A Dene Community at La Loche
For thousands of years, the Cree, the Inuit and the Dene peoples of the far north lived a nomadic life that revolved around fishing and hunting. In the late 1700's, Dene tribes, also known as Chipewyans or "caribou-eaters," began to move south from their traditional hunting grounds, occupying lands as far south as the Churchill River.

Once a seasonal hunting and fishing settlement, and a crossing point to the Arctic fur trade, the present-day town of La Loche (population 2,000) is northern Saskatchewan's second largest community. The Clearwater River Dene Nation (formerly the Portage La Loche Band from Fort McMurray) has held reserve lands in the region since 1970. Today, La Loche is a well-serviced community founded on mining employment and a growing tourism industry.

Nearby rivers, such as the Clearwater to the north, have long provided an abundant supply of freshwater fish and fishing remains a mainstay of the Dene diet and lifestyle.

The World Comes to Fort McMurray
The rugged interior of northern Alberta may seem an unlikely place to find a thriving, vibrant multicultural community. But since the early 1960's, the massive oil sands projects of Fort McMurray, Alberta (population 36.500), at the confluence of the Clearwater and Athabasca Rivers, have attracted workers from around the world.

In modern-day Fort McMurray, visitors will find one of the most northern Muslim mosques in the world, a Chinese-Canadian school, and an aboriginal Friendship Centre. Filipino-Canadians, French-Canadians and a large contingent of Newfoundlanders have made Fort McMurray their home, joining the aboriginal Crees and Chipewyans whose ancestors have lived in the area for centuries.

The Multicultural Association of Fort McMurray is an umbrella organization which promotes the ethnic diversity of this northern Albertan city.