Manitoulin Channel

The waters north of Manitoulin Island form a sheltered passage along Lake Huron's northern shore. Smaller islands and bays offered places to gather, camp in summer or take refuge from bad weather. The Odawa and other Anishinaabe peoples lived and travelled in this island country. In the seventeenth century French travellers also used the North Channel on their way towards Lake Superior; in 1648 the Jesuit Joseph Poncet established a mission on Manitoulin.