Think about it: in a month dominated by a high-stakes federal election campaign, Canadians from across this big country took time out to choose 10 places they thought it was important for fellow-Canadians to visit and to vote for their choice.
A lot of our fellow countrymen and women chose Manitoulin Island.
The CBC came up with the idea in the furor of the patriotic spirit that followed the American president’s threats to Canada’s sovereignty.
If inter-provincial trade barriers are to be removed, why not encourage Canadians to visit the many wonderful, and often unsung, wonders that await them right within our borders, north of the 49th parallel?
And so, after lots of nominations (2,000 of them) and a winnowing down to 20 choices spread across this country, the public weighed in with their votes to bring the number down to the top 10.
And here we are. One of the top 10.
It is clear that Manitoulin Island is now known for more than being the largest freshwater island in the world.
That is a geographic fact and that does indeed set Manitoulin Island apart.
But Manitoulin Island’s nomination by Ellie Poirier (a relatively new resident of this place,) refers not only to this big Island’s natural features but also to the people who visitors can expect to meet here and the unique dual culture that has, more and more, come to define Manitoulin as a travel destination.
There has been an evolution in relationships to get us to this place as, nearly 60 years ago, when this writer first came to work on Manitoulin, the cultures operated as friendly, but not overly interactive, neighbours.
Manitoulin Secondary School, when it opened in 1969, replacing the three Island community high schools, brought young people together from all across Manitoulin.
Thirty-five years ago, the old Manitoulin Tourism Association (MTA) learned that Manitoulin Island was being considered for a three-year Heritage Canada pilot project.
The MTA led the charge, showing off Manitoulin Island to Heritage Canada officials (in just the way that the Island has been presented in its run for a top 10 finish in our current accomplishment) and as a result, the Island was granted a three-year commitment.
A local Heritage Canada board was required and this became an early example of first nations and municipal leaders sitting together to get things done, all across Manitoulin. This was, we believe, a pivotal moment.
This getting together of leaders from across the Island led to the signing of a “Friendship Treaty” by members of the Manitoulin Municipal Association and the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin. For several years after that 1990 event, leaders of the two groups continued to meet informally to discuss matters of common interest.
In fact, a version of this spirit of cultural and neighbourly collaboration resumed during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic when First Nation and municipal leadership met regularly to be briefed on the local status of the pandemic by medical and public health authorities.
There have been other changes, too.
In 1979, The Manitoulin Expositor opened a small bookstore at the front of its office in Little Current.
There was no point in competing with the local pharmacies and other retailers where the book racks were filled with the best sellers and popular literature.
Instead, The Expositor’s Print Shop Books featured, largely, titles from the publisher Penguin.
And now, 45 years later, Print Shop Books’ shelves are crammed with books about Manitoulin and area’s history, art, lore, fiction and legends.
This interest in telling Manitoulin’s stories, or setting novels here, means that the Island has developed more of a sense of itself then being merely defined as “the world’s largest freshwater Island.”
One of those books, Exploring Manitoulin, was written over 30 years ago by Manitoulin historian Shelly Pearen and it was Ms. Pearen who The Expositor editor felt it was appropriate to ask to research and write the Page 1 story of Manitoulin Island’s “top 10” placement that is the lead story this week.
Ms. Pearen’s book is about, just as its title suggest, “exploring Manitoulin” and it continues to sell at the paper’s small bookstore, and elsewhere, to the extent that it has entered the realm of a Canadian best-selling book.
Exploring Manitoulin was published early on in the avalanche of books about or set on Manitoulin, but all of this has added to our sense of ourselves as a very unique place, on a variety of fronts.
Art galleries and artists’ studios proliferate, Manitoulin people have decided it is important to have a wide variety of hiking trail experiences, there is a professional Indigenous theatre in Manitowaning and a summer theatre in Gore Bay. There is a film school with an emphasis on training Indigenous youth. The Great Spirit Circle Trail was successfully envisioned as a network of First Nation cultural tourism experiences.
A decade ago, the MS Chi Cheemaun ferry, facing decreased ridership, undertook an ambitious rebranding, adopting the slogan “Travel in Good Spirits” with an emphasis on taking the trip, not merely as transportation, but as a way to reach, “mystical Manitoulin”.
And do you know what? This campaign turned the ferry’s fortunes around, increasing its ridership with immediate effect.
So here we are, a top 10 destination that all Canadians should visit.
Big responsibility, eh?
We’re up to it!
