Riverview is located on the south side of the Petitcodiac River, across from the larger cities of Moncton and Dieppe.

Though the Petitcodiac River was a regular transportation corridor for aboriginal peoples, the first known settlements in the area were three Acadian villages in what are now Turtle Creek, Lower Coverdale and Point Park.

[7] The adjacent cities of Moncton and Dieppe are about 32% and 73% Francophone respectively and have benefited from an ongoing rural depopulation of the Acadian Peninsula and areas in northern and eastern New Brunswick.

[17] The town is home to one of seven Nav Canada area control centres, Moncton Area Control Centre, serving air traffic over New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and eastern Quebec.

This centre monitors over 430,000 flights a year, 80% of which are either entering or leaving North American airspace.