The Archipelago is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

in central

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, along the

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

in the

Parry Sound District Parry Sound District is a Census divisions of Canada, census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its boundaries are District Municipality of Muskoka, District of Muskoka to the south, the Sudbury District to the north-northwest, the Fre ...

. The

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

consists of two non-contiguous parts, separated by Carling and the

Parry Sound Parry Sound is a sound or bay of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, in Ontario, Canada. It is highly irregularly shaped with many deep bays and islands. Killbear Provincial Park is located on the large peninsula that separates the sound from Georgian B ...

. The northern part includes the village of Pointe au Baril on the mainland and most of the geographic townships of Shawanaga and Harrison. This covers the islands and shoreline of Georgian Bay from the Twin Sisters (at the northern boundary of Carling Township) north to Charles Inlet and the Naiscoot River, a few miles south of Britt. The southern part consists of the geographic townships of Cowper and Conger that includes the islands and shoreline of Georgian Bay southwest of Parry Sound, from Twelve Mile Bay (at the District of Muskoka boundary) to

Wasauksing First Nation Wasauksing First Nation (formerly named as Parry Island First Nation, oj, Waaseyakosing, ''meaning: "Place that shines brightly in the reflection of the sacred light"'') is an Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi First Nation band government whose re ...

and up the South Channel almost to the town of Parry Sound. Almost a third of the population of the southern part lives on the islands in the Sans Souci and Copperhead area, centred on Frying Pan Island. The township is characterized by numerous islands (hence its name) and bays that attract large numbers of vacationers and boaters in the summer. Much of its area is undeveloped and crown-owned land: in the north, 96 percent of the mainland and 50 percent of the islands remain in the public domain, and in the south, 83 percent of the mainland and 70 percent of the islands, a large part of it protected in

The Massasauga Provincial Park The Massasauga Provincial Park is a provincial park in Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada, stretching from the town of Parry Sound south to the Moon River. The park has an area of . The park encompasses hundreds of islands on the coast of Ge ...

Communities

*Bayfield Inlet * Blackstone Lake *Copperhead *Five Mile Bay *Georgian Inlet *Manbert *Manitou Dock *Naiscoot *Nares Inlet *Niweme *Ojibway Island * Pointe au Baril * Pointe au Baril Station *Sans Souci *Seven Mile Narrows *Skerryvore *Woods Bay

History

On January 1, 1980, the townships of Georgian Bay South Archipelago and Georgian Bay North Archipelago were formed out of unincorporated geographic townships from the Parry Sound District, primarily in order to provide proper planning in the islands and waterways of the area. These two townships were intended to be set up as one municipality, but the Ontario Legislature created two townships, with a provision for their later amalgamation, if requested by the elected Councils. Soon after the formation of the townships, both councils passed identical by-laws calling for the amalgamation of the two municipalities. Therefore, the Township of the Archipelago was formed on April 1, 1980, when the townships of Georgian Bay South Archipelago and Georgian Bay North Archipelago merged.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, The Archipelago had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. *Mother tongue: ** English as first language: 90.4% ** French as first language: 0% ** English and French as first language: 0% ** Other as first language: 8.6%

Education

The community is within the

Near North District School Board The Near North District School Board (NNDSB; known as English-language Public District School Board No. 4 prior to 1999) administers public education in an area of Ontario that is includes all of Parry Sound District, plus a northerly portion of ...

. As of 1975, Moon Island, within The Archipelago, was served by the Sugar Bay School. That year, it was one of 21

one-room schools One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

in the province, and there were 12 students in grades 1-8 with ages ranging from 6 to 13. At the time, the closest high school to Moon Island was in

, away from Moon Island. Moon Island residents who attended high school lived with relatives living in Parry Sound or stayed at boarding houses during the school year.One room school on an island
" ''

The Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...

'' at ''

The Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

''. Friday December 5, 1975. p. 41. Retrieved from Google News (41 of 172) on October 2, 2013.

References

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External links