New Brunswick: Canada's Best Kept Secret

New Brunswick: Canada’s Best Kept Secret

WRITTEN BY ELLEN STERNS, FORMER FUND DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

As she neared retirement, Laurie Campbell thought long and hard about what the next chapter of her life would bring. A few years ago, Laurie decided to join our team at the Nature Trust - it was a perfect fit. Before retiring, she wanted to create a bit of a routine, and between kayaking, hiking, and snowshoeing, the activities organized by the Nature Trust seemed to align perfectly with her lifestyle.

“It was tailor-made for me. I give a lot, but I think the organization gives so much more back to me…this is my little community within Fredericton too. I’ve met a lot of wonderful likeminded people and I think it’s important to choose an organization that fits you as a person.”

NNick McPhee (Nature Trust Lead Steward), Dorothy Diamond (Nature Trust Trustee Emeritus), and Laurie Campbell (Nature Trust Regional Steward)

We are proud to have Laurie as one of our Regional Stewards. As a Regional Steward, Laurie’s role is to support Stewards and Stewardship Group Leaders by training and recruiting new Stewards and assisting in monitoring or maintenance in her designated region of the province.  

Laurie was born in West Hill, Ontario, but moved to Prince Edward Island at the age of nine. With roots in both Ontario and the Island, Laurie says she is a Maritimer at heart, but the lakes and rivers of Ontario are still a big part of her soul.  

Laurie was bonded to nature at a young age. She spent some time telling us about warm summers visiting her grandparents in rural Ontario. With a smile, she explained that her first memory in nature was falling asleep to the soft hum of crickets and frogs.  

“To this day, those are two sounds that just give me this incredible comfort. I don’t know how to explain it, just that feeling of being at one with the universe.”

 Even at such a young age, Laurie seemed to realize that nature was more than just the background of her life. Nature was a feeling, a place, and a memory where she felt harmony and peace.

After Laurie finished high school, she moved to France for ten months to work as an au pair. As September came and went, and a sweltering French summer started to cool, Laurie realized that her surrounding environment had not changed. The leaves stayed a bright green, and a cold breeze was the only thing to distinguish summer and autumn. It was in that moment that she realized just what she had left behind in the Maritimes.  

“I thought, wow, we really have something incredibly special here. I mean, everybody enjoys the fall colours, but I had never actually thought about how spectacular it is here in Canada during the autumn.”

 Laurie told us that sometimes you must leave home to realize what you had all along.

Laurie eventually returned to the Maritimes to study French and English at Université de Moncton. With her love for New Brunswick came love for an Acadian New Brunswicker, and she has not looked back since. Laurie adopted this beautiful province as her home. She says it is one of Canada’s best-kept secrets, and we could not agree more. With honest eyes, she told us that we cannot take what we have here for granted.  

PPaddling in the Bay of Fundy - one of Laurie’s favourite memories

Our meeting with Laurie was a memorable one, and we were lucky enough to hear one of her most cherished nature memories in New Brunswick. A beautiful day had brought with it the opportunity to kayak, one of Laurie’s greatest passions. She and her husband met up with Walter Emrich, Nature Trust Treasurer and fellow Regional Steward, for a paddle around the Western Isles Nature Preserve in the Bay of Fundy. Laurie described the water as a mirror – motionless, with the reflection blurring occasionally as whales slowly broke the surface. There had been a particularly bad storm a few nights prior, and food from the bottom of the bay had been flushed up, bringing in minkes, porpoises, and even a finback whale between their kayaks.  

“This was special…this particular day it was like all the stars were aligned…it was really, really quite wonderful.”

 She had asked nothing from nature, yet it gave her a memory she will cherish for a lifetime. 

“I’m discovering so much about New Brunswick through the Nature Trust, places I have never been and might not have ever gone. Every single time I go to a new preserve, it confirms to me how beautiful this province is. It just makes sense to want to preserve the beauty…so that other people and other generations can enjoy these wonderful places in the future.”

When we asked what Laurie would say to someone interested in becoming a Nature Trust supporter, she only had two words for us: “Do it!”

Thank you so much to Laurie for sitting down and discussing your love for New Brunswick nature with us.

LLaurie with Nature Trust Stewardship Coordinator, Catherine Wisniowski