Christian Island (Ontario)

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Christian Island is a large island in Georgian Bay close to the communities of Penetanguishene and Midland, Ontario. The island, with its neighbors Hope Island and Beckwith Island, is an Ojibwe reserve. (Originally, Christian Island has always been known by the Ojibwe as "Gchi Mnissing," but was also known for a brief period by the Hurons, as Gahoendoe. The three islands were, in the 19th century, collectively known as the Christian Islands and Beckwith Island was called Faith Island, while Christian Island, which is the largest of the three, was known as Charity Island.) The First Nation people living on Christian Island are members of the Beausoleil First Nation. Together with other First Nations in the area they have a land claim pending for lands situated between Matchedash bay at Coldwater, and the narrows at Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching.

Christian Island is inhabited by the The Beausoleil First Nation. Their ancestors, were nomadic and travelled from northern Georgian Bay,and the United States, around Lakes Huron, and Michigan. They were part of an "experiment" implemented by the early Canadian government which sought to assimilate them into the larger society. They were encouraged to give up their nomadic ways and to settle at Coldwater in 1834-1842 as part of the Coldwater Narrows Reserve. Later they were again displaced to Beausoliel Island in 1842, and still later, again were displaced to Christian Island in 1856 to present day.

The First Nation has tried various ways of generating income, including stocking the island with pheasants, a cattle operation, a charcoal operation, a commercial fishery and a portion of lands are designated for cottage leasing. Today, many of the residents work on the mainland and a growing community has sprung up on an annex of property at the Cedar Point landing. Hope and Beckwith islands are uninhabited, but (especially Beckwith) are popular anchorage sites for boaters, who are required to pay a small anchorage fee to the First Nation community. There is a ferry service from the mainland at Cedar Point to Christian Island. At times of severe cold, the people build an ice road between the island and the mainland. Christian Island also has a lighthouse that marks the southern tip of the islands and was used in the past for ships travelling from Collingwood to Penetanguishene, Midland, and Parry Sound.

In 1649, Christian Island was briefly used as a refuge for Jesuit missionaries and Huron refugees from Sainte-Marie among the Hurons during the Huron-Iroquois wars. The Jesuits called the island St Joseph Island. The occupation of Christian Island by the fleeing Hurons and Jesuits is where the name "Christian" island comes from. It was named in honour of the Canadian Martyrs.

The Jesuits and most of the Huron refugees left the island and travelled to Quebec in the summer of 1650. The remaining Huron, along with the surviving remnants of the Petun, an Iroquoian group living at the base of the Niagara Escarpment near present-day Collingwood, left the island in 1651. The Petun had suffered serious losses in Iroquois raids in late 1649 and 1650.

Their descendants eventually settled in the Detroit-Windsor area. Some were later forcibly resettled by U.S. authorities in Oklahoma.

Christian Island is primarily pristine forest. The soil is mainly sand, remnants of glacial Lake Algonquin. Interestingly, a pre-historic species of grass known as "Forked Three Awned Grass" or unofficially as "Ice Age Grass," has been found to be growing on the Island verifying it's glacial beginnings. Forked Three Awned Grass is currently designated as a species at risk.

Canadian folk singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot penned a song about Christian Island in 1972 (In the lee of Christian Island), alluding to the popularity of the island as a sailing area.