Harbouring Ideas: Mathematics on the Bay of Fundy
There is something about Saint John that invites a slower, more thoughtful disposition. Perhaps it’s the rhythm of the tides (the highest in the world) that roll in from the Bay of Fundy, or maybe it’s the character of the city itself, shaped by centuries of working hands and industrious minds. Saint John is a place where past and present overlap without pretense. It’s a port city, an industrial hub, and increasingly, a centre of education, research, and cultural revival. That blend of legacy and forward motion makes it an ideal setting for the 2026 CMS Summer Meeting, which will be hosted at the University of New Brunswick’s Saint John campus from June 5 to 8, 2026.
Figure 1. Campus, University of New Brunswick Saint John. Wikimedia Commons.
For those unfamiliar, Saint John is Canada’s first incorporated city, set where the Saint John River meets the Atlantic. Its identity is distinctly Maritime; welcoming, resourceful, and filled with stories. The city wears its history visibly. The brick warehouses of Uptown, once bustling with shipping goods, are now home to galleries, cafés, and locally owned restaurants. The City Market, a working market since the 1800s, still hums with the voices of vendors of fresh produce, handmade crafts, and seafood, all under an arched roof modeled after a ship’s hull. Visitors can walk along the red-brick trail of Harbour Passage, tracing the shoreline toward the cruise ship terminal, or linger at the edge of the Reversing Falls, watching the tide quite literally push the river backward.
Figure 2. Harbour, St. John, NB, about 1898. Wikimedia Commons.
Moosehead, Canada’s oldest independent brewery, still brews on the city’s west side, and it remains a family-owned operation after more than 150 years, much like the Irving oil refinery across the harbour, employing generations from the same households. That continuity is a kind of signature here. It’s that kind of place.
The Canadian Mathematical Society has strong ties to Atlantic Canada. Our region’s mathematical community is both collaborative and ambitious, reaching across provinces and institutions. From Memorial University in St. John’s to Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s in Halifax, to UNB campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, to UPEI and everywhere in between, we have learned to work together. Organizations like AARMS have helped us amplify our impact by building shared infrastructure and regional partnerships.
Scientific planning for the meeting is already well underway. Andrea Burgess and I are serving as Scientific Directors, and our goal is to design a program that reflects the breadth and energy of Canadian mathematics. There will be plenary lectures, thematic sessions across a range of topics, and opportunities for early-career researchers to share their work. But as anyone who has attended a CMS meeting knows, the real energy often comes from the margins, conversations between sessions, unexpected collaborations over coffee (or pints), and the kinds of questions that linger.
Saint John is especially well-suited to these kinds of encounters. The UNB Saint John campus is compact and welcoming, with an easy layout. By the time of the conference, we may also have access to the new Integrated Health building, a flexible and modern facility designed for collaborative activities. Just minutes from campus, the city centre offers a mix of historic charm and modern comfort: seafood bistros, bookshops, pubs, walking trails, and ocean views.
For those travelling from farther away, Saint John is also a convenient base for exploring more of New Brunswick. Fundy National Park is just a short drive to the east, offering dramatic cliffs, forest trails, and a coastline shaped by the famous tides. The Fundy Isles of Grand Manan, Deer Island, Campobello offer a more secluded, storybook kind of haven. To the north, the beaches along the Northumberland Strait provide warmer waters and long stretches of sand. Many visitors choose to extend their stay, and it’s easy to see why.
What often surprises people about Saint John is how layered it is. Every neighbourhood seems to have its own rhythm, and nearly every building has a backstory. The family names of the Loyalists who first settled here remain part of the landscape, stitched into street names and institutions. The more time you spend here, the more you notice. Curiosity is rewarded, and that mindset, the desire to dig deeper to discover what’s beneath the surface is something mathematicians tend to appreciate intuitively.
Figure 3. St. John, NB. Wikipedia.
Hosting the CMS meeting here in 2026 is a chance to share something of the local spirit. As the late Stuart McLean poetically put it, “We may not be big, but we are small.” It’s a line entirely suited to Atlantic Canada, partly for its charm and partly for its truth. The scale here is human. That’s part of what makes gatherings like this feel personal.
The Atlantic mathematical community is proud to welcome CMS members from across the country and beyond to our corner of the coast. You’ll find further details about the meeting, including calls for sessions and poster presentations, elsewhere in this issue of CMS Notes. (And a friendly reminder for your travel plans: be sure your boarding pass says Saint John, New Brunswick, not St. John’s, Newfoundland. It’s a common mix-up, and while both cities are entirely lovely, only one of them will have your conference badge waiting.)
For now, consider this both an announcement and an invitation. Save the dates, June 5 to 8, 2026, and plan to spend a few days by the Bay of Fundy. Come for the plenaries, the sessions, and the mathematics, but also for the sea air, the slow tide, the music, and the conversation. We look forward to welcoming you.
