Dieppe () is a city in the Canadian maritime province of New Brunswick. Statistics Canada counted the population at 28,114 in 2021, making it the fourth-largest city in the province. On 1 January 2023, Dieppe annexed parts of two neighbouring local service districts; revised census figures have not been released.
Dieppe's history and identity goes back to the eighteenth century. Formerly known as Leger's Corner, it was incorporated as a town in 1952 under the Dieppe name, and designated as a city in 2003. The Dieppe name was adopted by the citizens of the area in 1946 to commemorate the Second World War's Operation Jubilee, the Dieppe Raid of 1942. It is predominantly a francophone city; with 63.8% of the population mother tongue French, 24% English, 3% French and English, 8% other. A majority of the population reports being bilingual, speaking both French and English. Residents generally speak French with a regional accent (colloquially called "Chiac") which is unique to southeastern New Brunswick. A large majority of Dieppe's population were in favour of the by-law regulating the use of external commercial signs in both official languages, which is a first for the province of New Brunswick. Dieppe is the largest predominantly francophone city in Canada outside Québec; while there are other municipalities with greater total numbers of francophones, they constitute a minority of the population in those cities. Dieppe was one of the co-hosts of the first Congrès Mondial Acadien (Acadian World Congress) which was held in the Moncton region in 1994, and again in 2019.
Dieppe is part of the census metropolitan area of Moncton, which is New Brunswick's most populous city, with a metropolitan population of 144,810 according to Statistics Canada in 2016.
Name In 1910, the area known as French Village became known as Leger's Corner which, in turn, became the Village of Dieppe in 1946 to commemorate the Canadian soldiers killed during the landing of Allied troops on Normandy beaches in Dieppe, France, on August 19, 1942. On January 1, 1952, the Village of Dieppe became the Town of Dieppe. On January 1, 2003, the municipality was designated as the City of Dieppe.
Government +Dieppe federal election results Year Liberal Conservative New Democratic Green 2021 64% 8,280 14% 1,835 13% 1,700 3% 436 2019 56% 8,603 15% 2,297 9% 1,432 17% 2,621
+Dieppe provincial election results Year PC Liberal Green People's Allnc. 2020 24% 3,208 62% 8,164 9% 1,142 1% 151 2018 14% 1,680 71% 8,749 3% 421 – –
Provincial electoral districts Members of the 58th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly (2014), the governing house of the province of New Brunswick. Dieppe - Vacant Shediac Bay-Dieppe - Robert Gauvin
Federal electoral districts Members of the 42nd Parliament of Canada (2015). A section of southeast Dieppe is in the Beauséjour riding. Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe - Ginette Petitpas Taylor Beauséjour - Dominic LeBlanc
Geography Dieppe is located on the Petitcodiac River. It forms the southeastern part of the Greater Moncton Area, which, in addition to the city of Moncton, includes the town of Riverview, Moncton Parish, Memramcook, Coverdale, and Salisbury.
Climate
Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Dieppe had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Language +Canada Census Mother Tongue - Dieppe, New Brunswick Census Total Year Responses Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % 6,880 17.21% 24.68% 17,810 0.48% 63.88% 950 73.31% 3.41% 2,250 152.81% 8.07% 5,870 10.02% 23.46% 17,725 7.00% 70.83% 545 25.29% 2.18% 890 61.82% 3.56% 5,335 23.31% 16,565 72.38% 435 1.9% 550 2.4%
92% is fluent in English; 84% is fluent in French; 75% is bilingual.
Ethnicity + Panethnic groups in the City of Dieppe (2001−2021)Panethnic group20212016201120062001 European 23,995 23,235 21,890 17,935 14,570 African 755 295 180 150 50 Indigenous 735 620 340 85 120 Middle Eastern 585 95 175 45 10 Southeast Asian 535 185 40 20 0 South Asian 405 75 0 40 0 East Asian 310 290 140 20 0 Latin American 175 55 25 25 0 Other/multiracial 175 25 0 10 0 Total responses 27,665 24,875 22,835 18,320 14,745 Total population 28,114 25,384 23,310 18,565 14,951
History
Acadians from the Petitcoudiac and Shepody (French: Chipoudy) regions were the first pioneers to settle in the area and founded Sylvabreau in 1730, followed by the Melanson family at Ruisseau-des-Renards (Fox Creek) in 1746 and the LeBlanc and Boudreau families at Chartersville in 1776. Prior to the arrival of Acadian settlers, the southern part of the province was inhabited by the Algonquin people.
Sylvabreau/Battle of the Petitcodiac The Battle of the Petitcodiac was fought on September 2, 1755, during the British expulsion of the Acadians, after the capture of Fort Beauséjour. The Massachusetts-British force was soundly defeated by troops from Boishébert, Acadian militia, and First Nations' warriors. At the mouth of the Nacadie Creek (Hall's) settlements such as le Coude (The Bend), Sylvabreau and the surrounding hamlets were destroyed. Even after these raids, Acadians returned to these villages and the numbers grew as the deportation from peninsular Nova Scotia continued, followed by the deportation from present-day Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. Victory for the British occurred three years later (1758) during the Petitcodiac River Campaign (:fr:La bataille du Cran) which resulted in the deportation of the Acadians that lived along the Petitcodiac River or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations.
