On 21 June 2000, AIMS President, Brian Lee Crowley, spoke at the Bangor Summit on New England/Quebec/Atlantic Canada Co-operation, in Bangor Maine. He took the opportunity to tell the story of a single region, divided only by history and a common border and united by one of two possible futures. That single region is New England, Atlantic Canada and Quebec – Atlantica. Touching on the past and the border that has divided the region, he focused on the two alternative futures available to the people of this trans-national region – continued economic difficulties as separate, competing interests or growth and development as a single coherent regional economy.
