OVERVIEW

For even more information visit the Township of Central Manitoulin website at www.centralmanitoulin.ca or view our community brochure (in original format or compressed for dial-up internet users).

The Township of Central Manitoulin area offers a diversity of attractions and unique landmarks. Treasure Island is a jewel set in the turquoise waters of Lake Mindemoya. The long sandy beach at Providence Bay with a boardwalk traversing the accompanying sand dunes is a model of tasteful conservation and use of a beach area. At the end of the walk is a new Interpretive Centre, built of the very coral reef limestone that is the backbone of the Manitoulin Island. Lake Manitou is the largest and deepest lake on the Island and is used year round for activities such as boating, swimming, fishing and snowmobiling. Other lakes include Big Lake, Pine Lake, Martin Lake, Windfall Lake and Snow Lake. The Mindemoya and Manitou Rivers flow from their respective lakes and find their way to the south shore of Manitoulin Island. Rainbow trout and salmon spawn in these rivers. A large tract of Carolinian forest with maples, oaks, ironwoods, poplars and white cedar stretches from Mindemoya to Sandfield and beyond, providing a habitat for a healthy Whitetail deer population, a Sandhill crane staging area. The township is on a major North American migratory bird flyway.

The main industries were originally farming, forestry and a woolen mill, which over the years have evolved to include tourism as one of the main economic drivers, along with dairy and beef farming and some light manufacturing. There are two hockey arenas, two curling rinks, three ball fields, an agricultural fairgrounds, tennis courts, hiking trails, bicycling outfitters, fishing guide businesses, and snow machine trails to provide sporting activities year round. Motels and bed and breakfasts, as well as numerous camp grounds provide hospitable accommodations for visitors.

Anglican, Catholic, United, Pentecostal and Missionary congregations have built churches in Mindemoya, Providence Bay and Spring Bay. A large Pentecostal camp in Spring Bay hosts hundreds of visitors in the summer and a Christadelphian Camp in Sandfield ward caters to youth in the summer. There are local cemeteries in Providence Bay, Spring Bay and Mindemoya.

POPULATION

1,907

HEALTHCARE

Mindemoya has a hospital containing 14 acute care beds. The site is linked to Sudbury and Toronto by helicopter, as well as a land ambulance service which provides transport around the clock for local emergencies.

Mindemoya is a central area shopping site with a modern grocery store and accompanying pharmacy, extensive hardware store and is known for having one of the best-supplied outdoor sports equipment stores in all of Ontario. The Bank of Montreal operates a fully serviced building in Mindemoya.

Providence Bay offers a huge building supplies site.