 | |
| Founded | March 25, 1820 in pre-Confederation Province of New Brunswick |
|---|---|
| Defunct | February 15, 1913 |
| Successor | Merged into modern-day Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) |
| Headquarters | New Brunswick, Canada |
Key people | First President: John Robinson |
The Bank of New Brunswick, established in 1820, was the first Canadian bank to operate under a charter. The bank operated independently in New Brunswick and later in Prince Edward Island until it merged with the Bank of Nova Scotia (now Scotiabank) in 1913.
The Bank of New Brunswick was established on March 25, 1820 in the pre-Confederation Province of New Brunswick, Canada, [1] under a charter from the British government. [2] It was founded in Saint John, New Brunswick by a group of the colony's prominent businessmen. At the time, Saint John was the largest city in the Maritime Provinces, exceeding in population both Halifax, Nova Scotia, and for a time during the 19th century, even Toronto, Ontario.
John Robinson was elected the first President of the Bank of New Brunswick and served until 1824 when he was succeeded by Charles Simonds. The Bank expanded through the acquisition of the City Bank of Saint John in 1839. By 1842, the bank held £100,000 in capital. [3]
Following the Great Fire in Saint John, the bank's headquarters were established in a new building built on Prince William Street in 1879, with a neoclassical bank façade reminiscent of a Corinthian temple of finance. [4] The Bank of New Brunswick Building is on the Registry of Historical Places of Canada. [5]
The acquisition of the Summerside Bank of P.E.I. in 1901, expanded the Bank's network. [6] Following the City Bank acquisition, City Bank president Thomas Leavitt became president of the Bank of New Brunswick. [7] Leavitt came from a family of merchants, shipowners and shipmasters of Saint John, New Brunswick. [8] The Bank of New Brunswick on 268 Water Street, Summerside, Prince Edward Island, built 1909 to 1910 is on the Registry of Historical Places of Canada. [9]
After Confederation in 1867, the four banks which had been established in New Brunswick began to struggle, as more and more investment money began moving to central Canada, and manufacturing in the new province began to decline. Over the objections of The Saint John Board of Trade, Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservative government voted down the Commercial Union Bill of March 5, 1888 which would have given Saint John direct access to a larger market in New England. By the early part of the 20th century it became apparent that none of the four banks were attracting enough capital to remain competitive. Saint John, the largest city, failed to attract investment from overseas despite 4% higher returns compared to Upper Canada.
The Bank of New Brunswick and its shareholders accepted an offer to merge with the Bank of Nova Scotia on February 15, 1913. [1] As many of its investors were financing the opening up of the west, the bank's headquarters was moved to in Montreal. The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) eventually moved its headquarters to Toronto - Canada's banking and financial centre.
Like the other Canadian chartered banks established before the 1934 Bank of Canada Act, the Bank of New Brunswick and the Summerside Bank issued their own paper money. Around $30,000 in notes are in circulation.[ citation needed ] These notes can be reimbursed by the Bank of Canada, but their rarity often leads collectors to purchase them at a premium. [6]
The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Canada's population. Together with Canada's easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Maritime provinces make up the region of Atlantic Canada.
Prince Edward Island is an island province of Canada. While it is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", "Birthplace of Confederation" and "Cradle of Confederation". Its capital and largest city is Charlottetown. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces.
Canadian Confederation was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were united into one federation, called the Dominion of Canada, on July 1, 1867. This process occurred in accordance with the rising tide of Canadian nationalism that was then beginning to swell within these provinces and others. Upon Confederation, Canada consisted of four provinces: Ontario and Quebec, which had been split out from the Province of Canada, and the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The province of Prince Edward Island, which had hosted the first meeting to consider Confederation, the Charlottetown Conference, did not join Confederation until 1873. Over the years since Confederation, Canada has seen numerous territorial changes and expansions, resulting in the current number of ten provinces and three territories.
The Northumberland Strait is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada. The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf's eastern, southern, and western shores.
