Colville Lake (''K'áhbamį́túé'' meaning "ptarmigan net place") is a settlement corporation located in the

Sahtu Region The Sahtu Region is an administrative region in Canada's Northwest Territories. Coterminous with the settlement region described in the 1993 Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement, of the Sahtu is collectively owned by its I ...

of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, Canada. The community is located north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

, on a lake of the same name, and is northeast of

Norman Wells Norman Wells (Slavey language: ''Tłegǫ́hłı̨'' "where there is oil") is a town located in the Sahtu Region, Northwest Territories, Canada. The town, which hosts the Sahtu Regional office, is situated on the north side of the Mackenzie Riv ...

. This settlement is the administrative office of the Behdzi Ahda

band government In Canada, an Indian band (), First Nation band () or simply band, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the ''Indian Act'' (i.e. status Indians or First Nations). Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in ...

. The community is likely named for

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

Governor

Andrew Colvile Andrew Colvile (born Andrew Wedderburn; 6 November 1779 – 3 February 1856) was a Scottish businessman, notable as the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, a huge organisation set up for the North American fur trade but also instrumenta ...

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Colville Lake had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. The GNWT has reported that the majority, 148 people, were

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

Sahtu The Sahtú or North Slavey (historically called ''Hare'' or ''Hareskin Indians'') are a Dene First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the vicinity of Great Bear Lake (''Sahtú'', the source of their nam ...

Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

. They are represented by the Behdzi Ahda' First Nation and belong to the

Sahtu Dene Council The Sahtu Dene Council is a council that represents the Sahtu people of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The council signed a comprehensive land claim agreement in 1993 with the Government of Canada, the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land ...

Geography and climate

Colville Lake is located by air, northwest of

Yellowknife Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and the only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of t ...

. The terrain is characterized by black spruce and tends to be small and sparse. Other vegetation includes mosses, lichens, grasses and alders.Communities ''Economic Reference Library; Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment''. pg 13.(2006). The winter months begin in October and last until April. The month of May is considered the spring or breakup period. By the end of May or Early June the lakes and rivers are normally free of ice, although this varies. June, July and August are considered the summer months and temperatures range in the mid twenties. At times the temperature has climbed into the low thirties. By late September, freeze up is well underway again.

History

The community of Colville Lake is the ancestral homeland of the Hareskin (

) Dene who still inhabit the area. The Hareskin Dene were never very numerous, with a population of less than one thousand people, living in six or seven bands, at the time of European contact. The Hareskins were a peaceful group, known for their use of small animals such as the

Arctic hare The Arctic hare (''Lepus arcticus'') is a species of hare highly adapted to living in the Arctic tundra and other icy biomes. The Arctic hare survives with shortened ears and limbs, a small nose, fat that makes up close to 20% of its body, and a ...

. Located within the traditional homeland of the North Slave Dene tribe, Colville Lake is a completely traditional community in every sense. Although Father Émile Petitot brought Christianity to the area in 1864, organization of the community did not occur until 1962 when a Roman Catholic mission was established by Bern Will Brown. Brown came north from US in 1948 as a priest, then as painter and bush pilot.

Today

Today you can visit the site of the mission Our Lady of the Snows. One main attraction is a fishing lodge. Colville Lake is home to grayling,

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

and pike fish. There is also a small art gallery and museum located next to the lodge. Rounding off the town, there is a bed and breakfast and a retail store.

Services

Kapami

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

is the only food retailer and hosts the post office for the community. Locals either resort to hunting, purchasing food flown in or drive to Norman Wells or Fort Good Hope when winter roads are in use. Colville Lake School is the only school providing K-12 education needs. The main log building houses junior grades and portable for older students. The community has a basic health station staffed by a nurse with telehealth access from Norman Wells. Medivac transfer for patients when advance care is required either to Norman Wells (health clinic) or Yellowknife (Stanton Territorial Hospital). There is no local policing and only month patrol from

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

detachment in

Fort Good Hope Fort Good Hope (formerly ''Fort Hope'', ''Fort Charles'', also now known as the ''Charter Community of K'asho Got'ine''), is a charter community in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located on a peninsula between Jack ...

. Colville Lake had no fire services and became a concern after 2014 fire and previous fires were left to burn out. Since then the community is staffed by a single mini pumper.

Transportation

Colville Lake/Tommy Kochon Aerodrome is located outside the community. The airport connects with

and

only. Within the community is Colville Lake Water Aerodrome, also known as Colville Lake Seaplane Base, using the lake as landing area. This facility is owned and operated by Kapami Coop with the help of Arctic Co-operatives Limited. The old airstrip is located inside Coville Lake with old runway (10/28) still visible. Since closing in 2012 solar panels have been built at end of the former runway to provide alternate power supply to Colville Lake. Roads in Colville Lake provide local access only. A

winter road A winter road is a seasonal road only usable during the winter, i.e. it has to be re-built every year. This road typically runs over land and over frozen lakes, rivers, swamps, and sea ice. Segments of a winter road that cross an expanse of flo ...

connects with

for about 4-5 months of the year.

References

External links

NWT Tourism for Colville Lake
{{Communities of Northwest Territories Communities in the Sahtu Region Dene communities Populated places in Arctic Canada Road-inaccessible communities of the Northwest Territories