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57-612: Most Mikisew Cree First Nation members live in Fort McMurray , Edmonton , and Fort Chipewyan in Alberta and in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories . According to former chief Lawrence Courtoreille, starting in 1944 many Dene people were induced by the government of to transfer their registration to the Mikisew band, including Courtoreille's own mother, leading to "a little over fifty percent" of

114-524: A 9.9% change from its 2011 population of 60,555. With a land area of 51.79 km (20.00 sq mi), it had a population density of 1,285.4/km (3,329.3/sq mi) in 2016. The permanent population of the Fort McMurray urban service area according to the RM of Wood Buffalo's 2021 municipal census is 72,917, a change of 1.2% from its 2018 municipal census permanent population of 72,056. In addition,

171-487: A boomtown . Housing prices and rents are far higher in Fort McMurray than most such remote areas, and in 2006, Fort McMurray had the highest prices in Alberta. The Alberta government has promised to release more Crown land for residential construction, particularly in Timberlea on the north side. There are several airports in the area , with Fort McMurray International Airport being the largest in northern Alberta . It

228-578: A stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( / m ə k ˈ m ʌr i / mək- MURR -ee ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta , Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta , in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands , surrounded by boreal forest . It has played a significant role in the development of

285-456: A city. The population peaked at almost 37,000 in 1985, then declined to under 34,000 by 1989. Low oil prices since the oil price collapse in 1986 slowed the oil sands production greatly, as oil extraction from the oil sands is a very expensive process and lower world prices made this uneconomical. On April 1, 1995, the City of Fort McMurray and Improvement District No. 143 were amalgamated to form

342-631: A daughter. Her grandfather, Captain John Mackenzie of Castle Leod (great-grandson of George Mackenzie, 2nd Earl of Seaforth ), purchased the estate of Avoch with money left to him by his first cousin and brother-in-law, Admiral George Geddes Mackenzie. Lady Mackenzie's father was a first cousin of the father of George Simpson , Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company . The Mackenzies lived alternately in Avoch and London. He died in 1820 of Bright's disease , at about

399-461: A desire to reach the open ocean, but was stopped by the hostility of the Heiltsuk people . Hemmed in by Heiltsuk war canoes, he wrote a message on a rock near the water's edge of Dean Channel , using a reddish paint made of vermilion and bear grease, and turned back east. The inscription read: "Alex MacKenzie / from Canada / by land / 22 July 1793" (at the time the name Canada was an informal term for

456-559: A dog simply referred to as "our dog", Mackenzie left Fort Chipewyan on 10 October 1792, and travelled via the Pine River to the Peace River . From there he travelled to a fork on the Peace River arriving 1 November where he and his cohorts built a fortification that they resided in over the winter. This later became known as Fort Fork . Mackenzie left Fort Fork on 9 May 1793, following

513-634: A merchant and held the tack of Melbost ; his grandfather being a younger brother of Murdoch Mackenzie, 6th Laird of Fairburn. Educated at the same school as Colin Mackenzie , the army officer and first Surveyor General of India , he sailed to New York City with his father to join an uncle, John Mackenzie, in 1774, after his mother died in Scotland. In 1776, during the American War of Independence , his father and uncle resumed their military duties and joined

570-490: A significant role in the history of the petroleum industry in Canada . Oil exploration is known to have occurred in the early 20th century, but Fort McMurray's population remained small, no more than a few hundred people. By 1921, there was serious interest in developing a refining plant to separate the oil from the sands. Alcan Oil Company was the first outfit to begin bulk tests at Fort McMurray. The nearby community of Waterways

627-920: A state-of-the-art theatre and recital hall, hosting a variety of musical and theatrical events that attract upwards of 50,000 visitors each season. Local teams include the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), the Fort McMurray Giants of the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL), and the Keyano Huskies of the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference (ACAC). Alexander Mackenzie (explorer) Sir Alexander Mackenzie ( c.  1764 – 12 March 1820)

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684-416: Is considered the heart of one of Alberta's (and Canada's) hubs of petroleum production, located near the Athabasca oil sands . Besides the oil sands , the economy also relies on natural gas and pipeline transport , forestry and tourism. Oil sands producers include Syncrude , Suncor Energy , Canadian Natural Resources , and CNOOC Petroleum North America ULC . Fort McMurray's growth is characteristic of

