Riverview is a town in Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada. Riverview is located on the south side of the Petitcodiac River, across from the larger cities of Moncton and Dieppe. Riverview has an area of 34 square kilometres (13sqmi), and a population density of 564.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,462/sqmi). Riverview's slogan is "A Great Place To Grow". With a population of 20,584 in 2021,[3]
Riverview is the largest town in New Brunswick,[4] and despite being designated as a town it is the fifth-largest municipality in the province, being more populous than the cities of Edmundston, Bathurst, Campbellton, and Miramichi.
Though the Petitcodiac River was a regular transportation corridor for aboriginal peoples, the first known settlements in the area were three Acadian villages in what are now Turtle Creek, Lower Coverdale and Point Park. The French-speaking families were forced to abandon the area in 1758 during the Grand Derangement. Resettlement of what would become Riverview began around 1783 when settlers from Yorkshire, England began to farm there.[5] The Town of Riverview was formed on July 9, 1973 with the amalgamation of the three villages of Bridgedale, Gunningsville and Riverview Heights. Harold Findlay became the first mayor and seven councillors were elected at-large to serve a population of 14,177. Since that time, Riverview has grown to include almost 19,130 represented by four ward councillors and three councillors-at-large.[1]
Riverview's first female mayor was Anne Seamans who served until her retirement in 2021.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Riverview had a population of 20,584 living in 8,651 of its 8,797 total private dwellings, a change of 4.7% from its 2016 population of 19,667. With a land area of 34.1km2 (13.2sqmi), it had a population density of 603.6/km2 (1,563.4/sqmi) in 2021.[6]
Riverview's linguistic majority is English, with 90.6% speaking English as a first language and only 7.8% speaking French as a first language.[7] The adjacent cities of Moncton and Dieppe are about 32% and 73% Francophone respectively and have benefited from an ongoing rural depopulation of the Acadian Peninsula and areas in northern and eastern New Brunswick.[7] About 27% of the town population is bilingual and understands both English and French.[7]
Riverview Sunfest is an annual festival of events to celebrate the incorporation of Riverview as a town and Canada Day.[17]
Urban parks
Caseley Park - A large park in front of town hall named after former mayor of Riverview, Ralph Caseley. The park includes a monument of a Centurion Tank and a monument to the victims of the Polytechnique massacre.[18]
The town is home to one of seven Nav Canadaarea control centres, Moncton Area Control Centre, serving air traffic over New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and eastern Quebec. The centre controls all air traffic between Europe and Eastern Canada. This centre monitors over 430,000 flights a year, 80% of which are either entering or leaving North American airspace.
There are currently seven schools in Riverview, including one high school, one middle school, and four elementary schools, the newest of which is Riverview East School which officially opened in 2014. [22]
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