Which Ontario peninsula is the southernmost point of mainland Canada?

Point Pelee is the Ontario peninsula that forms the southernmost point of mainland Canada. It extends southward into Lake Erie from Essex County in southwestern Ontario, ending in a narrow, shifting sand point.

The peninsula is best known today as Point Pelee National Park, established in 1918. Its landscape combines marsh, woodland, beaches, and glacial sands and gravels. The park is a major migration stop because birds crossing Lake Erie can reach the peninsula after flying over open water.

The wording matters: Point Pelee is the southernmost point of the Canadian mainland, but it is not the southernmost land anywhere in Canada. Middle Island, also in Lake Erie and part of the national park, lies farther south. “Pelee” comes from the French pelée, meaning “bald,” a reference to the point’s historically open, treeless appearance.