Sucker Creek Cemetery Manitoulin Island sacred resting place

On my recent trip to Manitoulin Island, after a beautiful fall walk along the Cup and Saucer trail, I passed a very small and simple cemetery on my way back to Providence Bay. Something about it caught my eye, and I felt compelled to stop and take a closer look.

Sucker Creek Cemetery is an Ojibwe burial ground on Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation’s reserve.  It’s tied to the community’s history: back in 1862, the Crown set up reserves here after treaties with Indigenous groups like the Ojibwe, who had lived on the island for thousands of years. The name comes from a creek full of suckers and smelts nearby.