Community leaders in Saint John are trying to determine how to get visitors to and from Partridge Island.

Hundreds of immigrants who died in the 1800s are buried on Partridge Island, which has been designated a national historic site. It remains off-limits to visitors but that’s about to change.

“It’s kind of a mystery and everybody wants to see what’s over there and I know all my teenagers try to get over, but it’s dangerous,” says Saint John resident Tanya Pettinger.

“So, to make it safe and make it feasible for people to get over would be awesome.”

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty – one of the tens of thousands of Irish-Canadians who can trace their family roots through Partridge Island - set aside $200,000 in this year’s budget to see if the rugged breakwater to the island can be made pedestrian-friendly.

“Access is key and that’s what the $200,000 is going to be used for, for an engineering study to determine access via the breakwater,” says MP Rodney Weston.

A cross-section of community leaders, including representatives from the Jewish and Irish communities, as well as historian Harold Wright and Saint John Mayor Mel Norton, have agreed to participate in a study on access to Partridge Island.

Together, they will make recommendations on how best to get visitors to and from the island, either by breakwater or a boat shuttle.

“The boat thing, it was excellent for older people to go over that way and they had a little dock, but they’ve had security issues with that too, so I think the breakwater is still the best idea,” says Marijke Blok of the Irish-Canadian Cultural Association.

There have been walking tours of the island in the past, but people who know the island best say future public access will need to be limited to protect the historic site.

“Overwhelming, free-for-all access would end up destroying, not only the historic resources, but also the natural environment,” says Wright. “You know, I have some experience, and 500 people a day out there actually caused quite a bit of damage.”

The group is expected to have a recommendation ready to present to the federal government and the finance minister by the fall.