Latest news with #SaintJohn
CTV News
16 hours ago
- CTV News
Rising Atlantic tourism brings international visitors to Peggy's Cove
Peggy's Cove is enjoying steady traffic as the summer tourism season gets underway. With the help of Friday's sunny conditions, Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia was full of new and old visitors taking in the breathtaking views. 'Today we took the ferry over from Saint John to Digby and came over here,' says Paul Elder. 'My wife and I, we both teach in Pennsylvania. We have our summers off and we wanted to check out Canada and see what the Maritime provinces had for us.' Restaurants at the popular attraction says they've seen an influx of American visitors. 'It's been busy. Busier than last year, for sure. The number of people that have come from the United States has been a shock. I thought it'd be down but it's been great,' says John Campbell, the owner of The Sou' Wester. Whether it's a pitstop or their final destination, people from all over the world flocked to Peggy's Cove. 'Costa Rica is more 'touristy.' This is a nice, peaceful place where you can come live, have your family sit down, have a coffee,' says Costa Rica resident Chris Eddy. Interprovincial visitors also explored the iconic site on Friday. 'I actually love this place. I love the lighthouse. I love the views and the thing that makes it better is (being) here. I'm with all my family and friends, and it's just surreal. It's awesome,' says Yax Patel, a visitor from Kitchener, Ont. Peggy's Cove Tourists flock to Peggy's Cove on a sunny summer day. (Source: Vanessa Wright/CTV News Atlantic) For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CBC
19 hours ago
- Politics
- CBC
Glen Savoie, the interim PC leader, won't run in leadership race
Saint John East MLA Glen Savoie would need to quit the interim role to become a candidate next year. He's decided to stay put instead.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Hundreds of asylum seekers will relocate to N.B. in the next 2 years
Settlement organizations that help newcomers across the province are preparing to welcome hundreds of asylum seekers who will be relocating to New Brunswick from other provinces to start a new life. Over the next two years, about 400 people who left their homes in Nigeria, Haiti and some South American countries will relocate to cities including Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton and Edmundston. Alison Frise, executive director of the Multicultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area, said there isn't a final number of asylum seekers New Brunswick can expect, but that some could arrive as early as mid-July. Many are currently living in hotels in Ontario, and some families have been living there for a year, she said. "We all think it's fun to stay in a hotel for the first the week, but if you've been there almost a year then that's not fun anymore," she said. "It makes it very difficult for people to integrate the community." Frise said this group will be different from asylum seekers the province welcomed in the past because everyone speaks English or French, has already lived in Canada and is ready to enter the job market. WATCH | Claimants will receive help from resettlement organizations: The arrivals are part of an agreement the province has with the federal government to increase New Brunswick's immigration allocation rate. Frise said they will help to fill gaps in industries like construction and health care that are struggling to find workers after the federal government cut the province's allocation of economic immigration spaces by half earlier this year. "This is an opportunity for us to get the provincial nomination numbers up," Frise said. "Getting employment right away is going to be super important to make sure that that ... is an anchor for them to stay here and raise their families here." When the federal government created the Interim Assistance Housing Program in 2017, it was meant to encourage provincial and municipal governments to accept incoming asylum seekers. "The major thing will be permanent housing, or at least temporary housing," Frise said, adding that MAGMA has a housing co-ordinator that builds relationships with landlords with newcomers in mind. Saint John is also thinking about what it will mean to welcome asylum seekers to that city. "[It] isn't just about filling gaps there, it's about how we think about the future of Saint John and how we invest in our community," said Mohamed Bagha, managing director of the Saint John Newcomers Centre. He said newcomers bring a new energy and sense of resilience to communities, and that coming to New Brunswick as an asylum seeker is unique to immigrating here. "Many asylum seekers are bringing some sort of difficulty but they do have the skills to get here, they have taken the risk all the way to get to this country," he said. "When you're feeling trauma, you probably need a little more help." Two years ago, the province accepted about 200 asylum seekers who had arrived from Quebec through Roxham Road, which straddled the international border with the United States. Many of the asylum seekers did not speak English or French, and had no connection to the province when they arrived. It was a challenge MAGMA had never faced before. "We had to come up with a whole intake process, find resources, community partners that we could refer them to," Frise said. "We have to sometimes be creative and think outside the box." She said MAGMA is better equipped this time around. It offers language classes in Moncton and provides interpretation services in new languages. The organization is working with the province to know more about the incoming group in hopes of anticipating their needs before they arrive. "We're hoping … that they feel that sense of belonging here in Moncton, that they can put down roots and stay here," Frise said.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Science
