Bathurst is quickly staking a reputation for itself as a hot bed for major sporting activities. In addition to this year's Air Canada Cup and exciting Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action the city is gearing up for the QMJHL entry draft this June, the first time this event will be held outside of the province of Quebec, and the 2003 Canada Winter Games, next February, which it will co-host with it's neighbor to the north Campbellton.

Bathurst sits nestled at the heart of the Bay of Chaleur and relies on a highly skilled and bilingual workforce along with an abundance of natural resources for its economic growth.

Bathurst developed as a trade center for the Chaleur region during the nineteeth century. Shipbuilding gave way to mining and pulp and paper in the early 19 hundreds. The pulp and paper industry was the mainstay of the 20th century with the Bathurst Power and Paper Company starting construction of the first pulp mill in 1914. Several large deposits of lead and zinc were uncovered south of Bathurst by the early 1950's and in the 1960's mining gradually replaced pulp and paper as the major industry in the area. Incorporated as a city in 1967 Bathurst continues to rely on these two main industries into the 21st century. The Regional Hospital Centre and Nicholas Denys Federal Building are also major industry in the city with an economic task force currently in place to find new and exciting ways to strengthen the economy.

Named by Jacques Cartier, the first European to visit the area, the Bay Of Chaleur (The Bay Of Warmth) offers some of the warmest waters north of the Carolina's in the summer. Surrounded by beautiful beaches and challenging golf courses it becomes a hockey hotbed that also boasts of miles of beautifully groomed snowmobile trails during the winter months.

Home to the state of the art K C Irving Regional Centre, opened in 1996, Bathurst is the heart of the Northeast part of New Brunswick and prides itself on the hospitality of its residents. A multi-cultural city with two official languages Bathurst is home to a large Acadian population that is also rich in English, Irish and Scottish descendants.
With a backdrop surrounded by miles of beautiful coastline and only a short drive from Mount Carleton, the highest peak east of New Hampshire, Bathurst offers a breathtaking scenic stop and welcome destination for one and all.

City Of Bathurst Demographics - taken from the 1996 census
Total population: 13,815
57% Anglophone
40% Francophone
More than 60% speak both French and English
Land Area: 90.94 square km