741-488: Is higher than 10.0 °C (50.0 °F), Fort McMurray has a borderline subarctic climate ( Köppen : Dfc ), being just below the threshold of humid continental climate ( Dfb ), with May and September average temperature of 9.9 °C (49.8 °F). It falls into the Natural Resources Canada (NRC) Plant Hardiness Zone 3a. The community lies at a lower elevation than most other parts of Alberta, so under

798-604: Is located in Fort McMurray, which accounts for the great majority of the RM's population; all but 5,000 of the RM's residents live in the Fort McMurray urban service area. The city continued to grow for a few years even after the oil bust caused by the 2003 collapse in world oil prices. Oil price increases since 2003 made oil extraction profitable again for around a decade, until another slump in oil prices which began in December 2014 and deepened in 2015 resulted in layoffs and postponement of projects. In June 2013, heavy rains caused

855-432: Is serviced by Air Canada , Air Canada Express , McMurray Aviation , Northwestern Air , WestJet and WestJet Encore , with scheduled flights to Calgary , Edmonton , Fort Chipewyan , Fort Smith , Montreal and Toronto . The airport is also serviced by various oil companies with corporate and charter flights heading north to private airstrips at oil sands operations. Flights are frequently booked to capacity because of

912-608: Is the largest community in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. White spruce , trembling aspen , balsam poplar and white birch are the most prominent native trees in and around town. Black spruce and tamarack occur in poorly drained areas and jack pine may be seen on the driest sites. European aspen , blue spruce and sand cherry are among the exotic trees occasionally seen. With severe winters except during periods of warming chinook winds , mild to warm summers and only three months which average temperature

969-449: Is the only highway between Fort McMurray and Edmonton . Due to the industrial demands of the oilsands, Highway 63 boasts some of the highest tonnage per kilometre in Canada, and the largest and heaviest loads that trucks have ever carried. Highway 63 was fully twinned in May 2016. Highway 881 also provides access to the region from Lac La Biche . Canadian National Railway (CN) discontinued

1026-477: The 2021 census , the Fort McMurray population centre recorded 68,002 residents living in 24,505 of its 28,670 total private dwellings, a change of 1.3% from its 2016 population of 67,123 . With a land area of 52.17 km (20.14 sq mi), it had a population density of 1,303.5/km (3,376.0/sq mi) in 2021. In the 2016 census , the Fort McMurray population centre recorded 66,573 residents living in 23,937 of its 28,567 total private dwellings,

1083-529: The Advanced Placement program at one of their schools, being Westwood Community High School . On Abasand Drive, École Boréal is the only francophone school in the area and goes from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. Keyano College is a publicly funded college and vocational institute based in the area and plays a role in training workers for the oil sands. Known as the cultural hub of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Keyano College contains both

1140-531: The Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor ) plant opened and Fort McMurray's growth soon took off. More oil sands plants were opened, especially after the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis , when serious political tensions and conflicts in the Middle East triggered oil price spikes. The population of the town reached 6,847 by 1971 and climbed to 31,000 by 1981, a year after its incorporation as

1197-480: The Hangingstone River to flood, causing a six-day state of emergency , a bridge collapse, the closure of highways 63 and 881 , and the evacuation of 150 people. On May 3, 2016, a large wildfire burning southwest of Fort McMurray resulted in the mandatory evacuation of the community. Record-breaking temperatures, reaching 32.8 °C (91 °F), low relative humidity and strong winds contributed to

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1254-545: The King's Royal Regiment of New York as lieutenants. By 1778, for his safety as a son of loyalists, young Mackenzie was sent, or went accompanied by two aunts, to Montreal . By 1779 (a year before his father's death at Carleton Island ), Mackenzie had a secured apprenticeship with Finlay, Gregory & Co., one of the most influential fur trading companies in Montreal, which was later administered by Archibald Norman McLeod . In 1787,

1311-506: The Muskeg Mixed ( mixed train ) to Fort McMurray in 1989, and there has been no passenger rail service since. CN continues to operate freight service on its Lac La Biche subdivision and stations beyond. Canada Post identified Fort McMurray as "having a particularly high cost to serve" in January 2014, and planned to institute a surcharge of $ 5.00 for all parcels shipped to the area. However,

1368-533: The North West Company were in fierce competition in this region. Fort McMurray was established there as a Hudson's Bay Company post by 1870, named for the Chief Factor William McMurray. It continued to operate as a transportation stopover in the decades afterwards. The Alberta and Great Waterways Railway arrived in 1915 complementing existing steamboat service. The community has played

