Ipperwash Beach

Ipperwash Beach is a small community in the municipality of Lambton Shores in Southwestern Ontario.

History
The Ipperwash Crisis was an Indigenous land dispute that took place in what was then Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995. Several members of the Stoney Point Chippewas (Anishnaabeg) band occupied the park in order to assert their claim to nearby land which had been expropriated from them during World War II. During a violent confrontation, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) killed unarmed protester Dudley George. In 2009, ownership of the land in the park was transferred to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation.

Get in
By car, there are three ways to get into Ipperwash Beach:
 * West Ipperwash Road-Kettle Point
 * Ipperwash Road-Ravenswood
 * Army Camp Road-Lambton Shores

From Sarnia, it's 60 km east on Highway 402 and then north on County Rd 21 (Forest Rd).

From London (Ontario), it's 76 km northwest on County Road 17.

Get around

 * Bike or walk the beach. But if thinking about travelling outside Ipperwash, best to bring a car.

See

 * Kettle Point Kettles
 * Former Canadian Army Base Stony Point
 * Water Festival at Kettle Point
 * Sand dunes
 * Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation Reserve

Do

 * Ipperwash Beach is one of the longest freshwater beaches in Ontario, with shallow waters that are ideal for children. The water quality is tested weekly from late May until early September. Warnings are posted when the levels of E. coli exceed the guidelines. There are no lifeguards. Only a small portion of the beach is public land; most of the lakeshore is privately owned all the way to the edge of the water. Five access points provide free parking, washrooms, and public access to the lake (on East Parkway Drive, west of Army Camp Road, including a large parking lot)  (on East Parkway Drive, east of Sandy Lane  (at Ipperwash Road and East Parkway Drive)  (on West Parkway Drive, west of Beachway Drive)  (on West Parkway Drive, east of West Ipperwash Road.)


 * Golfing at Indian Hills (18 holes) or Our Ponderosa Campground (9 holes)
 * Hiking the Dunes and Trails

Go next

 * Forest, Ontario
 * Sarnia
 * Grand Bend, Ontario
 * London (Ontario)
 * Port Huron (Michigan)