Lac La Biche, Alberta

Lac La Biche (Template:IPAc-en ) is an urban service area in Lac La Biche County within northeastern Alberta, Canada.

It is approximately northeast of the provincial capital, Edmonton. 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 (Template:Langx, Template:Langx). The earliest Europeans translated this name into English as "Red Deer Lake" and in French as "" ("lake of the doe"). Over time, the French name came to be used in English as well.

History

File:LLB Thompson statue.jpg

Statue of David Thompson

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 route that reached the Athabasca River. 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.Template:Sfn

Fur trade posts

Although the Montreal-based North West Company 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 trading postTemplate:Sfn which he named Red Deers Lake House.Template:Sfn In 1799, Peter Fidler 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 and Métis 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 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 Hudson's Bay Company post in Lac La Biche was raided by Cree forces.

Oblate mission

File:Lac La Biche Mission.JPG

Lac La Biche Mission

A Roman Catholic mission was established in 1853 by Oblate missionaries. Historian Paul Robert Magocsi notes how the settlement grew over the next few decades:

"The French-speaking element, mostly from Red River, coalesced around the Mission. It formed a community that was tightly knit, even though the influence of the church lessened and the trend was towards marrying out and establishing nuclear families. Living was largely off the land; logging and road work provided intermittent wage labour. Many of the adults were trilingual, speaking French and Cree as well as English."Template:Sfn

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 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 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.Template:Sfn

Treaty 8, 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, 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 Template:Cvt, it had a population density of Template:Pop density 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 Template:Pop density 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.

Panethnic groups in the Dissolved Municipality (former Town) of Lac La Biche (1971−2021)

Panethnic group	2021		2016		2006		2001		1996		1991		1986Template:Rp		1981		1971
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
EuropeanTemplate:Efn	1,445		1,055		1,545		1,450		1,540		1,370		1,480		1,270		1,200
Indigenous	775		695		925		925		590		815		725		610		345
Southeast AsianTemplate:Efn	300		135		0		0		10		20		0		—	—	—	—
Middle EasternTemplate:Efn	225		135		180		290		265		220		305		225		160
South Asian	85		50		10		0		0		0		0		0		0
East AsianTemplate:Efn	20		25		10		0		10		10		10		0		0
African	20		35		0		0		85		35		30		10		0
Latin American	20		0		0		15		0		10		0		0		0
Other/multiracialTemplate:Efn	15		0		10		10		25		—	—	—	—	—	—	5
Total responses	2,925		2,115		2,670		2,690		2,525		2,480		2,550		2,115		1,715
Total population	3,120		3,320		2,758		2,776		2,611		2,549		2,553		2,007		1,791
Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses

Economy

The community is supported by the oil patch, logging, forestry, agriculture, and commercial fishing.

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

MLAs representing Lac La Biche
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Part of Victoria (N.W.T.)
3rd	1894–1898	rowspan=3 Template:Canadian party colour|	Frank Tims	Independent
4th	1898–1902	Jack Shera
5th	1902–1905
Part of Victoria
1st	1905–1909	Template:Canadian party colour|	Francis Walker	Liberal
Part of Pakan
2nd	1909–1913	Template:Canadian party colour|	Prosper-Edmond Lessard	Liberal
Part of Beaver River
3rd	1913–1917	rowspan=3 Template:Canadian party colour|	Wilfrid Gariépy	Liberal
4th	1917–1921
5th	1921–1926	Joseph Dechêne
6th	1926–1930	Template:Canadian party colour|	John Delisle	United Farmers
7th	1930–1935	Template:Canadian party colour|	Henry Dakin	Liberal
8th	1935–1940	rowspan=4 Template:Canadian party colour|	Lucien Maynard	Social Credit
9th	1940–1944
10th	1944–1948
11th	1948–1952	Harry Lobay
Part of Lac La Biche
12th	1952–1955	Template:Canadian party colour|	Harry Lobay	Social Credit
13th	1955–1959	rowspan=4 Template:Canadian party colour|	Michael Maccagno	Liberal
14th	1959–1963
15th	1963–1967
16th	1967–1968
	1968		Vacant
	1968–1971	Template:Canadian party colour|	Damase Bouvier	Social Credit
Part of Lac La Biche-McMurray
17th	1971–1972	Template:Canadian party colour|	Damase Bouvier	Social Credit
	1972–1975	Template:Canadian party colour|		Independent
18th	1975–1979	rowspan=3 Template:Canadian party colour|	Ron Tesolin	Progressive Conservative
19th	1979–1982	Norm Weiss
20th	1982–1986
Part of Athabasca-Lac La Biche
21st	1986–1989	Template:Canadian party colour|	Léo Piquette	New Democrat
22nd	1989–1993	Template:Canadian party colour|	Mike Cardinal	Progressive Conservative
Part of Lac La Biche-St. Paul
23rd	1993–1994	Template:Canadian party colour|	Paul Langevin	Liberal
	1994–1995	Template:Canadian party colour|		Independent
	1995–1997	rowspan=5 Template:Canadian party colour|		Progressive Conservative
24th	1997–2001
25th	2001–2004	Ray Danyluk
26th	2004–2008
27th	2008–2012
Part of Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills
28th	2012–2015	rowspan=2 Template:Canadian party colour|	Shayne Saskiw	Wildrose
29th	2015–2017	Dave Hanson
	2017–2019		Template:Canadian party colour|	United Conservative
Part of Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche
30th	2019–2021	rowspan=3 Template:Canadian party colour|	Laila Goodridge	United Conservative
	2022–2023	Brian Jean
31st	2023–

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

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

Aerial view of Lac La Biche (2010)

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

Education

File:Lac la Biche from Lac La Biche.jpg

Lac la Biche from the west end of the community

The main campus of Portage College 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.

See also

• List of communities in Alberta
• List of former urban municipalities in Alberta
• List of hamlets in Alberta

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.