Manitoulin Island | Beautiful Islands in Canada

Situated just off the Ontario coast in Lake Huron, Manitoulin Island,  is the largest freshwater island in the world. A tranquil place of small villages, gently rolling pasture, forest and lakes, its edges are fringed with long beaches and white cliffs.

Manitoulin Island History

The First Nations Ojibwa people, the island's original inhabitants, believed that when the Great Spirit, Gitchi Manitou, created the Earth he kept the best bits and made Manitoulin his home. In 1648 a group of Frensh Hesuits became the first Europeans to settle on Manitoulin Island, which they named Isle de Ste. Marie.
Unfortunately they brought with them new diseases that rapidly devastated the Ojibwa population. Marouding Iroquois bands then drove out those who remained, leaving the island uninhabited for over a hundred years. During the 19th century, the island's  beauty attracted the attention of white settlers who, after first giving Manitoulin to other native bands, then revoked all treaties and claimed it for themselves. To this day the Ojibwa have refused to sigh any treaty, and some 3,000 of them live on an unceded reserve' in the east of the island.

Manitoulin Island Today

Today Manitoulin and the waters around it serve as Ontario's summer playground with boats of all kinds weaving in and out of its many bays and filling its large inland lakes. Hiking is popular and the island has a well signposted system of trails. Every August the Ojibwa Band holds one of Canada's biggest powwows (Wikwemikong or Wiky) a celebration of life through dance, storytelling and displays of arts and crafts.