Cockburn Island (Ontario)

The island contains approximately 90 cottages that are owned and occupied by families as vacation properties, and thus has an estimated population of 200 to 300 people in the summer; however, the island's sole permanent year round resident is a maintenance employee of the township, and thus its official census population has sometimes been recorded as zero due to Statistics Canada practices of rounding off the populations of communities smaller than 15 people. Historically, however, the island had a permanent resident population of up to 1,000 people, and evolved from a conventionally populated settlement into a seasonal cottage country area after the island's regular ferry service was discontinued in the 1960s. or for Isaac Cockburn, a descendant of his who was the island's first major landowner. The first settlement on the island comprised a small number of family farms in the area known as Scotch Block, the township government was incorporated in 1881,

Schools were built at Tolsmaville in 1882, and at Scotch Block in 1884. Chappell retired from his role in 2000 and was succeeded by Darren Rogers, who also lived on island as of 2014; Community events include an annual fish fry in August, and a community potluck on Labour Day weekend. A small portion of the north west side of the island is the Zhiibaahaasing 19 Indian reserve of the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation. On January 2, 2010, it was dissolved and added to Cockburn Island Township for census purposes. However, the reserve land itself is still set aside for the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation.

The island is not currently connected to either Manitoulin or Drummond Islands, or to the mainland, by bridge or ferry service; its only transportation access is across the water by private boat in summer or snowmobile in the winter, or air travel in a float plane or a helicopter. In the early 2020s, the township undertook a project to realign a road near Tolsmaville for public safety, retaining rock for a future project to repair the breakwater protecting the marina.

The township's current reeve is Brenda Jones, who succeeded David Haight in the 2014 Manitoulin District municipal elections. Due to the island's lack of a year round resident population, the township offices are located on the mainland in Thessalon in Algoma District, although its historic on island township hall is maintained as a community facility.