American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The Walpole Island First Nations Reserve (#46), or Bkejwanong (the place where water divides), in Ontario is the southernmost reserve in Canada. Approximately 740 square kilometers in size, Walpole is home to 2,300 permanent residents-out of a band membership of 3,100-from the Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi nations. This community is situated in the extreme northeastern corner of the mouth of the St. Clair River. The river flows south from the outflow of Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes, sixty-four kilometers to Lake St. Clair (see Figure 1). Walpole Island is a bird-foot-shaped land mass that is surrounded by water on all three sides: the St. Clair River on the northwest, the Chenail Ecarte or Snye River on the northeast, and Lake St. Clair on the south. These waters and their tributaries are primarily responsible for having fashioned the six islands (from east to west: St. Anne, Walpole, Squirrel, Potawatomi, Bassett, and Seaway) that compose Walpole Island as well as three other American islands: Harsens, Russell, and Dickinson, which complete this delta system. Walpole Island circumscribes the Canadian portion of a larger Lake St. Clair wetland delta. It is connected to the Canadian mainland by a swing bridge and to the United States by boat or ferry. Walpole Island’s being poised on the Canada-United States boundary at Canada’s southernmost border informs a collective identity, one that is also fortified by the community’s status as unceded. This status is the result of the fact that Walpole Island was left to Native people as their home by default, although no treaty was ever signed that designated the current land mass as theirs. Partly as a result of this history and also due to its proximity to the major urban centers of Detroit, Windsor, and Sarnia, Walpole Island has had to struggle to maintain itself as a distinct cultural area.