St Ignace Island is a large uninhabited island in Lake Superior

Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...

, situated off the north shore at the entrance to Nipigon Bay, in Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The English name is a translation of the original French name given it by Jesuit missionaries in honor of their founder St. Ignatius of Loyola. The island is clearly depicted on the 1669 map "Lac Tracy ou Superieur avec les dependances de la Mission du Saint Esprit" attributed to Claude-Jean Allouez

Claude-Jean Allouez

Claude Jean Allouez was a Jesuit missionary and French explorer of North America.Allouez was born in Saint-Didier-en-Velay in the département of Haute-Loire in south-central France. In 1639, he graduated from the College of Le Puy, and became a Jesuit novice in Toulouse, France. In 1655, he was...

 and Jacques Marquette

Jacques Marquette

Father Jacques Marquette S.J. , sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...

.

The second largest island in Lake Superior and the fifth largest in the Great Lakes, St Ignace Island has an area of 274 square km (106 square miles).

Nipigon Strait separates it from the large Black Bay peninsula. St Ignace Island lies next to Simpson Island

Simpson Island

Simpson Island is an island in Lake Superior, situated off the north shore at the entrance to Nipigon Bay, in Northern Ontario, Canada. It is located about five km from the mainland and approximately thirteen km southwest of the locality of Rossport...

. The island is about 20 km from the nearest community, Red Rock, Ontario

Red Rock, Ontario

Red Rock is a township in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, located in the Thunder Bay District. The community of Red Rock is at the mouth of the Nipigon River where it drains into Nipigon Bay on the north shore of Lake Superior. The population as of 2006 is 1,063....

. Mount St Ignace is the highest point (about 569 metres above sea level), much lower than the highest point in Ontario Ishpatina Ridge

Ishpatina Ridge

The Ishpatina Ridge is the highest point of land in the Canadian province of Ontario. At an estimated above sea level, it is a rather low mountain and not that steep, as the surrounding land in the area is already quite elevated. Ishpatina Ridge rises approximately above the immediate area. To...

693 metres.