The Bank of Nova Scotia, operating as Scotiabank, is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada's Big Five banks, it is the third-largest Canadian bank by deposits and market capitalization. In 2023, the company’s seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 88. It serves more than 25 million customers around the world and offers a range of products and services including personal and commercial banking, wealth management, corporate and investment banking. With more than 89,000 employees and assets of CA$1,399 billion as of April 30, 2024, Scotiabank trades on the Toronto and New York exchanges. The Scotiabank swift code is NOSCCATT and the institution number is 002.
Canadian Forces Base Summerside was an air force base located in St. Eleanors, Prince Edward Island, Canada, now part of the city of Summerside.
Eastern Provincial Airways (EPA) was an airline that operated in Atlantic and eastern Canada. At its peak, the carrier operated jet service with Boeing 737-200 aircraft connecting many communities that today only have scheduled passenger flights provided by 18-seat commuter turboprop aircraft. The airline traces its history from Maritime Central Airways (MCA) from 1961. It merged with CP Air to form Canadian Pacific Air Lines in 1986.
Maritime Union is a proposed political union of the three Maritime provinces of Canada – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island – to form a single new province.
Eastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of Hudson Bay/Hudson Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces : Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.
CTV Atlantic is a system of four television stations in the Maritimes, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media. Despite the name, it is not available on basic cable or analog in Newfoundland and Labrador even though that province is part of Atlantic Canada.
The Acadians are the descendants of 17th and 18th century French settlers in parts of Acadia in the northeastern region of North America comprising what is now the Canadian Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the Gaspé peninsula in eastern Québec, and the Kennebec River in southern Maine.
Atlantic Canadian English is a class of Canadian English dialects spoken in Atlantic Canada that is notably distinct from Standard Canadian English. It is composed of Maritime English and Newfoundland English. It was mostly influenced by British and Irish English, Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and some Acadian French. Atlantic Canada is the easternmost region of Canada, comprising four provinces located on the Atlantic coast: Newfoundland and Labrador, plus the three Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Regions such as Miramichi and Cape Breton have a wide variety of phrases and words not spoken outside of their respective regions.
Acadian Lines was a Canadian coach operator based in Moncton, New Brunswick.
William Lawson was a Nova Scotian businessman, office holder, justice of the peace, and politician. He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was the son of John Lawson and Sarah Shatford.
Angus Bernard MacEachern was a Scottish bishop in the Roman Catholic Church who rose to become the first bishop of the newly formed Diocese of Charlottetown following its separation from the Archdiocese of Quebec on August 11, 1829.
The history of Prince Edward Island covers several historical periods, from the pre-Columbian era to the present day. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the island formed a part of Mi'kma'ki, the lands of the Mi'kmaq people. The island was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. The French later laid claim over the entire Maritimes region, including Prince Edward Island in 1604. However, the French did not attempt to settle the island until 1720, with the establishment of the colony of Île Saint-Jean. After peninsular Acadia was captured by the British in 1710, an influx of Acadian migrants moved to areas still under French control, including Île Saint-Jean.
The Farmers' Bank of Rustico operated in the village of Rustico, Prince Edward Island, from 1864 to 1894. It is often considered to have been the first community-based bank in Canada. Founded and managed under the leadership of Father Georges-Antoine Belcourt (1803-1874), the Farmer's Bank of Rustico was established on April 21, 1863. The bank received Royal Assent for its act of incorporation at the Court of Windsor on April 7, 1864." The first president was farmer Jerome Doiron, and the first cashier was Marinus Blanchard, a local school teacher.
Thomas Leavitt (1795–1850) was a Canadian businessman and banker who was the early president of the Bank of New Brunswick in his native Saint John, New Brunswick. Leavitt was also a diplomat, politician and powerful Canadian businessman with interests in the shipping industry.
William Gambee Strong was a merchant and political figure in Prince Edward Island. He served as a member of the Legislative Council of Prince Edward Island for eight years.
The Atlantic Bubble was a special travel-restricted area created on July 3, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The area was an agreement between the four Atlantic Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador which allowed unrestricted travel among provincial residents and restricted travel from Canadians who were residents of outside provinces. Residents wishing to travel to the Atlantic Bubble were subjected to screening and were required to quarantine for 14 days before moving freely throughout the bubble. Individual provinces had specific rules toward travellers from outside of Atlantic Canada. The provinces in the bubble saw the lowest numbers of COVID-19 compared to other Canadian provinces throughout the pandemic.