Belledune is one of the few municipalities not significantly affected by the province's 2023 local governance reforms.

He and his wife Marie LeFilatre emigrated to Canada, and after a brief settling in Rivière-Ouelle, Quebec, they resettled in New Brunswick, where the promise of a land grant became a possibility.

Guittard had also worked as a navigator, having helped map the New Brunswick coastline with the British military.

Belledune underwent unprecedented development during the 1960s when under the premiership of Louis Robichaud a major regional port was built to service various industries on the north shore of New Brunswick.

The first major industrial projects at the port included in 1966 a lead and zinc smelter, formerly Brunswick Mining and Smelting Corporation, but now owned by Glencore with a nominal production of 120,000 tonnes per year.