Wasan Island
A Place of Legacy, Dialogue, and Transformation
For more than two decades, Wasan Island in the middle of the Muskoka Lakes, Canada was home to the Breuninger Foundation’s international work: creating a retreat where leaders, scholars, and changemakers from around the world could come together to share ideas, build trust, and imagine better futures. Between 1999 and 2023, thousands of people visited the island. They left not only with new knowledge but with friendships, inspiration and memories that continue to shape their work around the globe.
Origins and Indigenous Legacy
Long before the Breuninger Foundation arrived, Wasan Island was part of the traditional territory of the Wasauksing Nation. Elders recalled that the Venetian Islands, including Wasan, were visited as places of retreat and reflection. They were not settlements, but special spaces where ceremony, renewal, and reflection could emerge. This understanding resonates deeply with the Foundation’s own philosophy: that we do not own the land, but are stewards for the time we are entrusted with it.
A Cottage Restored
In 1985, Dr. Helga Breuninger, co-founder of the Breuninger Foundation, purchased Wasan Island as a family retreat. The island’s cottages and boathouses had fallen into disrepair, but rather than replace them, Helga restored the historic buildings, preserving a beloved landmark of Lake Rosseau. For more than a decade, Wasan served as a quiet family cottage. But the island’s potential for something greater soon became clear when Volker Hann, working for the Breuninger Foundation, came to visit.
From Family Retreat to Global Dialogue
In 1999, the Breuninger Foundation held its first conference on Wasan Island. The idea was both simple and radical: bring people together in nature, in simple accommodations, where they could live, work, and reflect side by side. Instead of hotel ballrooms, participants met in the Pavilion for body work and dialogue. Instead of retreating to private rooms, they gathered around fireplaces, swam at breaks, were nurtured by dedicated chefs, and shared in the rhythm of island life. The result was transformative. As one guestbook entry captured: “We came as guests and left as friends.”
A Timeline of Milestones
- 1985 – Helga Breuninger purchases Wasan Island as a family retreat.
- 1998 – First conversations about using the island for international gatherings.
- 1999 – The Pavillon is built. Inaugural Breuninger Foundation conference on Universal History.
- 2006 – The Foundation assumes formal ownership of the island.
- 2007 – The Lodge is built, expanding accommodation for up to 22 participants.
- 1999–2025 – Nearly 4,000 people attend Wasan conferences, retreats, and symposia.
- 2023 – The Foundation concludes its work on Wasan Island and continues its civic engagement in Paretz, Germany, in collaboration with the Helga Breuninger Foundation.
- 2023 – 2025 Wasan Island is operated in collaboration with the Centre for Social Innovation Toronto (CSI)
- 2026 – Wasan Island enters its next chapter, opening up to new possibilities as it changes hands.
The Spirit of Wasan
Former heads of state, Nobel laureates, activists, and community leaders all walked Wasan’s trails and docks. Collaborations extended to organizations such as the Community Foundations of Canada, McConnell Family Foundation, Robert Bosch Foundation, BMW Foundation and the Centre for Social Innovation Toronto. What mattered most was not hierarchy, but humanity—the belief that sharing meals, laughter, and silence together creates the conditions for true dialogue. The island itself became part of the process. Sunrise yoga, evenings by the bonfire, conversations by the lake—these “in-between spaces” often shaped the most lasting ideas. Check out our Hall of Fame for a better understanding of people and topics.
Continuing the Legacy
In 2023, after nearly 25 years of international gatherings, the Breuninger Foundation closed its chapter on Wasan Island. The lessons, however, continue. Inspired by Muskoka, the Helga Breuninger Foundation has built a civic campus in Paretz, Germany, to carry forward the principles of community, dialogue, and transformation first tested on Wasan. Wasan Island remains a symbol of what can happen when people come together with intention, openness, curiosity, and respect. With hearts heavy yet full of gratitude and inspiration, the decision was made to let the island begin its next chapter – trusting that the spirit of Wasan will forever drift across its waters and live on in all who were touched by it.