Shippagan is a Canadian town within Shippegan Parish, Gloucester County, New Brunswick.

The parish retains the original English spelling, while the town officially adopted the colloquial French spelling on 1 July 1981.

Shippagan was greatly enlarged on 1 January 2023, when it amalgamated with Le Goulet and all or part of seven local service districts Revised census figures have not been released.

Geography

Shippagan is located in the northeastern part of the Acadian Peninsula: a combination bridge-causeway connects the town with Lamèque Island to the northeast.

The peninsula is approximately 5 km (3 miles) long and at maximum 5 km (3 miles) wide, bordered on the north-west by Shippagan Bay, to the north by Shippagan harbour to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and to the west by St Simon's Bay.

Approximately 99% of the town's residents are Francophone.

History

The town was founded by Jean Mallet (son of Francois Mallet and Marie Madeleine Larocque) and Marie Josephte Duguay (daughter of Rene Duguay and Marguerite LeBreton) from Paspébiac, Quebec and the Robichaux family from Bonaventure, Quebec in 1790, as a result of expansion of the Charles Robin Company. Jean-Baptiste Robichaux was in 1798 the first settler from Grand Chipagan to petition the government for title to his land, in 1798; he was the son of an expelled Acadian.

The location of the town is an ideal spot for fishing, which was its first economic product, as well as exporting timber from further inland. There are also numerous peat bogs in the area, and their exploitation continues to this day.

Shippagan is home to campuses of the Université de Moncton and New Brunswick Community College.

On May 25, 2021, Shippagan elected Kassim Doumbia as mayor, making him the first Black mayor in New Brunswick.

Etymology

The name originates from the Mi'kmaq Sepagun-chiche, which roughly translates as "Ducks' transit route". This name described the immediate region rather than the specific location of the current settlement that inherited the name.

Different spellings have been applied over the years. None of the earliest known francophone explorers such as Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain and Nicolas Denys mentions the name Shippagan, which appears in writing for the first time only in 1656 when Ignatius of Paris, a Capucine missionary, wrote to his superiors recommending the establishment of four or five missionary posts, one of which he called "Cibaguensi", a Latinised form of Shippagan.

During the eighteenth century various orthographies were used for the nearby settlement on the site of what is now Bas-Caraquet, most commonly Chipagan, and this is the name subsequently applied and adapted for modern-day Shippagan. Early English language texts applied the francophone spelling, "Chipagan", but from the early nineteenth centuries various anglophone variants were preferred, such as Shipagan, Ship-a-gang, Shipegan, Shippegan, Shippigan and Shippagan. By the twenty-first century custom had settled on "Town of Shippagan" which on September 9, 2009, was officially reduced to "Shippagan".

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Shippagan had a population of 2,672 living in 1,197 of its 1,274 total private dwellings, a change of 3.6% from its 2016 population of 2,580. With a land area of 9.96 km (3.85 sq mi), it had a population density of 268.3/km (694.8/sq mi) in 2021.

Historical Census Data - Shippagan, New Brunswick

Year Pop. ±% 1991 2,760 —     1996 2,862 +3.7% 2001 2,872 +0.3%	Year Pop. ±% 2001A 2,920 +1.7% 2006 2,754 −5.7% 2011 2,603 −5.5%	Year Pop. ±% 2011E 2,631 +1.1% 2016 2,580 −1.9%
(A) adjustment due to boundary change (E) revised count - Population and dwelling count amendments, 2011 Census

Language

Canada Census Mother Tongue - Shippagan, New Brunswick
Census		Total		French				English				French & English				Other
Year		Responses		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %
2011		2,465		2,375	4.4%	96.35%		45	35.7%	1.82%		10	0.0%	0.41%		35	75.0%	1.42%
2006		2,585		2,485	7.1%	96.13%		70	180.0%	2.71%		10	n/a%	0.39%		20	100.0%	0.77%
2001		2,710		2,675	2.1%	98.71%		25	64.3%	0.92%		0	100.0%	0.00%		10	n/a%	0.37%
1996		2,700		2,620	n/a	97.04%		70	n/a	2.59%		10	n/a	0.37%		0	n/a	0.00%

Coat of arms

On August 15, 2019, the town was granted a coat of arms by the Canadian Heraldic Authority, while the announcement of the Letters Patent was made on March 28, 2020, in Volume 154, page 692 of the Canada Gazette.

Coat of arms of Shippagan

Granted August 15, 2019 Crest A demi-mallard duck wings elevated and addorsed proper holding in its beak a scroll Argent bound Azure and rising from a bed of beech leaves proper. Escutcheon Azure a bar gemel wavy Argent, overall an anchor, in the dexter chief a mullet Or. Supporters Two Atlantic cod proper issuant from barry wavy Argent and Azure flanking a bog of sphagnum moss set with cloudberry plants proper. Motto BÂTIR ENSEMBLE

Notable people

• Luc Bourdon - an NHL ice hockey defenseman who played with the Vancouver Canucks.

See also

• List of communities in New Brunswick