What is Alberta's oldest European established settlement?
Channel: RhPAP
Date: 2021-02-01

At first, you might be inclined to think it is somewhere in southern Alberta. But in actual fact, it's in the far northeast corner of the province, about 125 kilometres as the crow flies, south of the Northwest Territories border.

The community of Fort Chipewyan is Alberta's oldest European established community. 

Fort Chipewyan, or Fort Chip as her friends call her, was established in 1788.  

Back then fur traders came from the east in canoes. Fort Chip was established by one of them, Roderick McKenzie of the NorthWest Company. He was a cousin of the famous explorer Sir Alexander McKenzie.

Why did he pick the west end of Lake Athabasca? Well, from there you can access the Athabasca, Peace and Slave Rivers. It was like a massive highway interchange for canoes.

“It became the gateway down to the McKenzie, the Arctic Ocean and also across to the Peace River and the Pacific Ocean,” said Maureen Clarke, 

Today, about 850 people live in Fort Chipewyan, and most belong to one of three indigenous groups.

Here’s one more fun fact.

“Fort Chip had one of the highest birth rates of all the fur trading forts," says Clarke.  "And that’s because the women had access to a high protein diet with the fish in the lake here.”