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 officially 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
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
Ethnicity
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.