The Marinier Archipelago groups the Odanak Islands, three islands located in the southern end of

Lake Magog Lake Magog is a freshwater lake located in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. It is bordered by three municipalities: Sherbrooke, Magog and Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley. Located in the Appalachian geological province, Lake Magog consists of sedi ...

in the

Estrie Estrie () is an administrative region of Quebec that comprises the Eastern Townships. ''Estrie'', a French neologism, was coined as a derivative of ''est'', "east". Originally settled by anglophones, today it is about 90 per cent francophone. Angl ...

region of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is part of

Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley is a municipality in the Memphrémagog Regional County Municipality in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, Canada. Located along Quebec Route 108 on Little Lake Magog, it is the home of the "Marais" birdwatching sa ...

History

The larger

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

of the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

was originally , covered with grass, and used as pasture for a few cows brought to the island on a raft at spring time by the owner Ambroise Gaudreau. In fall, the farmer swan them back to the bank. When the Rock Forest

hydroelectric dam Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

s was built in 1911,Centrale Rock Forest - Ville de Sherbrooke
the water level of

rose by about , which flooded many fields while increasing the size of the lake. The island then reduced size from about to . In 1923, the island became the property of two priests, Charles-Edmond Chartier and Joseph Têtu, who are joined a few weeks later by

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

Émile Chartier, then First Vice-Rector and General Chaplain of the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

. Chartier then bought back the part of Father Têtu in 1925, then that of Father Chartier in 1934. In 1938, Canon Chartier built a wooden house with a tower on top of the highest rocky summit of the island, with three footbridges and a two-storey boathouse. He named this house Odanak (which means "at home" in the

Abenaki The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...

language), and had many trees planted all over the island, especially numerous

white pine ''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further ...

s. In 1956, the island (then named Island Chartier) was acquired by the Orphanage Saint-Joseph of Waterville, in 1967, by the

brothers of Holy Cross , image = Congregation of Holy Cross.svg , image_size = 150px , abbreviation = CSC , formation = , founder = Blessed Fr. Basile-Antoine Marie Moreau, C.S.C. , founding_location = L ...

of Montreal, and then in 1974, by Jacques Darche of Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley who donated it to the religious community Marie-Jeunesse in 1997. During the winter of 2003, the house on the island was heavily plundered and vandalised. The smaller island of the archipelago and the

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...

next to it were originally formed a single island, with a small house perched on top of the rocky hill. When

was flooded in 1911, the island was split in two. Only the concrete base of the house's chimney remains today on the small island. In 1959, the island was acquired from Rose-Anna Bernier-Lagasse by the accountant Lionel Jacques, in 1962, by the salesman Léonard Chartier (without kinship with the priest nor the canon Chartier), in 1968, by the radio writer André Boulanger, in 1971, by the engineer Jacques Lemieux, and then in 1976, by the merchant Jacques Darche. In 2005 and 2006, the islands of the archipelago were acquired from different owners by Bruno-Marie Béchard Marinier,2005-09-17 - La Tribune - Le recteur Béchard a trouvé ses îles then

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the

Université de Sherbrooke The University of Sherbrooke ( French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It ...

. The new owner upgraded the housing on the larger island, while maintaining its natural setup. The smaller island is accessible to the public, and is a popular stop while kayaking on

References

{{reflist Lake islands of Quebec