How did United Empire Loyalists help create the province of New Brunswick?

The United Empire Loyalists were instrumental in the creation of New Brunswick as a distinct province. Following the American Revolution, approximately 14,000 loyalist refugees—primarily from New York and its surrounding areas—immigrated to the region north of the Bay of Fundy, settling largely along the St. John River valley.12

Prior to this influx, the area was governed as part of Nova Scotia. The arriving loyalists, who included an elite class of government officials and professional men, became dissatisfied with the distant and slow administration from Halifax. They promptly agitated for their own local government, leading the British to establish New Brunswick as a separate province in 1784, complete with its own governor and assembly. The loyalist city of Saint John subsequently became Canada’s first incorporated city in 1785.12