Page 13 - Beausoleil First Nation

The Christian Island Lighthouse A large water treatment
facility supplies the
Along the south shore are two important historical features—the community with clean water.
remains of St Marie II, a Jesuit fort dating back to the 1650s, and
the Christian Island Lighthouse (along with a lighthouse keeper’s
home erected in 1856).

Much of the central areas of Christian Island are forested and
were once logged. Existing recreational trails are the result of
past logging activity. The community has built a beautiful trail
Crown Land is used to describe
system around one of the smaller inland lakes. Members can
land that is owned by the
access this trail system throughout the year. Another feature of “Crown”—now simply Canada.
Christian Island is the fields that are no longer being used from First Nations are special areas
of land that cannot be owned
the days of active farming.
in the same way that land
might be purchased in other
Logging and farming may no longer occur on Christian Island,
places in Canada, such as in
but there is still a lot of fishing. There is a commercial fishing
neighbouring towns.
operation, and community members harvest fish for individual or
community use as well. WORDS TO KNOW

Land on the island is held either by individual First Nation commercial: an activity done in
order to make money
members or by the First Nation itself as Crown land. Much of
Crown: the source of power to
the land is maintained in its natural state. Beausoleil First Nation
govern a country
manages its lands with special concern for the community’s
generations: all the people
relationship to the land. Harvesting of any sort is carefully born around the same time
thought out, and many policies and practices have been put in policies: plans to guide
future decisions
place by our Lands Department to ensure that the land is cared
for and resources are saved for future generations. resources: supplies that meet
a need

Beausoleil First Nation 11

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