1425-411: The former French territory in what is now southern Quebec and Ontario). The words were later inscribed permanently by surveyors. The site is now Sir Alexander Mackenzie Provincial Park and is designated First Crossing of North America National Historic Site . In 2016, Mackenzie was named a National Historic Person . He returned the way he had come, arriving at Fort Chipewyan on Aug. 24. He spent

1482-712: The "Grand River." The river came to be known as the Mackenzie River in his honour. In 1791, Mackenzie returned to Great Britain to study the new advance in the measurement of longitude . In the aftermath of the Nootka Crisis with Spain, he returned to Canada in 1792, and set out to find a route to the Pacific. Accompanied by two native guides (one named Cancre), his cousin, Alexander MacKay , six Canadian voyageurs (Joseph Landry, Charles Ducette, François Beaulieu , Baptiste Bisson, Francois Courtois, Jacques Beauchamp), and

1539-404: The 2021 municipal census counted a shadow population of 3,089 non-permanent residents for a combined population of 76,006, while the 2018 municipal census counted 3,559 non-permanent residents for a combined population of 75,615. Fort McMurray is an increasingly multicultural community. The 2021 census published by the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo found roughly 6,700 people moved to

1596-588: The Athabasca River near Lake Athabasca . However, his post closed in 1788 in favour of Fort Chipewyan , now the oldest continuous settlement in Alberta . In 1790, the explorer Alexander MacKenzie made the first recorded description of the oil sands . By that time, trading between the explorers and the Cree was already occurring at the confluence of the Clearwater and Athabasca rivers. The Hudson's Bay Company and

1653-602: The Bella Coola Valley, BC. He is referenced in the 1981 folk song "Northwest Passage" by Stan Rogers . The Alexander Mackenzie rose (Explorer Series), developed in 1985 by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada , was named in his honour. Between 1989 and 1993, the Mackenzie Bicentennial Sea-to-Sea Expeditions of Lakehead University attempted a segmented re-enactment of the journey between Montreal and Bella Coola, British Columbia , but

1710-805: The Continent and West Coast of North America." The British government, at the time predicting conflict with Napoleon, took no action. (Later Simon Fraser and David Thompson worked to extend the Canadian fur trade and prevent U.S. incursion in what would be Canada. ) Mackenzie was knighted in 1802. He returned to Canada, where as Sir Mackenzie, he was lionized, He was elected to the Legislature of Lower Canada . He served as member for Huntingdon County from 1804 to 1808. In 1812 Mackenzie, then aged 48, returned to Scotland, where he married 14-year-old Geddes Mackenzie, twin heiress of Avoch . They had two sons and

1767-723: The Hudson's Bay Company and the East India Company. Mackenzie was born in Stornoway in Lewis . He was the third of the four children born to Kenneth 'Corc' Mackenzie (1731–1780) and his wife Isabella MacIver, from another prominent mercantile family in Stornoway. When only 14 years old, Mackenzie's father served as an ensign to protect Stornoway during the Jacobite rising of 1745 . He later became

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1824-508: The Mikisew Cree band members having some Dene heritage as of 2022. Dene people were denied access to hunting, fishing, and gathering within the boundaries of Wood Buffalo National Park unless they switched their registration, and were threatened with eviction from the Birch River settlement. In the end, Cree access to the park was restricted as well. The Mikisew Cree First Nation is one of

1881-472: The Municipality of Wood Buffalo. The new municipality was subsequently renamed the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo on August 14, 1996. As a result, Fort McMurray was no longer officially designated a city. Instead, it was designated an urban service area within a specialized municipality . The amalgamation resulted in the entire RM of Wood Buffalo being under a single government. Its municipal office

1938-673: The XY Company). In his journal Mackenzie recorded the Carrier language for the first time. In 1801 he returned to London and that year the journals of his exploratory journeys were published. [1] (They were later reprinted. ) He then presented a detailed plan of his west coast project to the British government "Preliminaries to the Establishment of a Permanent British Fishery and Trade in Furs etc. on

1995-725: The age of 56 (his date of birth is unknown). He is buried at Avoch on the Black Isle . The Mackenzie River and Mount Sir Alexander are named for him, as is Mackenzie Bay , and the municipality of Mackenzie, British Columbia . There are a number of schools in Canada named after him, such as Sir Alexander Mackenzie Senior Public School in Toronto, Sir Alexander Mackenzie Elementary School in Vancouver, and Sir Alexander Mackenzie Elementary School in St. Albert. Also Sir Alexander Mackenzie School in

