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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 4:47 PM
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Island Life

The population of the world's islands is over 730 million, approximately 11% of the world's total population. The three islands with the largest populations are Java (139.5 million), Honshu (104 million), and Great Britain (61.7 million).

Canada's most populated Island (by far) is Montreal Island (1.9 million), ranking 37th in the world. Rounding out the top 10, next is Vancouver Island (750,000, ranked 69th), Newfoundland (480,000, ranked 80th), Île Jésus (339,000, ranked 103rd), Lulu Island (168,162, ranked 145th), Cape Breton Island (147,454, ranked 159th), Prince Edward Island (140,402, ranked 163rd), Île Perrot (30,075), Nuns' Island (16,210), and Grande-Île (15,947).

Have you lived on an Island, or on several islands? For what percentage of your life? Were there any aspects of being on an Island that affected your psychology or had a noticeable effect on your mobility?

I spent about 27 years living on the Island of Montreal (West Island, NDG, CDN, downtown, St. Laurent), and 4 years living on Lulu Island (Steveston). Can't say my psychology was impacted, but yeah, getting on/off these islands was often a pain in the ass (clogged bridges/tunnels, relative lack of transit options).
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 5:32 PM
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My neighbourhood isn't an island although it is surrounded by river on three sides and a busy railway line on another, with the only ways in and out involving either a couple of bridges or railway underpasses. So when there is a traffic snarl at one of those choke-points... holy hannah, you certainly feel like you're stranded on an island.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 5:37 PM
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Alot of these are bullshit islands. Being surrounded by a river hardly counts as being an actual island, by this logic I could whip out a hose and create a new island in my back yard.

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Have you lived on an Island, or on several islands? For what percentage of your life? Were there any aspects of being on an Island that affected your psychology or had a noticeable effect on your mobility?
I lived in newfoundland for most of my life (except 18months I've spent in Toronto).

Lived on both the eastern and western coasts of the island.

It's obviously shapes pretty much everything about your life.

As a child it never seemed like a big deal because of what I thought was an affordable ferry ride.

However as an adult living in st john's the feeling that we live in the middle of the north atlantic is usually the norm. The big difference between here and the mainland is the idea that things transition from one place to the next. While I am by heritage and by the location of my home town being very near cape breton, the reality is st john's is just as isolated from the maritimes as it is from alberta. It's odd as I have way more friends from home live in halifax then living Stjohn's. However I also have connections to BC, Toronto and Alberta. So I get the feeling that I just live on the continent and not really any part of the country in particular.

I know much of what I'm posting is disjointed, but all I can say is the sense of where things is too feels so different when on the mainland.

EDIT: A better indication of how I feel is this. My home region is absolutely fucked, so is this province for the most part. So in head I can't picture living here, also I don't know where I'll end up when I goto the mainland. So I got this vague sense of where I live.

Last edited by Stryker; Oct 11, 2016 at 5:55 PM.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 5:48 PM
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I lived on an island for many years, but it wasn't by choice.

The good news is I got to share it with 2 lovely ladies..One from Kansas, and the other was a budding movie star.

Good times all in all..Lots of antics..I wish I had more on film though..It was a long time ago, so all I have is some old black and white, and maybe some colour when it first came out..
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 8:55 PM
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I am a rock, I am an island.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 9:18 PM
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i thought change was good?
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 9:20 PM
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Being surrounded by a river hardly counts as being an actual island
Thanks for your perspective. But why not? It does for Montrealers who live on island (often looking down their noses at their brethren on the North and South Shores, or those on "off islands" of Ile Perot and Ile Jesus.

Traffic is most certainly an issue for people on Montreal Island.

What about Manhattan? Would the built form of New York bear any resemblance without the land constraints of the island?
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 9:36 PM
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I think a major difference is the fact that in Montreal/Vancouver (and NYC for that matter), the rivers are easily crossed by multiple bridges and the islands are hemmed in by other populated areas in close proximity. Montreal itself is in the middle of the QC/Windsor corridor. Places like Newfoundland, Vancouver Island, and even PEI/Cape Breton (which are geographically large and are each connected to the mainland by a single bridge) feel way more isolated and disconnected from the continent. I've never been to the Gulf Islands but I would imagine they're like this too. Wolfe Island in Ontario also kind of sounds like this.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 9:39 PM
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Sure, there are certainly different magnitudes of Island-ness. PEI and NFLD probably rank highest in this regard, perhaps followed by some of the Islands in the Georgia Straits (Gulf Islands), and of course, Vancouver Island.

