It’s called Indian Island. Situated outside Denare Beach, it’s where Aboriginal residents of the village lived before relocating to the Amisk Lake reserve.
Indian Island is considered an integral part of the Denare Beach story. And now it’s about to receive its historical due.
Volunteers are working to establish a small display shelter on the picturesque island. It will be lined with photographs, a map of where families lived and other historical artifacts.
“I feel it’s important to instill some pride in our kids, pride in their heritage and their culture,” says Scott McCullum, a key figure in the project.
McCullum, a Denare Beach resident and alderman with the village, expects the concrete foundation for the shelter to be poured by the end of the week.
The log shelter itself is to be completed before summer concludes, with guests to be invited to attend a grand opening at a yet-to-be-determined date.
Organizers hope to have Aboriginal youth assist in the construction of the shelter.
The project is a joint venture of the Beaver Lake Heritage Club, an informal group founded by McCullum, and the Denare Beach Yacht and Cattleman’s Association, of which McCullum is president.
Despite its importance, there are relatively few references to Indian Island in the history books.
In 2009, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, of which the Amisk Lake reserve is a part, briefly touched on the story of the island in a newsletter.
“The Amisk Lake Reserve is relatively new compared to the resort community [of Denare Beach], but that has a lot to do with the First Nations people being uprooted several times over the generations,” read the newsletter. “Most people lived on what was called Indian Island for obvious reasons. When the Government decided to move the people, they moved them to the mainland and thus became squatters next to the growing community.”
It wasn’t until the Treaty Land Entitlement took effect in 1992, the newsletter read, that people “could decide for themselves where and when to buy land to turn into Reserve Status.”
The display shelter will be funded in part with proceeds from this year’s Beaver Lake Day community festival, scheduled for Sunday, July 5.
Some of the proceeds are also earmarked for a pathway for disabled people at Denare Beach’s Main Beach.