2052-428: The community were reported to be destroyed in the fire. On April 27, 2020, massive ice jams along the Athabasca River resulted in a major flood. It devastated the downtown of Fort McMurray, submerging streets and ruining businesses, cars and houses. Approximately 13,000 people from Fort McMurray and the surrounding area were evacuated. On 14 May 2024, a wildfire led to the evacuation of several neighborhoods in

2109-629: The company merged with the North West Company . On behalf of the North West Company, Mackenzie journeyed to Lake Athabasca where, in 1788, he was one of the founders of Fort Chipewyan . He had been sent to replace Peter Pond , a partner in the North West Company. From Pond, he learned that the First Nations people understood that the local rivers flowed to the north-west. Thinking that it would lead to Cook Inlet in Alaska , he set out by canoe on

2166-407: The fire's rapid growth in forests affected by "an unusually dry and warm winter". Upwards of 88,000 people in the community and surrounding region were evacuated. It was Canada's largest recorded wildfire evacuation in history and third-largest recorded environmental disaster evacuation behind the 1979 Mississauga train derailment and the 1950 Red River flood . About one-fifth of homes in

2223-523: The five Athabasca Tribal Council Nations. The group signed a treaty in 1986 with Canada establishing several reserves. The Mikisew Cree won a case in the Supreme Court of Canada in 2005 over title interests to areas of the Wood Buffalo National Park . This Alberta -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about cultural assimilation is

2280-582: The high transient worker population and workers who commute to Fort McMurray from other parts of Canada. Fort McMurray Transit operates in the community, with routes that extend to all subdivisions on the south side and subdivisions on the north side. Although the service concentrates on Fort McMurray it does operate to hamlets in the RM including Anzac , Janvier , Conklin and Fort McKay . Ebus and Red Arrow operate scheduled passenger bus services to Edmonton and other communities along Highway 63 , as well as other destinations farther south. Highway 63

2337-495: The media still refer to Fort McMurray as a city. Fort McMurray was known simply as McMurray between 1947 and 1962. Before the arrival of Europeans in the late 18th century, the Cree were the dominant First Nations people in the Fort McMurray area. The Athabasca oil sands were known to the locals and the surface deposits were used to waterproof their canoes. During the fur trade , the location of Fort McMurray, west of Methye Portage ,

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2394-462: The national petroleum industry . The 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire led to the evacuation of its residents and caused widespread damage. Formerly a city, Fort McMurray became an urban service area when it amalgamated with Improvement District No. 143 on April 1, 1995, to create the Municipality of Wood Buffalo (renamed the RM of Wood Buffalo on August 14, 1996). Despite its current official designation of urban service area, many locals, politicians and

2451-783: The population of the region's First Nation reserves because they do not fall under municipal jurisdiction. First Nations people represent four percent of the municipality's population. Métis people represent 2.89 percent of the population, followed by Inuk (0.16 percent) and non-Status First Nation (0.13 percent). About 3.2 percent of people identified as African , followed by mixed ethnicities (2.44 percent), Black or African Canadian (2 percent), European (1.73 percent), Arab (1.41 percent), Hispanic or Latin American (1.08 percent), Caribbean (0.67 percent) and Oceanic (0.13 percent). 2.88 percent of respondents did not answer and 0.52 said they did not know their ethnicity. Fort McMurray

2508-461: The population. The 2021 census found 61.5 percent of residents are white, compared to 64 percent in 2016. The second largest pan ethnic group is Indigenous (10 percent), South East Asian (9.2 percent), followed by South Asian (7 percent). People identifying as Chinese , Japanese or Korean represented 1.3 percent of the population. Indigenous peoples represented 7 percent, remaining consistent from 2018. The municipal survey did not count

2565-419: The postal service retracted this decision before the rate change went into effect. The Fort McMurray Public School District (FMPSD) and Catholic School District both serve the primary, elementary, and secondary education needs of students in Fort McMurray. Each school district offers diverse programs like French immersion , performing arts or a dedicated technology and science lab, however only FMPSD offers

