United Empire Loyalist in the context of "Geography of Quebec"

Brockville is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it falls within the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically independent of the county. It is included with Leeds and Grenville for census purposes only.

Known as the "City of the 1000 Islands", Brockville is situated on the land which was previously inhabited by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and later by the Oswegatchie people. Brockville is one of Ontario's oldest communities established by Loyalist settlers and is named after the British general Sir Isaac Brock.

Loyalists (also referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men) were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies of British America who remained loyal to the British crown. The term was initially coined in 1774 when political tensions rose before the outbreak of the American Revolution. Those supporting the revolution self-identified as Patriots or Whigs, and considered the Loyalists "persons inimical to the liberties of America."

Prominent Loyalists repeatedly assured the British government that many thousands of them would spring to arms and fight for the Crown. The British government acted in expectation of that, especially during the Southern campaigns of 1780 and 1781. However, Britain was able to protect the people only in areas where they had military control; thus, the number of military Loyalists was significantly lower than what had been expected. Loyalists were often under suspicion of those in the British military, who did not know whom they could fully trust in such a conflicted situation.

Nova Scotia during the American Revolution was an important factor in the British war effort. Northern-most of the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America, the Province of Nova Scotia did not join with the Thirteen Colonies which fought for independence, achieving it with aid from European allies. At the outbreak, there was ambivalence in Nova Scotia over whether the colony should join the Americans in the war against Britain, and it was "almost the 14th American Colony". Largely as a result of American privateer raids on Nova Scotia villages, as the war continued, the population of Nova Scotia solidified their support for the British. Thousands of Loyalist refugees fled to Nova Scotia during the war, and many were resettled in the region after the signing of the 1783 Treaty of Paris as "United Empire Loyalists". With the influx of Loyalist refugees, Nova Scotia was subdivided, creating New Brunswick in 1784.