, a thermal plant and a chemical plant.
The mayor said those losses accounted for about 450 jobs and said about 380 families moved away after that.
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Anglehart-Paulin said the hospital in Campbellton has whole wings empty, and several nursing home beds that are open, simply because they can’t bring people in to staff those areas.
“We just don’t have the people because everybody’s gone, and the ones that are here just don’t have the skills, so we have to give them to them,” she said.
Projects on the way
Anglehart-Paulin said several projects are coming down the pipe she’s confident will boost the town’s population, including possibly two new schools which would take in children from surrounding communities.
“For us, we’ve kind of got a new council, a new mayor, and it’s really kind of changed the direction, where we’re finally moving into the 21st century,” Anglehart-Paulin said.
One project Anglehart-Paulin boasted about is the Restigouche River Experience Centre that’s almost ready to open and is already looking for a tourism director. Another is the Culinary Institute of Restigouche, which is part of New Brunswick Community College, and offers a one-year chef training course.
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A new Francophone grade school is being built in the town, and Anglehart-Paulin is hopeful the proposed new Anglophone school will also be built in their town.
“As mayor now, I know, this new centre and the school, it’s going to bring a whole new community of people,” she said optimistically.
There are also plans in the works to break down barriers put up between French and English-speaking education for those hoping to get an education in medical fields, allowing them to staff the empty hospital wings, and fill the empty seniors facility beds.
Anglehart-Paulin said work is also underway for the youth mental health facility, which will be by the hospital — meaning the town will have a mental health for both adults and youth, a detox centre and the regional hospital.
Anglehart-Paulin said the quality of life, pace of the small town life and fresh air and quiet traffic are values she hopes people will see as incentives to call Campbellton home.
“Ten per cent, I believe that, I hate it, but they’ll come back,” she said.
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