2622-666: The region since the 2018 census. The top four provinces that sent people were other communities in Alberta (55 per cent), followed by Newfoundland and Labrador (13 percent), and British Columbia and Ontario (nine percent each). This is a drastic change from the 2012 municipal census, which was taken when Fort McMurray and the oil sands was undergoing a huge period of economic and population growth. That census reported people from Ontario represented 27.5 percent of Canadians coming to Fort McMurray, followed by British Columbia (26.3 percent) and Newfoundland and Labrador (17.5 percent). People from elsewhere in Alberta made up 3.1 per cent of

2679-501: The right conditions it can be a "hot spot" for Alberta. Temperatures range from an average of −17.2 °C (1.0 °F) in January, to 17.3 °C (63.1 °F) in July. The average annual precipitation is 404.6 mm (15.93 in) and falls mainly in the summer months. Average annual snowfall is 110.6 cm (43.5 in), with almost all of it falling between October and April. The highest temperature ever recorded in Fort McMurray

2736-732: The river known to the local Dene First Nations people as the Dehcho (Mackenzie River) , on 3 July 1789. On 14 July he reached the Arctic Ocean, rather than the Pacific. Later, in a letter to his cousin Roderick , he called the waterway "the River Disappointment," since the river did not prove to be the Northwest Passage , as he had hoped. In fact the story is probably apocryphal, as Mackenzie's own and contemporary records merely refer to it as

2793-740: The route of the Peace River. He crossed the Great Divide and found the upper reaches of the Fraser River , but was warned by the local natives that the Fraser Canyon to the south was unnavigable and populated by belligerent tribes. He was instead directed to follow a grease trail by ascending the West Road River , crossing over the Coast Mountains and descending the Bella Coola River to

2850-504: The sea. He followed this advice and reached the Pacific coast on 20 July 1793, at Bella Coola, British Columbia , on North Bentinck Arm , an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. Having done this, he had completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico, 12 years before Lewis and Clark . He had unknowingly missed meeting George Vancouver at Bella Coola by 48 days. He had wanted to continue westward out of

2907-765: The urban service area. The evacuation displaced upwards of 6,000 people from their homes in these neighborhoods. Fort McMurray is 435 km (270 mi) northeast of Edmonton on Highway 63 , about 60 km (37 mi) west of the Saskatchewan border, nestled in the boreal forest at the confluence of the Athabasca River , the Clearwater River , the Hangingstone River, and the Horse River. It sits at 370 m (1,210 ft) above sea level. Fort McMurray

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2964-540: The winter there working in the fur trade. The next year he returned to Montreal. Soon after, he travelled to the U.S. and to London. He returned to Montreal and became one of the leading partners of the North West Company. In 1799 he left the Company and travelled to London to lobby on behalf of the Canadian fur trade. In 1800 he returned to Canada and aided in the formation of the New North West Company (also known as

3021-426: Was 40.3 °C (104.5 °F) on June 30, 2021. The lowest temperature ever recorded was −53.3 °C (−63.9 °F) on February 1, 1917 and December 31, 1933. Neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray include Abasand Heights, Beacon Hill, Dickinsfield, Eagle Ridge, Grayling Terrace, Gregoire, Lower Townsite, Parsons Creek, Prairie Creek, Saline Creek, Stone Creek, Thickwood Heights, Timberlea, and Waterways . In

3078-453: Was a Scottish explorer and fur trader known for accomplishing the first crossing of North America by a European in 1793. The Mackenzie River and Mount Sir Alexander are named after him. As a leading member of the North West Company, he aspired to extend the Company's operations into western Canada and selling those furs in China. His hopes thus were intrusions on the monopoly positions of both

3135-519: Was an important junction on the fur trade route from eastern Canada to the Athabasca Country . In 1778, the first European explorer, Peter Pond , came to the region in search of furs, as the European demand for this commodity at the time was strong. Pond explored the region farther south along the Athabasca River and the Clearwater River , but chose to set up a trading post much farther north by

3192-416: Was established to provide a southern terminus for waterborne transportation when the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway reached there in 1921. Abasands Oil was the first company to successfully extract oil from the oil sands through hot water extraction by the 1930s, but production was very low. Fort McMurray's processing output gradually grew to over 1,100 barrels/day by World War II , and Fort McMurray

3249-425: Was set up by the US and Canadian forces as staging ground for the Canol Project . Fort McMurray and Waterways amalgamated as the village of McMurray (the "Fort" was dropped until 1962, when it was restored to reflect its heritage) by 1947, and became a town a year later. Fort McMurray was granted the status of new town so it could get more provincial funding. By 1966, the town's population was over 2,000. In 1967,

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