From municipality to town to city
Dieppe was known as Upper Village after the Expulsion and was settled by the Surette, Maillet, and Thibodeau families, while Chartersville was called Leblanc's Village and also included members of the Boudreau's clan. Prior to 1800, Pierre Bourgeois had established himself on the (Ruisseau des Renards) Fox Creek salt marsh. Agriculture, forestry and some fishing sustained these Acadian families up until the mid-1800s, when shipbuilding and railways created employment opportunities for Acadians around the Moncton area. After a bridge was completed in 1867 at the mouth of Hall's Creek (Nacadie during the French settlement at Le Coude), a road was constructed that link the incorporated Town of Moncton's Westmorland Road (Main Street) to the (French Village) Dieppe area. This road went through farmland that had belong to the Leger family and intersected the old road (Acadie Avenue) that had taken travellers up and around Hall's Creek to the community of Lewisville to get to Moncton. By 1900, the little area around the intersection became known as Léger's Corner, and with the increasing traffic from the bridge, merchants became attracted to the corner and soon set up shops and services around the intersection. Prior to the First World War, a small residential development was erected, and the community continue to grow until the Second World War. Then a population explosion occurred. Léger's Corner received the largest influx of military personnel in southeastern New Brunswick. Ten thousand airmen (due to the airport) and their support staff arrived overnight in 1940, and soon temporary warehouses and housing were erected. When Léger's Corner became incorporated as a municipal village in 1946, the community was renamed Dieppe, after a port in France on the English Channel, to honour the 913 Canadian servicemen who took part (and as a result died)in the Dieppe Raid, the bloody landing by Allied soldiers, on August 19, 1942, during the Second World War. Then, part of Lakeburn was annexed in 1946 and Dieppe-East in 1948. A referendum (262 for, 232 against) marginally favoured the village to incorporate as the Town of Dieppe in 1952. At that time, Dieppe had over 3,000 inhabitants within its boundaries. Growth continued unabated throughout the 1950s and 1960s as Dieppe annexed the villages of Saint-Anselme and Chartersville and the local service districts of Dover-Fox Creek (Upper Dover), the parish of Dorchester (part), and the parish of Moncton (part), the latter in 1973. With its rural expansion came a growth in population exceeding 8,500 in the 1981 census. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the Town of Dieppe, like the rest of the region, went through an economic downfall which limited its growth in population. By 2001, the Greater Moncton area and Dieppe's economy flourished and with it came a population increment of nearly 15,000 in 2001 to over 23,000 in 2011. To preserve its heritage, culture and identity as a community in Southern New Brunswick, Dieppe opted to incorporate itself as a city on January 1, 2003. At that time it became New Brunswick's eighth incorporated city.
Maps of Dieppe from the 1960s show Champlain Street below Acadie Avenue as Main Street and above the intersection as Airport Road."McCully's New Brunswick Historic Aerial Photographs 1931-1939". Dan Soucoup and Richard Thorne McCully, 2005.
Neighbourhoods
Dieppe's geographic area is a direct union of Acadian parishes and villages such as:
Léger's Corner (French Village) - The downtown area has both retail and entertainment venues. Located near the City Hall are businesses, professionals, banking institutions, office buildings, restaurants, a public square, a cultural centre and a farmers market. The Dieppe Public Library, which is part of the New Brunswick Public Library System, has very modern facilities in the municipal building. The retail sector is predominantly located on Paul and Champlain Streets. Chartersville (Leblanc Village) (1776) Congregation Tiferes Israel Cemetery has been a landmark in Chartersville since 1930. A small Protestant cemetery located on an adjacent lot contains only a few tombstones, several of which bear the names of members of the Charters family, descendants of Chartersville founder John Charters. The Charters gave their name to the former village of Chartersville. Also, it is the home of the Our lady of Calvary Cemetery (Cimetere Notre Dame du Calvaire). Dieppe Boulevard sector - Located in the northeast area of Dieppe is a fast-growing commercial, business and residential area. This north-south connector stretches from Route 15 through the Dieppe Industrial Park, the Uptown area, the Fox Creek Golf community and several residential areas before ending at Melanson Road. It is less than a kilometre away from Greater Moncton International Airport. Fox Creek/Dover (1746) - Up until the early 1980s, a local merchant, Mother's Own Bakery (Fox Creek), which subsequently was purchased by the former Ben's Bakery, housed its production and retail store in this district. Dover Road school was the educational institution for the region prior to the modernization of the NB School Act. In the early 20th century, a religious sacramental - a Cross and 1755 Bicentennial Grotto - was erected at the intersection of Dover Road and Amirault Street. Lakeburn - a neighbourhood directly south of Greater Moncton International Airport with a population of 371, and almost entirely residential. It contains the Boys and Girls Club of Dieppe and a small Corner Store. Painsec North Saint-Anselme (1820) - former village and the site of the Roman Catholic Church (Saint-Anselm). The original wooden church that replaced the chapel was erected in the early 19th century. The current stone structure was built in the early 1900s.
Education
Provincial public school systems
The following is a list of public schools in the city: