Our Community
We learned how to weave and sell amazing crafts like our baskets, may flowers, axe handles, chairs, and beautiful quill work. These sales helped us to make enough money to provide for our families and also made us more than crafters, we became artists. By the mid 1970s we started to create more business and more opportunities for our community members to advance in the wider community.
The causeway was built in 1974 linking our Island to PEI, and the creation of a new First Nation on PEI called Abegweit First Nation came later that year. We still had special days we celebrated with the rest of PEI, like St. Anne’s Sunday, but we started growing in many good ways.
Our Community
We learned how to weave and sell amazing crafts like our baskets, may flowers, axe handles, chairs, and beautiful quill work. These sales helped us to make enough money to provide for our families and also made us more than crafters, we became artists. By the mid 1970s we started to create more business and more opportunities for our community members to advance in the wider community.
The causeway was built in 1974 linking our Island to PEI, and the creation of a new First Nation on PEI called Abegweit First Nation came later that year. We still had special days we celebrated with the rest of PEI, like St. Anne’s Sunday, but we started growing in many good ways.
Now in Lennox Island we are creating opportunities for teachers, nurses, artists, trades people, entrepreneurs and many, many other individuals. Our children have so many opportunities for them to grow up to be strong and proud of who they are and where they come from.
Business is growing all over the Island from a new fire station and day care centre, to a new emergency shelter and that’s just the beginning. Now is the time to come and see how many new and wonderful things are happening and that do not just benefit this community but the surrounding area as well. Lennox Island businesses are winning regional awards for their amazing work, and acquiring grants federally and provincially to continue upgrading and improving.
The pride this community has in what they have accomplished is evident in the faces of all community members and moving forward this will only keep on growing.
Now in Lennox Island we are creating opportunities for teachers, nurses, artists, trades people, entrepreneurs and many, many other individuals. Our children have so many opportunities for them to grow up to be strong and proud of who they are and where they come from.
Business is growing all over the Island from a new fire station and day care centre, to a new emergency shelter and that’s just the beginning. Now is the time to come and see how many new and wonderful things are happening and that do not just benefit this community but the surrounding area as well. Lennox Island businesses are winning regional awards for their amazing work, and acquiring grants federally and provincially to continue upgrading and improving.
The pride this community has in what they have accomplished is evident in the faces of all community members and moving forward this will only keep on growing.
Lennox Island is moving toward creating more opportunities for the community members who live on and off reserve, moving slowly away from the tight federal guidelines of the Indian Act. We want to see our people have control of their education, their membership, their ability to fish within the moderate livelihood guidelines, and create new and long lasting relationships all across PEI.
We see our Island as a way to learn about our past, and in a fun and interactive way, start taking small but important steps of reconciliation. Our community will continue to grow and develop under its strong leadership, and by supporting our families, we will be creating strong new leaders who will pick up the path when we can no longer walk it.
We are strong, we are resilient and we would love to share our success with each of you when you come and try out all the amazing experiences that Lennox Island has to offer!
Lennox Island is moving toward creating more opportunities for the community members who live on and off reserve, moving slowly away from the tight federal guidelines of the Indian Act. We want to see our people have control of their education, their membership, their ability to fish within the moderate livelihood guidelines, and create new and long lasting relationships all across PEI.
We see our Island as a way to learn about our past, and in a fun and interactive way, start taking small but important steps of reconciliation. Our community will continue to grow and develop under its strong leadership, and by supporting our families, we will be creating strong new leaders who will pick up the path when we can no longer walk it.
We are strong, we are resilient and we would love to share our success with each of you when you come and try out all the amazing experiences that Lennox Island has to offer!
Bideford Shellfish Hatchery
In the 1930s, the Canadian Government operated a thriving oyster hatchery in Bideford, PEI. In the decades that followed, the hatchery was closed and the building sat idle, falling into disrepair. In 2016, The Lennox Island Development Corp purchased the building, deciding to restore and reopen the hatchery! We saw the huge potential it could provide for our local economy and employment.
During the years that the hatchery wasn’t in operation, Island oyster growers had to get their seed from off-Island. This was not ideal for growers nor for the Island’s biosecurity as seed introduced from other provinces may have different diseases and not be compatible in PEI waters.
The Bideford Shellfish Hatchery now provides shellfish growers reliable access to safe, and high-quality seed. In fact, it is the only supplier of premium PEI-based hatchery seed. In addition to supplying a safer product, the hatchery contributes to the industry’s growth in the province and increases employment and economic activity. It currently has three full-time staff, all from the Lennox Island Community, and continues to grow! We have developed a strong market demand for our oyster spawn and have even developed our own leases, creating even more jobs for the community.
Lennox Island's community garden and greenhouse
The garden serves multiple purposes. Of course, to grow fresh food for the community, and it’s also a way to teach and educate community members where their food comes from! Students at John J. Sark Memorial School get involved with the garden and plant beans and other vegetables. We also currently have a few mentor group garden beds, so the community members can learn how to grow their own food using organic practices. The growers can harvest and take everything they grew home!
Lennox Island greenhouse and gardens operate on environmentally-conscious principles. We make our own compost, save seeds and do everything we can in a sustainable manner.
For instance, the greenhouse uses geothermal heating to keep the temperature stable in the colder seasons. The system recovers thermal energy from soil and water below ground and converts it to heat the greenhouse, eliminating the use of non-renewable resources and dramatically lowering the need to generate power.
We see a bright future for the gardens and the greenhouse. We hope to soon have the opportunities to sell produce to the local restaurants, bringing in revenue to our community. We have also recently purchased a few apple trees, hoping to turn an area near our Mawiomi grounds into an orchard for apples and other fruits.