Fort Chipewyan, Alberta
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Fort Chipewyan is the oldest European settlement in the province of Alberta, Canada. The settlement was established by the North West Company when it setup a trading post there in 1788. The Fort was named after the Chipewyan First Nation living in the area. The Fort is located on the northwestern tip of Lake Athabasca, adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park.
The unincorporated community is part of the expansive Wood Buffalo regional municipality and had a population of 902 living on a land area of 10.24 km² as of the 2001 census.
Tourism plays a key role in the economy, especially in the summer months. The primary method of transportation to Fort Chipewyan is air, serviced by a regional airline named Air Mikisew who fly from Edmonton and Fort McMurray. There are no permanent roads to the Fort, but it can be reached from Fort Smith or Fort McMurray on ice roads and winter roads. In summer, the Fort can also be reached by boat via Fort McMurray, 280 km to the south on the Athabasca River.
Although the Alberta government long ago did studies on all-weather road access, no action has been taken, and at the beginning of December 2005, one-third of the 1,200 residents signed a petition to request that government for a road to be built 50 km to connect with existing roads north to Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. The major expenditure would be a bridge over the Slave River.
In March 2006, Health Canada announced it was studying elevated rates of rare cancers in the area.
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