Lac La Biche ( ) is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Lac La Biche County Lac La Biche County is a specialized municipality within Division No. 12 in northern Alberta, Canada. It was established through the amalgamation of the Town of Lac La Biche and Lakeland County in 2007. History Lac La Biche County was origin ...

within northeast Alberta, Canada. It is located approximately northeast of the provincial capital of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. Previously incorporated as a town, Lac La Biche amalgamated with

Lakeland County Lakeland County was a municipal district in northern Alberta, Canada. It existed for just over nine years from 1998 to 2007. History Lakeland County was originally formed as a municipal district on July 1, 1998 through the separation of lands ...

to form Lac La Biche County on August 1, 2007.

Etymology

The indigenous peoples of the area referred to the lake as

Elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

Lake ( Nêhiyawêwin: ''wâwâskesiwisâkahikan'',

Dënesųłiné The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified ...

: ''tzalith tway''). The earliest Europeans translated this name into English as "

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

Lake" and in French as "Lac la biche" ("Lake of the doe"). Over time, the French name came to be used in English as well.

History

Historic voyageur highway

Lac La Biche was on the historical

voyageur The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ...

route that linked the Athabaskan region to Hudson Bay. David Thompson and George Simpson used the fur trade route via the Beaver River from the main

Methye Portage The Methye Portage or Portage La Loche in northwestern Saskatchewan was one of the most important portages in the old fur trade route across Canada. The portage connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east to the Atlantic. It wa ...

route that reached the

Athabasca River The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') is a river in Alberta, Canada, which originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is pro ...

. Thompson was the first known European to record his sojourn on Lac La Biche. Thompson, who referred to the lake as Red Deers Lake, arrived October 4, 1798 and overwintered there. He entered copious notes in his diary on the Nahathaway (the Cree), their customs, traditions, and the Western Forest Land, including the large supply of whitefish and beaver.

Fur trade posts

Although the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

-based

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

was already active in the area, Thompson established the first permanent settlement in Lac La Biche on his 1798 trip, a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

trading post which he named Red Deers Lake House. In 1799,

Peter Fidler Peter Fidler (16 August 1769 – 17 December 1822) was a British surveyor, map-maker, fur trader and explorer who had a long career in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in what later became Canada. He was born in Bolsover, Derbyshir ...

arrived in the area after Thompson's departure, and as the post. This new structure was known as Greenwich House. It was also abandoned by 1801, but Lac La Biche was established as a permanent place of residence for some

French-Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...

and

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

freetraders and their families. Fur trade activity continued unbroken, due to the importance of the portage, and Lac La Biche was visited by fur traders such as

Gabriel Franchère Gabriel Franchère ( 3 November 1786 –12 April 1863) was a French Canadian author and explorer of the Pacific Northwest. Franchère was born in Montreal to Gabriel Franchère (4 March 1752 - 16 May 1832) and Marie-Félicité Morin (20 August 176 ...

and

Ross Cox Ross Cox (1793–1853) was an Irish clerk in the Pacific Fur Company and the North West Company, later writing of his experiences. Life Ross Cox was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1793, the son of Samuel Cox and Margaret Thorpe. He emigrated to Amer ...

. David Thompson returned in 1812. Another temporary Hudson's Bay Company post was erected in 1817, but the portage was abandoned by the company in 1825. Almost no written records exist for the following two decades.

Oblate mission

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

mission was established in 1853 by Oblate missionaries. Historian

Paul Robert Magocsi Paul Robert Magocsi (born January 26, 1945 in Englewood, New Jersey) is an American professor of history, political science, and Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. He has been with the university since 1980, and became a F ...

notes how the settlement grew over the next few decades: The Lac La Biche Mission is now a National Historic Site and Provincial Historic Resource. It was the site of one of the first residential schools in Alberta.

Treaties and insurrection

The Government of Canada sought to extinguish the First Nations' title to the land across the prairies, in order to open the land up to settlement.

