Christian sits outside of his family's apartment in the Old North End of Saint John, NB.

This essay looks at the everyday lives of Old North End residents and the often cyclical nature of poverty. Kids will be kids, people endure and the neighbourhood struggles on.

The roots of the Old North End of Saint John, New Brunswick, date back to a 1762 trading post along the Saint John River. A First Nations’ portage trail leading to this trading post eventually became a road that would later become Main Street today.

Over the next two hundred years the houses and businesses sprang. The wharves were busy, industry thrived and the neighbourhood prospered. After several severe fires ripped through the area and the shipping industry declined, the commercial areas moved uptown. The Old North End never recovered.

Children play in a gravel pile outside of their homes in the Old North End of Saint John, NB.
Leo Albert, 70, a Vietnam War veteran, left, and Mike Lirette smoke cigarettes outside of Albert's apartment in the Old North End of Saint John, NB. Albert believes that there are half a dozen bad kids in the neighbourhood that call themselves a gang an
Three generations of women look at a message on a cell phone while hanging out in front of their apartment in the Old North End of Saint John, NB.
Cassy holds her three-week-old son Caleb on the porch of her apartment in the Old North End of Saint John, NB. Cassy, like many women in the neighbourhood, is a single mother. She is on social assistance but hope to get a job when Caleb is old enough.
The sun begins to set in the Old North End of Saint John, NB.
Ashley Zielger plays outside of her family's apartment in the Old North End of Saint John, NB. Zielger's mother, Michelle Broadbent, says she wanted to wear her "Sunday best" on this day.
Tammy Calvin looks after her friend's child at her apartment while her son Kyle watches TV in the Old North End of Saint John. The boy has been staying with Calvin for several days and she does not know when the mother is going to return. Tammy "What I l
Metcalfe Street is seen at dusk in the Old North End of Saint John, NB.
Children from a local school have painted tiles on a concrete wall in Victoria Square in the Old North End of Saint John, NB.
Using Format