- CTV News
Saint John warned against paving old-growth forest and putting up industrial park
Chris Watson, a resident of Lorneville and a research scientist at the University of New Brunswick's physics department, is shown on Thursday June 19, 2025. Watson found a nearly 400-year-old tree in an area that is the site of proposed industrial expansion. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Hina Alam A spruce tree in Saint John, N.B., likely dating back to around the time of famed French explorer Samuel de Champlain, is part of a forested area at risk of being paved over to make room for a new kind of habitat: an industrial park expansion west of the port city. Saint John city council recently approved the plans for the Spruce Lake Industrial Park, described on the business hub's website as a 'diverse ecosystem' of companies. Scientists, meanwhile, say the red spruce — likely about 400 years old — is among the oldest trees in the province, and the old-growth forest in which it stands is a piece of history the city should protect from the axe. 'When Samuel de Champlain sailed up the Bay of Fundy and into what is now the Saint John Harbour back in the early 1600s — that was around the same time this tree started growing,' said Chris Watson, a research scientist at University of New Brunswick's physics department. It was Watson, a resident of Lorneville, the small coastal community of 800 people where the industrial park is to be expanded, who collected a wood sample from the tree to determine its age. Last week the City of Saint John voted 10-0 to expand the industrial park. Mayor Donna Reardon told the meeting that while council had heard residents' concerns, it needed to cater to the 'fastest-growing port in North America.' 'Growth isn't easy,' she said. 'It's always difficult — it's because we're not used to it in Saint John. So we've got to move forward.' An environmental impact assessment by a consulting company told the city the expansion site was of 'relatively low value, economically and ecologically.' Dillon Consulting did not return a request for comment. Ben Phillips, a scientist at Mount Allison University's Acadian forest dendrochronology lab, disagrees with Dillon's assessment that the area is of low ecological value. In a letter to Saint John city council, he said the forest 'contains old-growth trees that rival the oldest in New Brunswick.' 'At a minimum of 388 years old, the oldest red spruce from the proposed Spruce Lake industrial area is now confirmed among a small group of the oldest spruce trees in New Brunswick,' he wrote. 'This tree likely sprouted up as a sapling in 1625 and took 10 to 20 years to grow to the height where the increment core sample was extracted. That makes this tree approximately 400 years of actual age. Possibly only three to four previously sampled trees from New Brunswick may exceed this age. ... Many of these trees were growing on this site when settlers arrived and began forestry operations in the late 1700s.' A nearly 15-metre-wide area has been cleared in the wooded site for a new road — construction that Phillips said could have resulted in the cutting down of several very old trees. Other trees measured in the same area, he noted, 'were also of exceptional age.' 'It is surprising that this forest has survived the axe and then the chainsaw.' No projects have so far been announced for the new site. The final authority of environmental impact assessments rests with the province, Reardon said in an email. Neither the Environment Department nor the regional development authority returned requests for comment. At the forest in Lorneville, Watson rested his hand on the nearly 400-year-old red spruce and looked up. The tree's crown is twisted, knotted and gnarly, its branches draped with light-green lichen. 'That's called the old man's beard,' he said with a laugh. 'It's magical. It's spectacular. It's so unique,' Watson said, looking around at the forest floor covered with moss, lichens, various grasses and nearly metre-long ferns. 'And just the knowledge that some of these areas have been untouched for hundreds of years — it's amazing to be able to walk in these woods.' The industrial park expansion should not go ahead, he said, adding that he's not against economic growth — he thinks there are other areas that can be developed without destroying a unique ecosystem. 'Leave it alone .... It's very rare to see, especially on Crown land, forests that are even just 100 years old. So, yeah. It should be absolutely left alone.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2025.
CBC
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
#TheMoment a N.B. student rode her horse to get her high school diploma
Kenzie Simmons, a Saint John high school graduate with autism, describes getting the opportunity to receive her diploma with her beloved horse, Blondie.
