Lac La Biche ( ) is an

urban service area The province of Alberta, Canada, is divided into ten types of local governments – urban municipalities (including cities, towns, villages and summer villages), specialized municipalities, rural municipalities (including municipal distr ...

Lac La Biche County Lac La Biche County is a List of specialized municipalities in Alberta, specialized municipality within Division No. 12, Alberta, Division No. 12 in northern Alberta, Canada. It was established through the amalgamation of the Lac La Biche, Alberta ...

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

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. Previously incorporated as a town, Lac La Biche amalgamated with Lakeland County to form Lac La Biche County on August 1, 2007. Between 2007 and 2017, it was designated as a hamlet within Lac La Biche County.

Etymology

The indigenous peoples of the area refer to the lake as Elk Lake (, ). 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 (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

Lake" and in French as "" ("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 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 North American fur trade, fur trade route across Canada. The portage connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east ...

route that reached the

Athabasca River The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') in Alberta, Canada, 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 protected in nationa ...

. 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 is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

-based

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

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), 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 ...

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 nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...

and

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

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 Canadians, 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-Félicit ...

and Ross Cox. 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. On 26 April 1885, during the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (), was an armed rebellion of Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising of Cree and Assiniboine mostly in the District of Saskatchewan, against the Government of Canada, Canadian government. Important events i ...

, the Hudson's Bay Company post in Lac La Biche was raided by

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

forces.

Oblate mission

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

mission was established in 1853 by Oblate missionaries. Historian Paul Robert Magocsi 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 The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

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. Specifi ...

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

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 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 eleven Numbered Treaties. The agreement encompassed a land m ...

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

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population 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 ...

, Lac La Biche had a population of 3,215 living in 1,236 of its 1,505 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, logging,

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

, agriculture, and

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

. Jamie Davis Towing (featured on the Highway Thru Hell 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 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

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.

Notes

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