Treaty 6 Treaty 6 is the sixth of the numbered treaties that were signed by the Canadian Crown and various First Nations between 1871 and 1877. It is one of a total of 11 numbered treaties signed between the Canadian Crown and First Nations. Specif ...

was negotiated in 1876 and covered the lands to the south of Lac La Biche. The new Hudson's Bay Company post at Lac La Biche was looted on April 26, 1885 during the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (french: Rébellion du Nord-Ouest), also known as the North-West Resistance, was a resistance by the Métis people under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Nations Cree and Assiniboine of the District of S ...

by members of Big Bear's band. Their plan to loot the nearby Roman Catholic Mission was stopped by the local Cree and Métis population. Métis Scrip Records show many residents of the area were awarded scrip by the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

from 1885 until the 1920s.

Treaty 8 Treaty 8, which concluded with the June 21, 1899 signing by representatives of the Crown and various First Nations of the Lesser Slave Lake area, is the most comprehensive of the one of eleven Numbered Treaties. The agreement encompassed a la ...

, covering the lands north of Lac La Biche, was negotiated in 1899. This set the stage for rail and settlement.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Lac La Biche had a population of 3,120 living in 1,198 of its 1,458 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 3,320. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Lac La Biche had a population of 2,314 living in 895 of its 1,048 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 2,520. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016. Lac La Biche County's 2016 municipal census counted a population of 2,682 in Lac La Biche, a change from its 2013 municipal census population of 2,895.

Economy

The community is supported by the

oil patch An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, logging,

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

, agriculture, and

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

. Jamie Davis Towing (featured on the

Highway Thru Hell ''Highway Thru Hell'' is a Canadian documentary TV series that follows the operations of Jamie Davis Motor Truck & Auto Ltd., a heavy vehicle rescue and recovery towing company based in Hope, British Columbia. Quiring Towing, Aggressive Towing, ...

reality show) has an operation in Lac La Biche.

Attractions

Lac La Biche is home to the Lac La Biche Golf Course, while numerous lakes and campgrounds provide outdoor recreation opportunities in the area, including

Lakeland Provincial Park Lakeland Provincial Park and Lakeland Provincial Recreation Area are located east of Lac La Biche, Alberta, Canada, in Lac La Biche County. The park contains numerous lakes, such as Kinnaird, Jackson, McGuffin, Dabbs, Shaw, and Blackett, as well ...

to the east. Lac La Biche County has a small museum dedicated to sharing the history of the area, it is located in the Jubilee Hall building, beside the recreation grounds where the baseball diamonds, splash park, and green space are also located.

Government

The Hamlet of Lac La Biche comprises Lac La Biche County's Ward 7. Omer Moghrabi was elected as mayor in 2017, Councillors Lorin Tkachuk and Colin Cote represent Ward 7 on Lac La Biche County Council. Provincially, the community has been represented by every major political party in Alberta history (expand table for details).

Infrastructure

Aerial view of Lac La Biche, Alberta, taken from a Thomas Cook Airlines Airbus A330 en-route from Edmonton to London Gatwick

Lac La Biche Airport (YLB) is located west of Lac La Biche. It features a fully serviced paved airstrip.

Education

The main campus of

Portage College Portage College is a public board-governed community college in Lac La Biche, Alberta, Canada. Portage has seven campus locations throughout northeastern Alberta. History In 1968, Alberta NewStart was established in Lac La Biche as part of the f ...

is located in Lac La Biche. The college has an ACAC hockey team named the Portage Voyageurs. The team's first season began in the fall of 2008. ;Northern Lights School Division No. 69 * Vera M. Welsh Elementary School (K-3) * Aurora Middle School (4–8) * J.A. Williams High School (9–12) * Lac La Biche Off-Campus (8–12) ;Other * Light of Christ Catholic School (Preschool-Grade 11) * École Sainte-Catherine (K-4)

Media

Media outlets serving Lac La Biche and area include the ''Lac La Biche Post'' weekly newspaper and the '' Boom 103.5'' radio station.

References

Sources

* * * This is the full-text diary of David Thompson which includes numerous references to the Nahathaway in general and to the First Nations of the Lac la Biche region in particular. He describes their belief in life after death and consequences on the human soul for crimes and misdeeds. {{Authority control Designated places in Alberta Former towns in Alberta Hamlets in Alberta Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Lac La Biche County Populated places disestablished in 2007