Living in Richmond, a large part of that municipality's identity stemmed from its status as an island (techically, part of New Westminster encroached on Lulu Island, and Richmond also took in Sea Island), but when you though of Richmond, it was Lulu island.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 9:42 PM
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
Sure, there are certainly different magnitudes of Island-ness. PEI and NFLD probably rank highest in this regard, perhaps followed by some of the Islands in the Georgia Straits (Gulf Islands), and of course, Vancouver Island.
The Gulf Islands are each in their own little worlds and have (or did have before all the cottage development of the last 25 years) a very different outlook on life from Vancouver Island and especially from the lower mainland.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 9:43 PM
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i thought change was good?
Change is good. Paper is better.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 9:48 PM
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It's just hard for me to imagine the "island factor" being really comparable between somewhere like Sea Island vs. Saturna or something. While the metro-area-islands might incorporate island status into their identity, there's a certain "physically cut off from the rest of civilization by a vast obstacle" factor that I think the more "remote" islands share with mountain towns in BC more than they do with islands that are central parts of major metro areas.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 10:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Hali87 View Post
It's just hard for me to imagine the "island factor" being really comparable between somewhere like Sea Island vs. Saturna or something. While the metro-area-islands might incorporate island status into their identity, there's a certain "physically cut off from the rest of civilization by a vast obstacle" factor that I think the more "remote" islands share with mountain towns in BC more than they do with islands that are central parts of major metro areas.
Indeed. Crossing to Richmond is no different than crossing the North Saskatchewan River, really. Crossing to PEI or similar is entirely different.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 10:20 PM
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Canada's most populated Island (by far) is Montreal Island (1.9 million), ranking 37th in the world.
I don't want to be picky, but the Island of Montréal has passed the 2M mark in 2015. 2.025M in 2016.

The second most populated river island in the world, ahead of Manhattan.
The most populous of any island in the world on fresh water.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 10:30 PM
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Sure, there are certainly different magnitudes of Island-ness. PEI and NFLD probably rank highest in this regard, perhaps followed by some of the Islands in the Georgia Straits (Gulf Islands), and of course, Vancouver Island.

Living in Richmond, a large part of that municipality's identity stemmed from its status as an island (techically, part of New Westminster encroached on Lulu Island, and Richmond also took in Sea Island), but when you though of Richmond, it was Lulu island.
If it's part of the metro it's not a real island, as the whole point of being a real island for any purpose other than semantics is that there is discontinuity in human geography.



If you want to talk about how islands are fascinating divisions within a metro as strictly "interesting", it's cool as fuck.

However if your trying to suggest that there is a fundamental difference between a subdivision of the city that is separated by rivers on both sides(making it an island) and a subdivision separated by one river and a wetland, your out to lunch.

Point being if a geographical feature like a wetland, mountain, political boundary, or series of rivers makes a part of a metro unique cool beans, however trying to say that only a series of rivers counts is insane.

When I think of being on an island, I immediately think of things like the trees, wildlife, history etc all being very different.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 10:33 PM
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Île Jésus, (Laval) population 430k. yes, it's an island
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 10:42 PM
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Alot of these are bullshit islands. Being surrounded by a river hardly counts as being an actual island, by this logic I could whip out a hose and create a new island in my back yard.
Sorry, wouldn't count! Man-made waterways don't typically create islands. Otherwise most of southern and eastern Ontario would be islands thanks to the Trent-Severn and Rideau canals. Your island would be about as legitimate as Petoria. Not that that's a bad thing.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 10:51 PM
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île de Montréal (île Bizard is part of Montréal)
île Jésus
île Perrot
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield

for a total of 2.5M people. not bad.
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 10:58 PM
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Have you lived on an Island, or on several islands? For what percentage of your life? Were there any aspects of being on an Island that affected your psychology or had a noticeable effect on your mobility?
I've lived in Newfoundland from 1981-1999, 2003-2005, and 2012-present.

I think being an island is a significant part of the reason Newfoundland's identity exists, and to the strength that it does. So, in that regard, it definitely has a significant impact on my psyche.

But considering only individual traits, not cultural ones, I don't think it has had a tremendous impact.

I'm oddly excited by land borders - they always fascinate me; where they are, why they're there, etc.

I never did get used to the idea of easy travel to another urban centre. I always set aside too much time, packed too much, etc. And I never got used to the idea that there could be something happening somewhere else nearby. When I lived in Kenora, I never went to Winnipeg for anything, even though it was only a couple of hours away. It just never occurred to me that this was a thing I could do - drive into a nearby city and do things, go to events, whatever. On an island, especially one as isolated as ours, I'm used to living in our own Moscow, or Stockholm, or whatever else you like. I'm not used to there being other options, and certainly not more or better options, elsewhere but within easy reach. The whole driving out for a quick visit to cottage country/wilderness thing exists here, that I'm very used to, but not to another urban centre.

It took me a long time in Winnipeg to make really basic adjustments to diversity that I imagine come pretty easily for people raised in less homogeneous societies. None of them were related to tolerance or acceptance or anything, all of that is fine, but just things like... hearing a name like Kowalchuk or Zienkiewicz and having absolutely no idea what people were even saying, and certainly no idea how to even begin to spell names like that. It was just... sounds. I saw nothing in my mind's eye but mashed potatoes.

And things tend to be shorter on islands. It was really hard to go from being able to see over most people's heads in a crowd to being the height of an average man's shoulder. It almost gave me a complex, going from a relatively imposing figure to "OMG, adorbs!".
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Old Posted Oct 11, 2016, 11:02 PM
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I am born and Lived from 1988 to 1997 on île-Jésus (Laval) in a district named Vimont, exactly in the middle of the island.

I would like to just clear it up : I am not related in any case to the Clocktower nor that I have familly living there...

My honour is saved.
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PROVINCE OF QUEBEC ==> 9 000 000
MONTREAL METRO ==> 4 550 000
QUEBEC CITY METRO ==> 878 000
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