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Despite its minute size, a favourable climate and abundant cod stocks induced French entrepreneurs to establish a seasonal fishery operation there in the 1600s. Simon Denys obtained seigneurial title (1674); his son Pierre had a chapel erected, soon thereafter razed by fire (1690).

Bathurst Island, 16 042 km2 and over 18 000 km2 including its offshore islands, is located in the Arctic Archipelago. The present position of the North magnetic pole is near its northern end.

The Toronto Islands, 332 ha, are an archipelago of 15 islands in Lake Ontario about 1.6 km south of downtown Toronto.

King William Island, Nunavut, 13 111 km2, in the Arctic Archipelago.

Killiniq Island, 269 km2, is located off the northern tip of the Labrador Peninsula on the south side of the entrance to Hudson Strait. The provincial boundary passes across the island, so that its eastern portion belongs to Newfoundland and the rest is part of Nunavut.

Mansel Island, 112 km long by 48 km wide, is the smallest of 3 islands lying across the entrance to HUDSON BAY. Its topography features a gently undulating limestone lowland with elevations not exceeding 100 m.

Preceded by Basque fishermen, Jacques Cartier arrived at Île Brion in 1534; he named it in honour of the great French admiral. He christened the islands "Les Araynes" (arènes is a French poetry word for sand) because of the endless beaches of sand. Later French fishermen called them Îles Ramées.

Miscou Island, 64 km2, comprises the most eastern part of Gloucester County, New Brunswick, on the west side of the Gulf of St Lawrence and at the entrance to CHALEUR BAY.

Navy Island is the only Canadian island in the Niagara River. The 127.9 ha island is named after a British shipyard (1793) where the first naval vessels to sail the Upper Great Lakes were constructed.

The island is connected by a suspension bridge to the North Shore near CHUTE MONTMORENCY. The largest island in the river after Île de Montréal, it is a relatively level plateau, 137 m at its highest point, and is quite steep-sided.

Belcher Islands are located in southeastern Hudson Bay, 100 km west of Grande Rivière de la Baleine, Québec. The total land mass of about 13 000 km2 is composed of a group of long, narrow islands, lying northeast/southwest along a very extensive coastline.

Valdes Island is one of a range of islands on the outer edge of the Gulf Islands in the Str of Georgia, off the SE coast of Vancouver I, BC. The long, narrow island is heavily wooded and has a few farms. A reserve occupies a third of it and there are several Indigenous burial grounds.

Montréal-based trader Thomas FROBISHER built the first fur trade post in the area in 1776. Competing posts were set up by Alexander MACKENZIE in 1785 and the Hudson's Bay Company in 1799. From here the Athabasca brigades headed northwest. In 1846 Fathers LAFLÈCHE and TACHÉ established a mission.

Silver Islet lies off the tip of Sibley Peninsula, across the harbour from THUNDER BAY , Ont. In 1868 prospectors found nuggets of pure SILVER , and from 1869 to 1884 shafts were sunk deep beneath the rock, which rose only

Amund Ringnes Island, 5255 km2, located between Ellef Ringnes and Axel Heiberg islands in the Arctic Archipelago. It is flat (highest point about 610 m) and windswept; in winter its coasts are virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding ice.

The total number of islands in Canada has never been established, but it is very large. It is estimated that there are some 30 000 islands along the eastern shore of GEORGIAN BAY alone (the Thirty Thousand Islands).

Prince of Wales Island, Nunavut, 33 339 km2, is the eighth-largest island in the Arctic Archipelago.

Prince Charles Island, Nunavut, 9521 km2, 130 km long and 100 km wide, is the largest island in Foxe Basin.

Quadra Island, BC, 270 km2, is situated at the North end of the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and mainland BC, opposite Campbell River.

Borden Island, 2794 km2, is one of the Queen Elizabeth group of islands in the High Arctic. Most of the island is part of the Northwest Territories; the easternmost part of the island is part of Nunavut.