Edmundston is a city at the junction of the Saint John and Madawaska Rivers in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada only a few kilometres from the border with Quebec. Out of the eight cities in New Brunswick, Edmundston is the most francophone, with 91% of the city's population speaking French.

The city is situated on the border with the United States, across from the town of Madawaska, Maine. The area was at the center of the Aroostook War over the boundary line between the USA and what was then British North America. It was because of the boundary disputes in this entire area that residents on both the Canadian and U.S. sides took to referring to the region as the Republic of Madawaska. The tradition is carried on to this day, with each mayor of Edmundston being automatically given title as the "President of the Republic of Madawaska".

Originally named Petit-Sault, the settlement was renamed Edmundston in 1850 after Sir Edmund Head, who was Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick from 1848 to 1854 and Governor-General of Canada from 1854 to 1861. Every year in August, there is a huge cultural festival in Edmundston called the Foire Brayonne. The festival is reportedly the biggest French festival held in Canada outside the province of Quebec.

Forestry is the major industry in the Edmundston area, with several sawmills and paper plants in the vicinity, the largest being the Fraser pulp mill. The Edmundston pulp mill is paired with a Fraser paper mill directly across the Saint John River in Madawaska, Maine, through which liquified pulp slurry is piped - the only such installation anywhere along the International Boundary between Canada and the United States.

Community profile

According to the 2001 Statistics Canada census:

Population:	17,373 (-2.8% from 1996)
Land area:	106.90 km²
Population density:	162.5 people/km²
Median age:	42.2 (males: 40.4, females: 43.5)
Total private dwellings:	7,725
Median household income:	$36,307

External links

• City of Edmundston website (http://www.ville.edmundston.nb.ca/)
• La Foire Brayonne (http://www.foire-brayonne.nb.ca/)