Indigenous-owned resort offers escape to northern wilderness

By Xavier Kataquapit

Sunset Lodge, near Brunswick House First Nation and the town of Chapleau, has enjoyed a successful first year of operation under the new Indigenous owner and is quickly developing into a first rate wilderness experience venue in Northern Ontario.

The lodge, now owned and managed by Kevin Tangie, former chief of Brunswick House and current Economic Development Officer for Chapleau Cree First Nation, had a good first summer season in 2018 with only word of mouth promotion.

“I am pleased with the steady development of Sunset Lodge and happy that this resort is so easy for people to get to at any time of the year,” said Tangie.

The Sunset Lodge was handed down to Tangie through family connections. Since 1963, the lodge has catered to mostly hunting and fishing enthusiasts.

Although Tangie plans to maintain the operation with these traditional pursuits in mind, he also has plans on promoting the lodge as a wilderness experience with an emphasis on teaching and learning experiences for young people.

“More and more communities, organizations and groups are realizing the value in providing our First Nation youth and non-Native young people with programming that involves wilderness environments, traditional and survival cultural teachings and life skill workshops.

“The Sunset Lodge is the perfect environment for this type of programming and it meets such an important need in this modern day of constant bombardment with technology, peer pressure and the complexity of dealing with growing up,” Tangie explained.

Last summer the lodge hosted two groups of First Nations youth from Brunswick House First Nation. These sessions for the youth featured land-based teaching and a power point presentation on language, the medicine wheel, grandfather teachings, as well as a craft component and survival activities instruction. This group is slated for attendance this summer also.

“It was very satisfying to see the youth enjoying a day out here at the lake and to know that they were learning something valuable. I saw them learning how to start a fire from scratch and how to prepare for a trip into the wilderness and what items to include in a pack. They also participated in bird house painting and I was amazed at some of the creations they came up with. They had a good lunch, shared stories on the land and there was much laughter,” Tangie said.

There is plans for more youth programming, as well in promoting the lodge as a getaway and workshop venue.

The cabins are set up for self catering, with stoves and fridges, but catering can be provided for groups if the need arises.

Sunset Lodge is located on Unegam Lake 40 kilometers south of Chapleau off of Highway 129 on Sunset View Road.

The main complex is 85 feet by 35 feet and can accommodate many people for workshops, classroom-style learning and gathering needs. Six cabins are available and they have indoor plumbing, as well as kitchens. All kitchen and cooking utensils, as well as bedding is provided.

The grounds are ideal for all sorts of outside events, including campfires, gatherings and wilderness learning and it has swimming with a designated beach area.

Hunting and fishing enthusiasts have been coming to the camp for decades and Unegam Lake is stocked with walleye as part of a fish hatchery stocking program provided by Brunswick House First Nation. There are also two trout lakes nearby. The lodge caters to families with inclusive packages for vacations in a pristine setting.

“This is a seasonal operation at this point, but I am planning for the future to expand things and move towards a year round resort. I would like to develop more on site experiences and hope some day to have a zip line set up that would combine the thrill of the ride with a dip in our clean, fresh northern lake,” said Tangie.

In addition to the cabin accommodations, the lodge also provides boat rentals and has bait for sale. The lake is surrounded by pine trees and provides many opportunities for dazzling northern star-lit skies, lucky northern light nights and wildlife sightings.

For more information and to arrange a booking you can call (249) 493-0047 or contact the Sunset Lodge on their Facebook page by searching for @sunsetlodgeandcabins